News: Browns Sign Poteat, Host Elam
The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting the signing of nine-year veteran CB Hank Poteat to the Browns.
Browns coach Eric Mangini continues to call on his former Jets players to fortify his new team. The Browns signed ninth-year reserve cornerback Hank Poteat, 31, as an unrestricted free agent Monday night. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.
What’s the over/under on number of times Poteat will be released and re-signed between training camp and October?
Rich Cimini updated his Jets Stream with information of an Abram Elam visit to the Browns’ facilities.
Today, the Browns hosted two Jets free agents – S Abram Elam and CB Hank Poteat, according to a league source.
Elam is a restricted free agent, but means the Jets have the right of first refusal. Because Elam was an undrafted free agent out of college and because he received the lowest tender possible ($1.01 million), the Jets aren’t entitled to any draft-pick compensation if he goes elsewhere.
Apparently Ryan isn’t expecting to have many rotations at the safety spot. Personally, I’d love to see Elam stay as I believe his aggression would work well in Ryan’s attack-style defense. Nothing wrong with depth, right?
But while Mangini’s at it, Tannenbaum should find out what the Browns will give for Eric Smith.
56 Responses to News: Browns Sign Poteat, Host Elam
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JesusRevis says:
Im not too happy about this. I know Elam made some big mistakes, but I still like him as a player and I want him back.
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Igs says:
Please take Elam! Please take Elam!
It seems like Mangenius is trying to rebuild his defense from NY, which may be pretty good with some offensive support… Quinn to Edwards!
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It shouldn’t be between Smith or Elam. If Rhodes and Leonard are the starters, I’d rather have some young guys that can learn behind them, guys with higher ceilings.
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Elam is pretty young
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he’s also pretty slow
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2 plays last year. yes, they were monsters but in 16 games you got 2 plays outta the guy.
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Jameson says:
I’m not overly worried about either departure.
In fact, we should promote a Cleveland-based yard sell with Eric Smith, Drew Coleman, and Marcus Henry laid out on the discount blanket.
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jameson, i like that idea, man-genie can have all of them… for free, he can take BT with em too.
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That’s not fair, Igs. Two plays or not, they were two huge plays no one else was making. And Elam was stuck on the bench early in the year. Eric Smith was starting because Mangini liked his intelligence. He was good in run support. Elam’s no absolute stud, but he’s one of our better athletes.
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lgs youve said “2 plays” before and several people have showed you how false that is. Elam made a bunch of plays last year. It just so happens that 2 of them were bigger than the others.
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Angel, if you’re QB drew 2 game winning touchdowns and never did anything else the whole season would you have a lot of faith in him? neither Elam nor Smith are particularly special players. Smith did make one big play last season, a vicious cheap shot on a defenseless WR in garbage time. Pass.
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69 tackles
2 sacks
1 INT
1 TD
3 FF -
evis, give me some #s. How many ints? Sacks? forced fumbles? Gametime knockdowns? And how many of those happened when it counted? Guys that slow are just a liability.
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hahaha, now were comparing starting QB’s production to a backup safety? bad analogy
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Okay, you’re one step ahead of me. Now, like I said, how many when it counted. The 1 int came when it counted and the 1 sack and FF. Those are your 2 monster plays. And I’m more than willing to give him that. And that’s a descent tackle #, but partially generated by defensive liabilities elsewhere.
Just take a moment to watch Elam in coverage. I’m not knocking him for no reason, even more so than smith, the lack of foot speed is quite astounding.
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The analogy Revis was to point out how inconsequential 2 plays are relative to amount of plays made in an entire season entire season. You can use a similar comparison game winning ground TDs, or DE game ending sacks, or DB interceptions, etc, etc.
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lgs, im well aware that Elam is not good in coverage, but you gotta give guys credit when credit is due, and to say he only made 2 plays is ridiculous.
Week 8 – Buffalo – Int for TD (also had 3 PD)
Week 9 – St. Louis – sack and FF – led to TD by Pace
Week 11 – Tennessee – Forced Fumble early in the game which led to a score and set the tone for the rest of the game
Week 15 – Buffalo – 1 sack and the forced fumble which led to the Ellis TD.Now of course you could say none of these plays meant anything because the Jets missed the playoffs, but Elam made a bunch of plays for us last year, and he would be a valuable back up.
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He is bad in coverage. But he is a good tackler, good in run support, and he seems to have a knack for being around the ball. I think he would be a nice backup for us. Considering we dont have 20 draft picks, how else do you expect to draft all of these young talented players that you covet? We have to keep some of our players as reserves, and I feel Elam has earned that much.
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ronnie says:
ryan comes to us from baltimore and he brings over 2 playmakers on defense.
mangini goes to cle from us and brings 2 garbage of defenders.No further explanation needed.
Thank god hes gone.
I wasnt sure about the firing at first but wow, was i wrong. -
kc. says:
i think we should keep Elam.
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Chris says:
I’d like to keep Elam, interesting to see what he’d do in the 46 at the SS spot.
