The Cleveland Browns may have been saved from themselves after the Seattle Seahawks offered to pay almost half of the contract of defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones up front. The Browns were deep into talks with Jones, but for a team that cleared just $22 million in cap space yesterday, the ability to give Jones nearly $24 million in year one was untenable. And that may be for the best as PFF has Dalvin Tomlinson, the defensive tackle they signed instead, as a higher-ranked player in NFL free agency anyway.
According to PFF, Tomlinson was their 18th-best free agent on the market, and this is behind players that did not hit the market like Geno Smith, Daniel Jones, Derek Carr, Saquon Barkley, Daron Payne, and Josh Jacobs. Of players who hit the market, Tomlinson was their 12th-ranked free agent. Jones falls four spots behind Tomlinson in this ranking. And the Browns got him for $2.75 million per year cheaper than the Seahawks signed Jones for.