Despite having interest in the free agent defensive end, the Cleveland Browns appear to be out of the running for his services.
It appears that the possible dream scenario of pairing J.J. Watt with Myles Garrett is no longer in the cards. John Clayton stated that the three teams that the free agent could sign with are the Titans, Packers, and Bills with the Raiders being a dark horse.
The two notable teams not listed are the Browns and Steelers.
Adding J.J. Watt to this Cleveland defense would be a huge get, but would require some other moves to improve the defense. While it would have been nice to add someone with that talent of Watt, Cleveland has a ton of holes on the defensive side of the ball. The secondary is a huge issue as is linebacker, that is before addressing depth on the defensive line.
Cleveland could opt to use a similar approach to how they handled their offense last season, drafting and signing a player at a position of need. While this does create short term solutions, it does present problems beyond year one of the signing.
UPDATE
John Clayton sent a clarification tweet after a lot of attention came from the above tweet he was tagged in. Clayton states that the Browns and several other teams are still in on Watt.
