Ahtyba Rubin - Pro Football Rumors

Browns Notes: QBs, Carrington, Revis, LBs

March 25th, 2014 at 9:15am CST by Luke Adams

Like fellow AFC North coach John Harbaugh, the Browns’ Mike Pettine was one of a handful of AFC head coaches who made a handful of interesting comments during this morning’s breakfast interview session with reporters in Orlando. Let’s check out a few of the Browns updates from Pettine….

Drafting two quarterbacks, like the Redskins did in 2012, isn’t out of the question for the Browns, according to Pettine: “I don’t think [GM] Ray [Farmer] would be adverse to that at all.” (Twitter link via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal). The Browns are scouting a “big list” of QB prospects, as Lindsay Jones of USA Today details.
Pettine “really likes” free agent quarterback Mark Sanchez, and will look into any addition that could help the team, tweets Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Defensive end Alex Carrington remains in play for the Browns, and signing him wouldn’t necessarily result in a roster move involving Ahtyba Rubin, tweets Ulrich.
Cleveland “kicked around” the idea of acquiring Darrelle Revis when the Buccaneers were shopping him, but with no guarantee the cornerback would rework his contract, it was hard to take on that $16MM salary, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
The Browns landed two of their top free agent targets, according to Pettine, who says Karlos Dansby was the team’s No. 1 free agent inside linebacker, while Donte Whitner was the team’s No. 1 safety (Twitter link via Ulrich).
Having landed Dansby, Pettine doesn’t view the inside linebacker position as a glaring need, tweets Ulrich. Craig Robertson is currently penciled in alongside Dansby, and Pettine likes him, though he pointed out that it’s a deep draft for linebackers.

AFC Notes: Broncos, Browns, Raiders, Jaguars

March 2nd, 2014 at 6:06pm CST by Ben Levine

A couple of notes from around the AFC on this Sunday evening…

D’Qwell Jackson flew to Denver to meet with the Broncos today, tweets Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. It was reported last week that Jackson would also meet with the Titans.
The Browns will not cut or restructure the contract of defensive lineman Ahtyba Rubin, Cabot writes in another article. There were rumblings that Rubin might be a cap casualty only a couple of days ago.
The Raiders like Derek Carr more than Johnny Manziel, writes Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times. As Farmer points out, the team is known to make unconventional picks, so Manziel would “seem like a natural fit for them.”
Justin Forsett and Jason Babin could potentially be cut by the Jaguars, Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com writes.
In the same article, DiRocco says that the Jaguars’ cap room means they can get involved with free agents like Alex Mack or Brian Orakpo.

AFC North Notes: Free Agency, Oher, Rubin

February 28th, 2014 at 7:13pm CST by Rob DiRe

The unexpected salary cap has left many teams feeling better about their situations, and the Bengals are also reaping the benefits of the extra cap space, writes Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. The team only has two starters set to hit free agency, in Michael Johnson and Anthony Collins. They also have a number of lesser players such as Dane Sanzenbacher, Andrew Hawkins, Brandon Tate, and Mike Pollak. Hobson writes that the team has already contacted most if not all the players’ agents, but will keep in mind that extensions for Andy Dalton, A.J. Green, Vontaze Burfict, and Domata Peko will be coming in the near future.

Here are some other notes from around the AFC North:

The Steelers could have trouble re-signing some of their notable free agents once they hit the market, writes Scott Brown of ESPN.com. Brown writes that the team is unlikely to match or exceed offers that Jason Worilds, Emmanuel Sanders, and Ziggy Hood could command on the free market.
The Ravens have not made a decision regarding their two free agent tackles, Michael Oher and Eugene Monroe, writes Jamison Henley of ESPN.com. While most pundits and fans do not believe the team will be able to re-sign both players, head coach John Harbaugh has not ruled out bringing back both players. Henley writes that if the team fails to retain Monroe, than it would be more likely that they bring back Oher to play left tackle.
While Ahtyba Rubin is considered a likely cap casualty for the Browns, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Tom Reed of Cleveland.com writes that the team would be making a mistake in doing so. Reed believes that the cap space the team would save is minimal compared to the talent and leadership they would be losing along their defensive line.