Nice to see the Browns use their spare salary cap space to extend the contract of TE Steve Heiden, who would have been an unrestricted free agent after the coming season. He’s not a star, but he is a dependable, tough player, and he has more receiving yards as a Brown than any tight end since Ozzie Newsome. And only four players have scored more touchdowns for the “new” Browns than Heiden, who has 11. He’s also the emergency long snapper.
Moves like this are a sure indicator of whom the team considers to be part of its core. Heiden is already 30 years old, so it’s far from assured he’ll play out the next four years in Cleveland, but at least we can erase one position from the long list of needs heading into the draft. Without this signing, a developmental tight end would have been an appropriate use for a second-day pick.
This begs the questions: which other Browns are entering their contract years, and will the team make any move to lock them up ahead of time? Recall, they’ve already extended RB Jason Wright and T Kelly Butler. Here is an unofficial list (correct me if I’m wrong) of players who would be unrestricted free agents after this season:
- G Joe Andruzzi
- WR Tim Carter
- QB Ken Dorsey
- LS Ryan Pontbriand
- LB Matt Stewart
- LB Chaun Thompson
- DT Ted Washington
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LB Mason Unck
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DB Jeremy LeSueur.
Also notable: QB Derek Anderson and CB Daven Holly are among those who would be restricted free agents.
If anyone from this list is likely to get a contract extension, it would have to be Pontbriand. The others are either too old (Andruzzi and Washington), too dicey (Carter, LeSueur), or just not valuable enough to commit to with an early cash infusion.
