Tag: Terrance Mitchell

Terrance Mitchell signs with the Houston Texans

Mitchell played more snaps than any other NFL CB in 2020

Terrance Mitchell is finally getting his “money” from the Houston Texans. The Browns cornerback for the last three seasons has signed with Houston as a free agent.

The move was first reported over a week ago during the NFL’s legal tampering period but was not made official until Wednesday. Mitchell gets a two-year contract worth $7.5 million in Houston.

Mitchell, who popularly goes by “Money”, elevated from No. 3 corner in 2018-2019 to iron man in 2020. He played more defensive snaps than any other cornerback in the league, and he held his own playing above his pay grade in the Browns’ injury-riddled secondary. Mitchell produced 65 tackles, three forced fumbles and 13 PDs for the Browns last season.

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Mitchell will be joined in Houston by former Browns teammates Vincent Taylor, Tavierre Thomas and Tae Davis, who have all agreed to terms with the Texans in the last few days.

Houston also officially added former Browns LB Christian Kirksey on Wednesday.

Watch: Terrance “Money’ Mitchell’s free agency – stay or go?

Mitchell will have suitors on the free agent market

The NFL’s legal tampering period begins on Monday, March 15th and the Cleveland Browns have yet to re-sign any of their unrestricted free agents. This likely means that CB Terrance “Money” Mitchell among others will be able to test their value on the open market.

Mitchell has proven to be valuable over his three years with the Browns, filling in as a starting cornerback frequently and maintaining a starter’s level of play. The Browns will have to see how he is viewed by other teams in the league as well as evaluate if they would be better off with a more versatile player in his spot moving forward.

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Free agent cornerbacks for the Browns to consider in 2021

Lots of slot corners and an old friend highlight the list

Cornerback is a definite need for the Cleveland Browns as the team approaches the beginning of the 2021 league year. Outside of Pro Bowler Denzel Ward, the team has a lot more questions than answers at CB.

A healthy return from Greedy Williams would certainly help, but the Browns are losing the No. 2 and No. 3 CBs from 2020 with Terrance Mitchell and Kevin Johnson each slated for free agency. Restricted free agent Tavierre Thomas, who saw action as a reserve, is not expected back as well.

It’s a decent free agent class of corners. The strength of the class appears to be inside with corners best-suited for slot duty, which is where Johnson manned the field in 2020. Here are a few choice candidates who should be affordable scheme fits for coach Kevin Stefanski and coordinator Joe Woods’ defense in Cleveland.

All players listed here are set to be unrestricted free agents as of March 17th or are already free agents.

Browns Free Agency Files: CB Terrance Mitchell – Performance, market value and his Browns future

Mitchell played more snaps than any other CB in the NFL last season

The Cleveland Browns lost two important pieces of their secondary for the entire season during training camp in 2020. Within minutes of each other, the Browns saw rookie safety Grant Delpit and second-year cornerback Greedy Williams both leave the field to what later ended up being injuries that forced them to miss all of 2020.

Performance

A huge lift for the 2020 Browns defense was their ability to call on CB Terrance “Money” Mitchell to fill in for Williams and maintain a starters’ level of play. Mitchell has been a nice asset during his three years in Cleveland, often being called on to fill-in for starters Denzel Ward and Williams, consistently performing adequately in their absence. He proved he could be counted on and remained available when the team could not afford to lose anyone else.

Not only did Mitchell play well in 2020 but he also proved to be incredibly durable. He graded out at 68.2 for the season, which ranked him 35th out of 121 qualifying cornerbacks in the league, per Pro Football Focus.

While proving to be effective in Williams’ absence, Mitchell ended the 2020 season with an impressive 1,225 snaps played, which is the most of any cornerback in the entire NFL.

The 28-year-old Mitchell was excellent in run support while holding his own in coverage. He recorded a career-high 65 tackles and caused four forced fumbles while playing 99.4% of the team’s defensive snaps.

Market Value

Mitchell enters free agency after playing out a three-year deal worth $10 million for the Browns. With the 2021 Salary Cap currently estimated to drop down to somewhere in-between $180 million and $185 million, the free agency market becomes more unknown than usual.

Mitchell’s play and availability may price him out of a range the Browns are willing to pay for a back-up corner. However, there is uncertainty regarding Williams’ health going forward. Despite, his recent announcement that he will return in 2021, the Browns can hardly ink him in as a starter.

If the Browns could bring Mitchell back on a one-year deal for $3 million-$4 million they should consider doing so. Ideally, they would be able to sign him to a two-year deal for $6 million, with $3 million guaranteed and incentives that could get him to $8 million total depending on snaps played or games started. Still, Mitchell may be looking for more than this after starting all 16 games last season.

