Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the Browns are trying to re-sign CB Buster Skrine before the start of free agency, but there is a lot of interest in the free agent.
According to Cabot, Skrine will be a “highly sought-after” free agent once free agency is open for business and could command a salary of anywhere from $5.5 million to $7 million per year.
The Browns have been in contact with Skrine’s agent, Jared Fox, in recent weeks, but the expectation right now is that he’ll like wait until the start of free agency before agreeing to anything.
Cleveland could still have a shot to either match his best offer or surpass it, depending on their level of interest.
Browns HC Mike Pettine mentioned last week that retaining Skrine is among their offseason goals.
“I know it’s well-documented, Buster (Skrine) going to free agency, that he’s somebody that we’ve been in discussions to try to get back but we’ll wait and see how that plays itself out,” Pettine said.
Skrine, 25, was a fifth-round draft pick back in 2011, and has played out his rookie four-year, $2.242M rookie contract that included just $202,000 guaranteed.
In 2014, Skrine appeared all 16 games and recorded 67 tackles, four interceptions, and 18 pass defenses for the Browns. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 82 cornerback out of 108 qualifying players.
We have Skrine listed as the No. 72 player in our Top 100 Free Agents list.
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