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I like Elam for the simple fact that on a very pedestrian defense, he was the only player to really “bring the lumber”. While I think he’d excell in a Rex Ryan lead defense, as would have Atari Bigby (former jet member), I’m sure we can bring a similar mentality out of lesser players.
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BigKatFan says:
i thought elam re-signed already
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JustAGreenGuy says:
I’d like to point out that Mangini has shown he can win with all the losers he has taken/hosted from us. We better be as dominant on the field as we are on paper.
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BigKatFan,
Elam is a restricted free agent. We signed him to the lowest possible tender — one-year worth $1.01 million.
He and his agent can still speak with other teams. If Elam gets an offer, the Jets would have to match it, or let him walk. And since he was undrafted, we’d receive no type of compensation for him.
And Igs, I don’t totally disagree with you. He was a liability. But when our defense was starving for a play, he made the most out of few opportunities. I’d like to see what Ryan can do with that — if he can harness that big play ability without exposing his weaknesses to the offense.
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JP says:
Elam is a Rex-type player — he hits very hard, is aggressive, plays at full speed, etc. I don’t know if pass coverage can be taught, or if its purely a function of speed, but if it can be taught, then we need to keep Elam and let him develop under Rex. The guy can be a beast.
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jetfanATL says:
Keep Elam! Dump Smith and draft a safety in the middle rounds… Then we’d have a strong tandem in Rhodes and Leonhard with big hitting Elam and maybe Lowrey as the backups w/a young guy to eventually grow into the job..
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Pete says:
Why woiuld guys follow someone that took them nowhere ? I can understand if you won a title, but we won nothing…..so why jump ship to Cleveland ?
We can find another Elam……
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9-7 in the NFL ain’t easy. Ask the Bengals, Lions, Bills, Rams, 49ers, etc. We are spoiled in NY.
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ramble914 says:
JAGG,
“Spoiled in NY”? Hows that? Because we win all those SB’s and are consistantly in the playoffs? We must be spoiled because we have a consistant coaching staff (4 HC’s in the last 10 years), or is it because we have a franchise QB? We go 8-3 and finish 9-7 and we’re supposed to be satisified? Sorry, I aint buying none of it.
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Cabras says:
2 Journeyman, not worth our time to discuss, totally replacable!
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mike says:
lol Poteat, Barton, Bowens, and maybe elam. GOd the defense is going to be horrible………Read and react…
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Just A Green Guy,
You must be young, any Jey fan that is over 40 is still hurting from the 70′s, most of the 80′s, and the begining of the 90′s.
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Elam is a sub-par athlete, who’s only talent is playing the run. His lack of speed makes him a liability in coverage and therefore one dimensional. If Mangini wants all our marginal players, let him have them. In the mean time we continue to upgrade our talent.
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Wow you guys are sensitive. Think of one other city on the planet that has as many championships as NY. It isn’t about just the Jets. Plus we go to the playoffs failry regularly, while the teams I listed haven’t been there in a while.
Ramble- oh wah wah. I was disapointed too. I knew Favre would screw us and everyone else joined in. My point was that I would play for Mangini he is more of a winner than a lot of coaches whether you bitter people want to admit it or not.
Btw the Cardinals were 9-7 last year and lost the superbowl in the last minute. How many more playoff appearnce have we had then them in the last 10 years? 20? 30?
Cabras- I saw Kotite. That’s bad enough. I’m 25 and doubt that many people on the planet follow this team as closely as I do.
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Revis & company, how can you talk about foot speed as if it’s this minor thing you can overlook. What’s always been the knock on roy williams? What the physical attribute that makes Troy palamalu nad Ed Reed so successful? Speed. Elam is such a liability. Smith’s not as slow as Elam but if you watch smith’s game footage he’s just constantly out of position. The guys have seen their ceiling. There are plenty of young players, even undrafted FAs you can take a shot at developing, especially since Rhodes os the real vet on the team.
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jagg, record don’t mean much. what counts is doing what you gotta do when you gotta do it.
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Norcal Jet Fan says:
Speed isn’t the only trait a safety needs. Elam could hit hard, something that seemed to be lacking from most everyone else on the Jets Defense last year. I hope they keep him. His violent tackling seems to fit the Ryan mold. I could care less how fast someone is if they are afraid to put their face in the fan. Not surprised about Poteat. “I wonder how many times he will be cut and resigned before the season begins..” made me laugh! How true.
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Igs- as a Giants fan you watched Coughlin blow it 3 or 4 years in a row, but he learned and adjusted. You guys got a Superbowl out of it. He made the playoffs one year at 8-8, which is impossible in the recent AFC. My point is Coughlin is a savvy vet and still had to pay his dues as a coach and learn on the job. Mangini made mistakes, but if he learns from them he could go far. He is more than 10 years younger than Coughlin. I would think of anyone here you could appreciate the reality better. Especially when in 07 you guys too put the ball up in the air 40 times against 20mph winds.
I will say this for the millionth time, because everyone has a selective memory Rex was my pick to replace Mangini, but I do believe anything he does is building off of teh solid foundation Mangini built.
