TV20 Sports Report
By: Christian Patterson
This new era of Cleveland Browns football is starting to get very exciting! For a team that has been somewhat cheap and modest over the past few years, they are really stepping into an aggressive role this off-season. When free agency opened up March 12th I was surprised to see that the Browns were among the few teams that pursued players aggressively early.
With the Browns changing their defense to a 3-4 for the upcoming 2013 season, acquiring a pass-rushing outside linebacker was crucial. So the Browns decided to take advantage of Baltimore Raven Paul Kruger’s availability and sign him to a five-year deal. Kruger stepped up big time at the outside linebacker position for the Super Bowl Champion Ravens while Terrell Suggs was sidelined due to injury. During the 2012-2013 season Kruger posted 42 tackles in which 30 of those tackles were solo, 9 sacks, 1 interception and 1 forced fumble and fumble recovery. He was a key component of Baltimore’s pass rush and that’s what Cleveland will be paying him the big bucks for.
![Paul Kruger](http://tv20cleveland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/browns-p-kruger-1.jpg?w=551&resize=551%2C309)
Now the Browns are continuing to stay persistent during this free agency by signing former Cardinals linebacker Quentin Groves to a two-year deal. This is another acquisition that the Browns made to help add depth to their outside linebacker position. During the 2012-2013 season Groves posted 46 tackles in which 37 were solo tackles, 4 sacks and 1 forced fumble. Groves has a great relationship with Browns new defensive coordinator Ray Horton because Horton was the defensive coordinator for the Cardinals in 2012.
![Quentin Groves](http://tv20cleveland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/browns-q-groves.jpg?w=551&resize=551%2C306)
The Browns also made a nice pick-up for their defensive line in signing defensive tackle Desmond Bryant a former Oakland Raider. During the 2012-2013 season Bryant posted 36 tackles in which 24 were solo tackles, 3 sacks and 1 forced fumble.
![Desmond Bryant](http://tv20cleveland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/browns-d-bryant.jpg?resize=500%2C550)
For it to only be the second day of free agency, the Cleveland Browns are making a huge impact and they still have time to make more noise! In my opinion, our next pick-up should be one of these veteran wide-receivers in free agency. The Browns waited too late to get Mike Wallace, but they still have a chance to get a game changing receiver like Greg Jennings or Wes Welker.
The Browns are headed in the right direction, and we still have a lot of time to see what other tricks they might have up their sleeve!