NFL free agency: Karlos Dansby explains decision to leave to Cleveland Browns

One of the most disappointing moves related to the Arizona Cardinals was the signing they didn't make. Many fans are very disappointed that linebacker Karlos Dansby left and signed a four-year contract with the Cleveland Browns.

He was on the radio Wednesday and Thursday with Arizona Sports 98.7 and Fox Sports Radio 910 and talked about it.

Here is the interview with Mike Jurecki (download it directly here):

Here is the interview with Burns and Gambo (download it directly here):

In the interview with Jurecki, he makes the connections with new Browns head coach Mike Pettine, who was the defensive coordinator in Buffalo last season. Dansby visited the Browns as a free agent a year ago and Pettine really wanted Dansby.

"He (Pettine) really wanted me in that defense last year, because 'there are some things that I can't do that I want to do,'" explained Dansby. "'I know you can handle it, you can handle the challenge.""

He said, hearing that from a coordinator, it gave him goosebumps, especially with the goal he has to catch up with Ray Lewis in his career as the best inside linebacker.

In his talk on Arizona Sports, he explained the offer from Cleveland as "a supernatural calling" he just had to do. He was shocked about the offer from the Browns.

Now for the whole contract offer by the Cardinals.

Dansby shed some light. When asked about the reported two-year, $10-12 million offer, he said that it was "incorrect." He didn't know who let that out, but he said that wasn't true.

He did say this, though, "They showed me what they valued me at and I was like 'OK, that's cool,'" Dansby said. "But when you get called, you've got to drop everything and roll."

Now, in the interview with Jurecki, he said that he also didn't know about any deal. He never had any communication with the team.

"I really didn't know they sent an offer after the season," he said. "My agent never told me anything about it. He just told me he was going to talk to them at the Combine and that's the last time I talked to my agent about it. That was it. He said he was going to try and negotiate a get a contract done. I wasn't really worried about it."

Then he got a call from his agent saying he got a deal with the Browns, "and that was it."

It sounds like he gave his agent some guidelines heading into the offseason and then just let him handle things from there. However, it does sound weird that he said in the Arizona Sports interview that Cards showed him he was valued. Maybe he is blowing smoke in the 910 interview, or perhaps he found out about he terms from his agent after the fact.

There were two parts I found interesting. In the Arizona Sports interview and in the 910 interview, the whole concept of winning came up. He has said he wanted to be in a winning situation, but then lands in Cleveland. Listening to him, he was super excited about the possibility of taking a team from the dumps to be a winning team, much like he saw happen in Arizona.

"I didn't go into a bad situation," he said. "I went into a situation where I can breathe life into it. It's a new day, a new era."

In his 910 interview, it was a little on the self-serving side, but he explained why he was so important in the Arizona locker room.

First, he knew that he was capable of the type of season he had. "I knew what I was going against," he said. "I had Marshawn Lynch twice a year, I got Frank Gore twice a year, Vernon Davis. I got all these guys twice -- (Colin) Kaepernick, Russell Wilson. I've got to run with these guys. I was up for that challenge, and I had to raise the play of the guys around me for that challenge."

He said his drive and determination "caught on like wildfire" with the other guys and the players "started to believe."

He said that with the previous three years, "the belief had left the building" and that once the players started believing, "that's when we turned the corner."

Say what you will about his self-aggrandizing, he is a man that believes in his ability and is looking to build a legacy. He helped turn around the Cardinals in 2013 and is really excited to do the same in Cleveland.

He is a fantastic player that will do good things in Cleveland. He has an even greater role there and can carve out a place in history if he can achieve what he hopes to. And I've said it before, it isn't crazy to think that Cleveland can have a quick turnaround. Baltimore and Pittsburgh are not the juggernauts they were. Cincinnati has had player turnover and coach turnover. Cleveland is in a position to grab a young quarterback and use a talented defense to turn things around. And if Dansby was able to breathe life into the locker room in Arizona, there is no reason he can't do the same in Cleveland.