Future with Browns

One issue that has always devalued Mitchell somewhat is his inability to move inside and play in the slot. For multiple years now, it could be said that the Browns were often unable to put their three best corners on the field at the same time, even when the whole room was healthy.

The Browns have to get better in the secondary and they will likely add some talent in free agency. However, that could come in the form of a slot corner, safety or a high-profile corner. As far as depth goes, there are some names like CB Cameron Sutton, CB Darqueze Dennard and CB Jourdan Lewis who all can play both in the slot and outside if needed.

Certainly, the Browns should attempt to re-sign Mitchell if the price is right. He has been worth every penny up to this point. Things get tricky though as GM Andrew Berry tries to improve the defense this offseason. Depending on where and how much he allocates funds to the secondary could put more of a premium on cheaper depth or depth that is more versatile.

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12 NFL free agents with ties to the new Lions regime that should interest Detroit

Here are some choice unrestricted free agents with ties to the new Lions regime

Detroit’s radical franchise overhaul to the front office and coaching staff gives the Lions a rare chance to remake the roster, too. The new faces in charge of personnel decisions have different ties to different NFL teams they can exploit this offseason to help in the remake, too.

The Brad Holmes/Dan Campbell regime has direct recent ties to four NFL teams. Holmes, the new GM, comes from the Los Angeles Rams. So does assistant GM Ray Agnew.

New head coach Dan Campbell and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn both worked for the New Orleans Saints for several seasons together before coming to Detroit.

Senior personal executive John Dorsey was the GM of the Cleveland Browns in 2018-2019 before serving as a consultant in 2020. New offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn was the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers for the last four seasons.

That’s some pretty intimate familiarity and personal ties to four other NFL organizations who will have players leaving this offseason. Here are some choice unrestricted free agents from those teams and how they might be appealing to the amalgamation of the new regime in Detroit.

These 12 Browns players have previous playoff experience

Not many Browns players have playoff experience but these 12 do

Now that the Browns have made the postseason, they’re venturing into unchartered waters for almost everyone in the organization. Cleveland hasn’t played a postseason game since the 2002 season. Even owner Jimmy Haslam has never tasted the sweetness of a postseason game before with the Browns.

There are a few Browns who have some playoff experience elsewhere. Unfortunately, two of those who do — offensive lineman Chris Hubbard and defensive end Olivier Vernon — are on injured reserve and won’t play in Pittsburgh in Sunday’s wild-card round game with the Steelers.

Here are the other Browns who have some postseason experience under their belts.

Snap count notes and observations from the Browns’ first 8 games

Breaking down the snap counts for the first 8 weeks for the Browns

Halfway through the 2020 NFL season, the Cleveland Browns are figuring out the player rotations under new head coach Kevin Stefanski and his coordinators. Injuries and changing situations have made for some interesting breakdowns to the snap counts for the first eight games.

Here are some of the takeaways from poring over the Browns’ snap counts for the first eight weeks.

Offense

Only two players, LG Joel Bitonio and C JC Tretter, have played all 500 snaps. The 500 total makes for a nice round number to determine playing time percentages, too.

Baker Mayfield has taken 485 of the snaps at quarterback, the same number rookie left tackle Jedrick Wills has logged. Right tackle Jack Conklin (439) is the only other offensive player over 75 percent.

There was a lot of talk about the No. 2 tight end vs. No. 3 wide receiver split. In the first half of the year, rookie TE Harrison Byrant played 283 reps while WR Rashard Higgins played just 174. Keep in mind over 150 of those Higgins snaps came after Odell Beckham (316) got hurt, too. KhaDarel Hodge has logged over 50 percent of the snaps in the four games he has played, however.

Wyatt Teller (284) and Chris Hubbard (280) have had an almost even split at right guard. Kareem Hunt (281) has played more than expected due to Nick Chubb (119) being injured since Week 4. Chubb has 60 total touches on those 199 snaps, meaning he sees the ball almost exactly half the time he’s played.

Defense

Terrance Mitchell just missed out on being the iron man. The cornerback has played in 560 of the 562 available snaps. He’s followed by safety Andrew Sendejo (553), fellow CB Denzel Ward (527) and LB B.J. Goodson (514) as Browns defenders playing over 90 percent of available snaps.

Myles Garrett is next at 446, a 78.9 percent playing time that is a heavy load for a lineman. Sheldon Richarson (413) was also close to 75 percent at DT.

Safety Karl Joseph played 282 of his 300 total snaps in the first four games before he missed two weeks.