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Just a Green Guy,
Kotite was for 2 years , the 70′s were a decade of losing football, every season!
By the way, Coughlin came to the giants as a coach who took an expansion team to the NFC championship game, he was proven. I like Rex’s attitude, but only time will tell!
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I know. I saw the Jaguars too. Didn’t stop him from sucking with the Giants for a few years.
Get over the 70s. At least you were alive for Namath and the SB. I have only seen choking acts. 3-13, 1-15, 3-13 wasn’t exactly a respectable stretch.
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Green Guy,
What solid foundation are you talking about, Mangini left us w/out a true starting QB, no #1 Receiver, an older O Line, an Old D line, no real Strong Safety, no Punter, a wasted 1st rounder in Gholston.
Are you sure you are watching the Jets? His gametime decision making is attrocious, again only time will tell, but he appears to be a better coordinator than HC. -
Green,
My memories of SB III are fading each year, I always joke that when they go to the Superbowl I will get great seats, (Wheelchair Access)!
The proven coach gets the benefit of the doubt, Mangini just does not have the track record to get that benefit.
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QB- Yep that I agree with. Was my largest complaint about his time here.
O line- one of the best in the league. Boo hoo if they are old. Pittsburgh would have killed for our line and they are holding the Lombardi trophy.
D line- is fine and could use an upgrade/depth
#1 Reciever- Boo hoo us and 20 other teams. Coles was fine with Chad and Clemens.
Punter- Hodges is fine. What do you want Lechler?
Gholston- give him a year. He was a combine hero like most of Tanny’s picks
Mangini had a bullseye on his back all year last year. You could see the lack of sleep in his eyes. I know the look well. Every team has holes.
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My dad used to make the same joke about wheel chair access. Didn’t work out that way. Haven’t missed a game that I could view from my location since.
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Just a Green Guy,
That is the same cracked foundation that we have had for years. I am not sure Pittsburgh would have killed for our line, they let the aging Faneca walk (Most sacks allowed at his position in 2008) and won the trophy w/out him.
Hodges was as bad as Graham
Coles was fine, but he is gone, also no real #1 to replace him.
D Line is good, but old, see last years collapse, no depth.As for the target on his back, it was well deserved after a 4-12 season.
The only Boo Hoo that i see is that as fans we are the suckers who get ripped off watching mediocrity.
Woody is really only about making $$, winning is secondary. -
I don’t disagree about Woody. After a 4-12 year going 4-2 in the division isn’t bad. It should have been 5-1.
They did win the trophy without Faneca, but they did try to keep him. We just gave him more money. They are looking for a LT and a C. I’d say we have two very talented young ones.
Graham shanked everything. He totally blew the 1st Pats game, but did well for himself with the Cards.
Almost every team needs depth. If you have seen my previous posts I’ve been advocating for D line depth, but 350lb nose tackles don’t grow on trees.
Coles just left and its predraft. The situation will be addressed.
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Gregory Rasputin says:
It is not wise to let a clutch player like Elam…Anymore than it was wise to let Abraham go.
There is no guarantee that Mr.s Rhodes and Leonhard will be injury free next year.
There is also no guarantee that they will outplay Mr Elam.
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JAGG, I think you’re right t an extent, I wasn’t harping on your main point, I just don’t vibe with the idea that 9-7 making the playoffs is the just as good as 9-7 out of the playoffs. In fact, it’s incomparable. I dn’t care if a team goes 5 and 11 if it means they make the playoffs and when they get there they make a run. It means they did what they had to do. We went 9-7 last year but never won the games we needed to win to make the playoffs. We didn’t win when it counted.
Also, as far as man-genie goes you have to think about a few things:
-Most 1st time head coaches need to fail miserably somewhere before they go o to success.
-It said a lot that Belicheat never named him DC although he had DC duties.
- His inability to develop the tweeners that the Jets are so fond of drafting and his relationship with his coordinators stunk.
-But you are mostly right, and yes, most of the people on this blog are waaaay to sensitive, especially when it comes to criticizing this team, wich I think is a healthy part of being a fan.
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Fred says:
didnt we sing elam to a 1 year deal?
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fred, hes restricted so we have the right to match clevelands offer.
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lgs, im just curious, you always refer to the Jets drafting “tweeners”. Who are all of these tweeners?
Bryan Thomas
Vernon Gholston
Brad Smith? -
I understand the difference between making the playoffs and not making it. I also understand how hard it is to win a game in the NFL. The Lions managed to do something I didn’t think possible. I mean even a blind squirrel finds a nut.
Mangini seems to be a stoic jerk, but so is Bellicheck. NY would have torn Bill to pieces. I think smaller markets are better for guys like them. Pats players came out and said that Mangini out coached Bellicheck in 06 that speaks volumes to me.
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lgs, I never said Elam’s speed wasnt a problem, but its not like were keeping him as a starter. You comparing Elam to Polamalu and Ed Reed is ridiculous. We all know Elam will never be at that level, but hes a solid backup.
Would the jets really rather have Eric Smith then Elam? Elam won two games for us hands down, both against the bills!