Saturday evening I wrote all about the teams that former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison may and may not land with. The most obvious team that he could land with is the Cleveland Browns and apparently even Harrison thinks that would be “great”, according to a report Sunday by Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal.
“Playing for the Browns would bring me back home,” Harrison said through his agent, Bill Parise. “It would be great.”
According to Ulrich, Parise said he had not yet talked to the Browns as of Sunday afternoon about Harrison, however.
Before turning their attention to Harrison, the Browns seem intent on possibly trying to raid the Baltimore Ravens of a few of their linebacker free agents. Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer reports on Sunday that the Browns have talked to the agents of Ravens free agent linebackers Dannell Ellerbe and Paul Kruger since the legal free agent tampering period started Saturday at 12:01 a.m. Kruger plays outside, while Ellerbe plays inside.
The Browns are not stopping with the Ravens cupboard, as Cliff Avril of the Detroit Lions also has their attention. Avril would fit as an outside linebacker in the 3-4 that new defensive coordinator Ray Horton is installing.
Harrison can likely expect to wait a little while, but the good news for him is that the Browns have a significant amount of cap space at their disposal. Horton is well aware of Harrison from his time in Pittsburgh as well, so the fit is a natural one.
At this point it would be surprising to hear Harrison quoted as saying he would hate to play for any team. He is unemployed right now and the list of teams that might be able to afford his salary demands and make him a starter, appears from the outside, to be short.
