With Ray Horton leaving the Cardinals for the defensive coordinator job with the Cleveland Browns, Arizona lost a very talented coach and play-caller for their defense. He made good players look great and decent players look better than they did before he arrived.
Such was the case with Greg Toler, a cornerback for the Cardinals that thrived under Horton's direction. He is now thought to be one of the most under the radar free agents this offseason. There is no doubting that he will garner interest from multiple teams around the league. In fact, reports have already come out that Horton could look into bringing Toler to Cleveland.
But Toler isn't the only player that could be on the Browns' radar.
According to Cardinals insider Mike Jurecki, the Browns might have interest in Cardinals safety Rashad Johnson as well.
Don't be surprised IF #Cleveland makes a run at Rashad Johnson, who played well under Ray Horton, free agency starts March 12 #AzCardinals
— Mike Jurecki (@mikejurecki) February 26, 2013
Johnson is a player that the Cardinals will want to retain. Their safety position is aging and having a young veteran that can continue to take more snaps from Adrian Wilson will be in the defense's best interest. Johnson has shown dramatic improvements, especially last season, and figures to keep improving under a new contract.
Johnson is currently an unrestricted free agent, free to sign with whatever team he so chooses unless the Cardinals decide to franchise tag him (which they won't). But as Jurecki said, it is a big IF right now. He is not reporting that the Browns do have interest, rather that they may once free agency opens. It really would not come as a surprise. They have plenty of cap room and could easily outbid the Cardinals for his and Toler's services.
The Cardinals will likely need to make huge offers to prevent either of the defensive backs from at least testing the free agent waters. It's in their best interest to gauge what kind of money they can get on the open market. So once that time comes on March 12, expect the Browns to be one of the teams that calls each of them.
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