Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the Browns have made little effort to sign LB Joe Schobert to an extension and are willing to allow him to walk in free agency next year.
According to Cabot, Schobert and his representatives haven’t heard from the Browns in months about a new deal and even when the two sides spoke, the team made it clear that they weren’t serious about re-signing him to a new deal.
Cabot mentions that the preliminary figures discussed wouldn’t have topped the $9.5 million per year Cleveland is paying Christian Kirksey.
Last week, Schobert told reporters that his understanding of the situation is that the Browns haven’t made him any offers.
“I let my agent handle all this kind of stuff, but my understanding is we haven’t gotten any offers so can’t really build on it from there,’’ Schobert said.
Schobert, 26, is a former fourth-round pick of the Browns back in 2016. He’s currently in the final year of his four-year, $2.97 million contract and will make a base salary of $720,000 for the 2019 season.
Schobert is in line to be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his NFL career next year.
In 2019, Schobert has appeared in 13 games for the Browns and recorded 111 tackles, two sacks, four interceptions, two forced fumbles, a recovery and nine passes defended. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 21 linebacker out of 87 qualifying players.
We have him featured in our Top 50 – 2020 Free Agents list.
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