Defensive end Porter Gustin is at just over 41 percent of reps (236) but his playing time has fluctuated wildly. One note: the three games Gustin has played at least 50 percent of the snaps have been the Browns’ three best defensive scoring efforts.

Two players, undrafted rookies A.J. Green and Jovante Moffatt, have played exactly one snap on defense.

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Wyatt Teller, Terrance Mitchell tabbed as ‘secret superstars’ from Week 2

Teller and Mitchell got recognized for being great while under the radar in Week 2

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Everyone knows about the stars studding the Cleveland Browns roster. And while Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward, Nick Chubb and Odell Beckham Jr. all had strong performances in Cleveland’s Week 2 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, two unheralded Browns also stood out enough to earn spots on the Week 2 “secret superstars” list from Touchdown Wire.

Right guard Wyatt Teller and cornerback Terrance Mitchell both made the list, which honors the under-the-radar performers who played above their pay and recognition scale.

Teller was an easy choice. He dominated Cincinnati, helping pave the way for big nights from Chubb and Kareem Hunt.

Playing right guard, Teller has allowed no sacks, no quarterback hits, and just one quarterback hurry in 72 pass-blocking snaps this season, and he’s a big reason the Browns were able to run all over the Bengals with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt last Thursday night.

The NFL’s Secret Superstars of Week 2

As for Mitchell, he was money in the bank in coverage despite the Bengals throwing the ball an incredible 61 times.

One of the reasons Burrow was unsuccessful on all but one of his seven deep passes against the Browns last Thursday night was the efforts of cornerback Terrance Mitchell. Burrow targeted Mitchell 10 times, and Mitchell allowed just two catches for 19 yards and an opponent passer rating of 39.6. Mitchell, who has played for four different teams and is in the last year of a three-year, $12 million contract, busted up deep attempts to both John Ross and A.J. Green. It was as good a performance from a boundary cornerback as you’ll see from Week 2.

Getting these unheralded performances from the role players like Teller and Mitchell is a great way to bolster the big-name players on the Browns. When Cleveland gets performances like that from their non-marquee players, they’re tough to beat. Week 2 proved that.

Terrance Mitchell back at Browns practice, Greedy Williams and M.J. Stewart still out

The Browns secondary remains loaded with injuries but did get Terrance Mitchell back on Thursday

Thursday’s practice session in Berea saw one member of the Browns injury-ravaged secondary get back on the field. Cornerback Terrance Mitchell made his return to the active practice session after missing time nursing a knee injury.

It was a welcome boost to the defensive back depth chart. Greedy Williams and M.J. Stewart both remained sidelined for the afternoon practice. Williams is still out with a shoulder injury suffered in Monday’s practice, while Stewart is resting a hamstring issue that also appeared to first materialize on Monday.

Kevin Johnson, who was having an excellent training camp, is week-to-week with a lacerated liver suffered last week. Stewart had been getting Johnson’s first-team reps as the slot cornerback before going down himself. Johnson has returned to being on the sidelines but is not yet cleared for practice.

Donovan Olumba and Donnie Lewis Jr. have been the primary beneficiaries of increased reps while the players above them sit out.

Two other players who missed Wednesday’s practice, TE David Njoku and LB Tae Davis, were back and actively practicing on Thursday.

Browns secondary suffers a brutal Monday practice session

Cleveland Browns secondary got ravaged by the injury bug in Monday’s practice w/ Grant Delpit, Greedy Williams and M.J. Stewart all injured

Monday was a terrible day on the injury front for the Cleveland Browns secondary. Already missing top slot CB Kevin Johnson with his liver injury, three other prominent players left Monday’s practice session in Berea with injuries.

The most prominent is a potentially huge blow to the defense with rookie safety Grant Delpit suffering what appeared to be an Achilles injury. Delpit went to the ground just before team drills and was clutching at the back of his calf in obvious agony.

Delpit was the most serious of the injuries, but he wasn’t alone. Starting cornerback Greedy Williams also left the practice field before the session ended. He left under his own power but Williams was assisted by trainers back into the facility.

Recent arrival M.J. Stewart also caught the injury bug on Monday. Stewart was spotted with his leg heavily wrapped in ice before practice ended. He had been replacing Johnson’s role in the lineup.

Terrance Mitchell sat out Monday’s session for undisclosed reasons. That left Denzel Ward, Donovan Olumba, Tavierre Thomas, Robert Jackson, A.J. Green and Donnie Lewis Jr. as the cornerbacks to finish practice.

We’ll keep you updated on the injury status of all the Browns’ walking wounded as they become available.