Report: As Phil Taylor Holds Out, Browns Make a Trade for Eagles DT Brodrick Bunkley

With the Cleveland Browns starting camp today without their first round pick, defensive tackle Phil Taylor, they made a move with the Philadelphia Eagles for veteran defensive lineman Brodrick Bunkley.

Bunkley is a former first round pick who played under current Browns defensive coordinator Dick Jauron last season. He is known as a top notch run stuffer, but he really doesn’t do much to improve the Browns’ pass rush. Still, it is likely he will start or at least have a nice impact on the defensive tackle rotation when Taylor signs, despite having an injury plagued 2010 season.

The Browns have been busy Saturday making moves, and acquiring Bunkley was a somewhat underrated move. The Eagles have also been busy, and they decided that with the signing of Cullen Jenkins that Bunkley and his one year remaining in Philadelphia were expendable. The price of a fifth round draft choice in exchange for Bunkley seems like very fair compensation for the Browns to give up, so I like this trade for both sides.

Report: Browns Trade for St. Louis Rams Offensive Lineman John Greco

According to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cleveland Browns have agreed to a trade with the St. Louis Rams for offensive lineman John Greco.

Greco is a former third round pick from the 2008 NFL Draft, and he had started just four games in 26 career appearances for the Rams. This move was likely made because new Browns head coach Pat Shurmur knows him from his days as the St. Louis offensive coordinator, and sees some potential in him.

There has been no word yet on what the Browns have given up for Greco, but one would assume that it’s a late round pick, or possibly a conditional pick based on Greco’s playing time.

Browns Add Backfield Depth With Signing of Jackson

The Cleveland Browns have agreed to terms with running back Brandon Jackson. Jackson had served as the Packers backup the past four seasons.

2010 was Jackson’s best season so far in the NFL. The Nebraska graduate rushed for 703 yards and added 342 yards receiving.

Jackson is expected to compete with Peyton Hillis and Montario Hardesty for carries in what has become a very solid backfield for the Browns.

The contract can be officially signed at 6:00 Friday.

Eric Wright To Sign With Detroit Lions

The Cleveland Browns will be a bit thinner in the defensive backfield this season after Eric Wright agreed to terms with the Detroit Lions.  Deals cannot be made official until Friday night at 6PM et, but Wright had already changed his Twitter avatar to a picture of himself wearing a Lions hat.

Wright tweeted his appreciation to the Browns and the City of Cleveland tonight as well:

"Much love to all my Cleveland supporters.. Thanks to the organization fa takin a chance on me.. I have a lotta love and respect fa the city."

The move leaves the Browns a bit thin in the defensive backfield, with 2010 first round pick Joe Haden expected to start at one corner.  

Wright played four years for the Browns, appearing in 59 games and compiling 9 interceptions.  Wright's tenure in Cleveland was a roller coaster ride at times, featuring as many big plays against Wright as he made.  After seeing his interception totals rise in 2008 and 2009, Wright had one of his toughest seasons last year when he intercepted just one pass and made a career-low 42 tackles.

The Lions hope Wright fills a big need for them, however, as Detroit had one of the worst pass-defenses in football in 2010.

Former Kent State Safey Expected To Start At Free Safety

The Cleveland Browns have made a move in free agency Thursday agreeing to terms with former New Orleans Saints safety Usama Young. Young was drafted by the Saints in the third round of the 2007 draft.

The Kent State graduate is an excellent special teams player who has been a backup safety the past four seasons. The Browns expect Young to start at free safety in place of Abram Elam who is an unrestricted free agent.

Young was a former teammate of Josh Cribbs for three seasons at Kent State.

Terms of the deal weren’t announced. The deal can’t be officially announced until Friday at 6:00.

Jake Delhomme To Be Released, Wants To Keep Playing

The Jake Delhomme experiment with the Cleveland Browns is reportedly over after Adam Schefter reported via Twitterthat Delhomme would be release by the Browns this week.  

While definitely not a surprise to anyone - the Browns seem to be focusing on Colt McCoy as their quarterback - it is the first big bit of news to come out of Berea since football came back earlier this week.

Delhomme's time in Cleveland could only be described as a nightmare, with injury and inconsistency eventually leading the Browns to go with the rookie McCoy full-time as the season wore on.

The question now becomes where will Delhomme land?  According to Schefter, Jake still wants to play and with several teams in need of quarterbacks you'd have to imagine there is a market for Delhomme somewhere.  An obvious choice would be the Denver Broncos, where Delhomme's former coach - John Fox - is now running the show. The Broncos are expected to hand the reigns to Tim Tebow while trading former starter Kyle Orton, leaving former Browns quarterback Brady Quinn as the backup.  Delhomme would give Fox a familiar face in Denver during the transition.

NFL Free Agency: Cleveland Browns Bringing In Undrafted Free Agents

While the real fun of NFL Free Agency won't officially start until Friday at 6:00PM - teams can begin talking to veteran free agents right now - the undrafted free agents are getting more attention that at any time ever.  All 32 NFL teams are filling their rosters in preparations for a 90-man Training Camp roster.  This includes the Cleveland Browns who have reportedly come to terms with several players as well:

• QB Troy Weatherhead, Hillsdale (Source) - Cleveland Gladiators' backup quarterback, so you might see recent filmwork on him.
  
• DL Kyle Anderson, Georgetown College (Source)
• LB Brian Smith, Notre Dame (Source)
  
• LB Sidney Tarver, Tennessee State (Source) - If you check out our draft tracker from April, the Brownshad visited Tarver's Pro Day.
  
• CB Carl Gettis, Missouri (Source)
• LB Alex Wujciak, LB, Maryland

NFL Free Agency: Cleveland Browns Have Several Free Agents

Most people focus on what players their teams will bring in when NFL Free Agency starts.  At the same time, teams need to try and keep their own players that are now free, thanks to the new CBA agreed to between players and owners earlier today.  As expected, players with at least 4 years of accrued service are now free agents.  How does this affect the Cleveland Browns?  

Below is a list of players that ESPN.com listed as Unrestricten Free Agents for the Browns as Free Agency gets set to begin:

Specifically, nine players in the above list were NOT free agents if the season were to be played under 2010 rules.  The Browns cold have tendered offers to all the 4-year players, like CB Eric Wright, but now those tenders are void.  All the players above are free to sign with other teams once Free Agency starts on Friday, July 29, at 6:00PM et.

Lockout Is Over, Let The Madness Begin

Well it is official. The lockout is finally over. This next week will be one of the busiest in the history of the NFL. Basically the teams have about a week to do things that they usually get a few months to do. Here is the tentative schedule of what will happen this week.

Today- NFL will announce teams can go to 90-man rosters and the official free agent list will be distributed to all 32 teams.

Tuesday- Trading can begin. Beginning at 10:00 a.m. EST teams can reach deals with rookies and undrafted free agents. Teams can also reach agreements with all free agents. Players will be allowed to enter team facilities.

Wednesday- Teams can begin reporting to training camps. The current setup will allow teams to report 15 days before their first preseason games. For the Browns their report date would be Friday.

Thursday- Teams can begin to cut players.

Friday- Starting at 6:00 p.m. EST teams can begin to file transactions with the league office.

This is still a very fluid situation. Please stay tuned to SB Nation Cleveland for future updates.