The Cleveland Browns have done a terrible job of retaining their own free agents, and might lose another one in linebacker Craig Robertson, who has already met with the Seattle Seahawks and his next visit will be with the New Orleans Saints.
A new coach isn’t helping the Browns keep some of their better players in place, many of them eager to finally escape the least successful NFL franchise of the last 15 years. They’ve so far lost five of their unsigned free agents and Robertson, a 4-3 outside linebacker who has been with the team since 2011, might be next.
Robertson has done well for someone who went undrafted in 2011 and has become a vital piece in the Browns defense over time, playing 58 games over the last four seasons with 37 starts. Usually playing as the outside linebacker in the 4-3 defense, he has six career interceptions and four sacks, scoring one defensive touchdown in his career back in 2014 off of a fumble return.
Robertson has been going on a year-to-year basis with the Browns, playing for $2.3 million last season on a one year deal. He’s probably looking for a team that can give him a little bit more stability and promise of some guaranteed money, although he probably isn’t a three-down kind of linebacker in the eyes of the Seahawks; maybe the rebuilding (defensively) Saints.
The Browns have plenty of cap space (over $41 million) but they’ve been struggling to draw players or keep their own. The Saints are in the worst cap spot in the NFl with just $817,000 available to them at the moment, while the Seahawks have just over $11 million in cap space available, heading into a season that has a little warning cloud suggesting their impressive run over the last three or four seasons might be coming to an end.