Joe Schobert returning is not guaranteed

Joe Schobert returning to the Cleveland Browns was never a given. When the new regime took over it appeared to have a chance of happening. Now, not so much. This is what general manager Andrew Berry had to say about Joe Schobert and his status with Cleveland. 

“He’s obviously earned the right to test the market if he deems that appropriate,”

This really does not seem to be all that urgent in Berry’s eyes. Berry would also add the following:

“It obviously has to work for both sides. It has to work for us from a cost perspective with our long-term roster strategy, and obviously it has to be a fit for Joe and his family as well.”

Does this sound familiar? Does this sound like everything everyone tried to say wouldn’t happen happening? Yes. Yes it does. Add this to the uncertain future of Olivier Vernon and the cost-cutting strategy many expected but others said not to worry about is coming to fruition.

This is just setting the stage to have an excuse ready when/if he leaves. 

At the end of the day the Browns will have to spend money to keep quality players. Letting the best player on the defense not named Myles Garrett leave would be a colossal mistake. This really seems like the team would rather spread the money around to a variety of low-mid tier free agents rather than spend it on one to two players. The type of players who can impact games and lead to wins are not going to be cheap and until the people running the show in Berea realize this they will have a hard time climbing out of the basement of the AFC North.