Bob Hallen

Lost in the shuffle of Browns' free agent signings (at least to me) was Mentor native and former Kent State Golden Flash Bob Hallen. Here's an article on the veteran from the Browns' official site. Hallen's signing didn't escape Ace Davis' attention, however, and he's got a good post analyzing its implications for the Browns in general and for Jeff Faine in particular.

Even though I'm a huge Notre Dame fan, I've never been real high on Jeff Faine. If the signing of LeCharles Bentley wasn't enough to signal that Faine's on the block, I think Hallen's signing seals the deal. The only position Faine can play is center, and his injury history and uninspiring performance makes him expendable.

Davis is much higher on Faine that I am, and is hopeful about using him to trade up in the 2nd or 3rd round. I hope he's right, but I don't think that's realistic. The Browns have telegraphed their dissatisfaction with Faine almost since the first day that Savage showed up for work. Given the history, I doubt very much they'd be able to command anything better than a 4th or 5th round pick for him at this point in his career.

By the way, Ace Davis has the best commentary on the differences between the Browns' free agent performance under the Butch Davis and Romeo Crennel regimes that I've seen so far. Savage has been getting a lot of credit for the moves that the team has made in the past few days, but guys like McGinest and Washington didn't come here because of him, they came here because of Crennel.