Chester Taylor Offer Sheet

Man, Phil Savage sure is, as they say, moving confidently in the direction of his dreams... Baltimore restricted FA RB Chester Taylor signed a generous offer sheet with the Browns. Basically it's a 3 mil, one year deal. And I'll be surprised if Baltimore wants to match that. There are a few things that seem to be at play here:

• The contract numbers are high for a guy with Taylor's experience. That means one or more things:
  
  • Savage REALLY likes Taylor.
    
  • The contract is artificially high, and Savage and Taylor have an agreement for a longer term deal if the Ravens don't match.
    
  • Savage feels the team has a dire need for another decent RB.
    
  
  
• In any event, the Ravens don't seem to win here. They would net a 6th round pick, but otherwise the Ravens can't be happy about this. They are either going to pay Taylor more than they want, or they are losing a player they don't want to lose. Taylor may or may not be worth 3 mil a year, but we should at least be happy to stick it to the Ravens.
  
• For the Browns, this obviously means William Green will not be a Brown. Green seems to have proven he _might_ become an alright starter, but he really sucked coming off the bench last year. And he wasn't going to start in Cleveland. Green has some talent, but he just isn't there mentally. He'll get another shot somewhere in the NFL but it won't be in Cleveland, and it won't be as a starter.
  
• The fact that the Browns are willing to invest 3 million bones in a RB says that the staff is not sold on Suggs. In fact, I think it should be obvious not that Savage is not the type of GM who is going to reassure players of their starting status. Instead, everything is and will remain an open competition. It's just like saying of McCown "could be a solid #2, and that's not bad." Well, he's telling Suggs that he's got some talent but he's a long way from being a definite starter.
  
• I have to believe that Savage is intent on extending Taylor's contract to a 3 or even 4 year deal. He'll probably give Taylor another million or two in signing bonus and a little over a million in salary. At least I hope so.
  
• This probably means the Browns will not be selecting a halfback in the draft. I'm not sure this makes a trade down more or less likely. But I'm pretty sure it increases the odds the Browns consider a QB or WR at #3. I still think they'd like to go defense if possible and are targeting a linebacker. But this move, along with all the others so far, certainly means the Browns will not be drafting for need and will be taking whoever they feel is the best player available.
  
• Even if the Browns are overpaying Taylor for a year, the contract is just for a year. It just so happens the Browns have enough cap space.
  
• Man, you have to love that Savage is, at the least, messing with the Ravens. And we really don't care what Baltimore does cause either way Savage has kicked a little dirt in their eye.