WR Mike Furrey Signs; to Compete With Robiskie and Massaquoi

by Chris Pokorny on May 5, 2009 9:53 PM EDT in General News Comment 45 comments

Do you know those questions we had about the Cleveland Browns wide receiver depth prior to the draft? You can put them to rest.

Instead of looking at Braylon Edwards, Syndric Steptoe, and David Patten as our only receivers, you can add Brian Robiskie, Mohamed Massaquoi, and out latest signee -- Mike Furrey -- to the list.

Last week, the Browns reportedly brought in former Titans and Rams receiver Drew Bennett for a visit. We didn't end up signing him, but in Furrey we are getting a player with almost an equivalent backstory in terms of productvity.

Furrey started his career in the NFL in 2003 as a low-profile receiver for the Rams. During his three years in St. Louis, he caught 20 passes for 189 yards in his first season but just one catch after that. That's because he was converted to the safety position, where he started 11 games in 2005. During that season, he registered 55 tackles and had four interceptions.

When Furrey was brought over to the Detroit Lions the following year, what did the genius in Mike Martz decide to do? He turned him back into a receiver -- a starting receiver. The results were phenominal and unforeseen:

2006 Season: 98 catches, 1086 yards, and 6 touchdowns.

I'm sorry, but you don't have that type of production without having any talent at this level. He was less productive over the next two years, in part due to Calvin Johnson being developed, and the fact that he suffered an injury last season.

One thing is for sure: Furrey is a possession receiver. His longest catch during the 2006 season was just 31 yards. If healthy, Furrey will be the Jurevicius-type of receiver we missed all of last season, and would be a great fit as a slot receiver. If Brian Robiskie looks awful for whatever reason, I'd also prefer putting Furrey in the starting lineup opposite Edwards, as opposed to Steptoe or Patten.

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Furrey should have a leg up on Patten, Steptoe, and Hubbard

by Roger Dorn on May 5, 2009 10:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Patten vs. Furrey for slot

Eric Berry Bandwagon

by BradyQuinnisBeast on May 5, 2009 10:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Officially on the “cut Steptoe” bandwagon.

by rufio on May 5, 2009 11:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

+1 sorry posted twice on accident

by tjk_doc on May 6, 2009 9:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

not on the bandwagon because he needs one person not to hate hhim

Eric Berry Bandwagon

by BradyQuinnisBeast on May 6, 2009 5:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think his name is cool, does that count?

by Roger Dorn on May 6, 2009 5:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It would have been kinda funny if syndric was the one who stepped on braylon’s foot last year.

Eric Berry Bandwagon

by BradyQuinnisBeast on May 6, 2009 6:44 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

by tjk_doc on May 6, 2009 9:54 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I’m liking this signing provided the price was right.

Anyone have any info on his injury?

If you consider potential, we could do much worse than a WR group of Edwards, Robiskie, Massaquoi, Patton and Furrey.

by mgtbfb on May 6, 2009 10:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

A concussion, I believe.

Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.

by Chris Pokorny on May 6, 2009 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Furrey didn’t want to go on IR and seemed to have beef with the management in Detroit. He wanted to try to help them win games, they didn’t want him on the active roster for whatever reason. I read that he had to track down the GM in the cafeteria to find out he was on IR.

Not too worried about the concussion.

by rufio on May 6, 2009 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He was also dealing with a wretched QB and OL situation in Detroit which could explain his dropoff in production

by Roger Dorn on May 6, 2009 2:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Imagine if Megatron wasn’t dealing with those same issues.

by rufio on May 6, 2009 6:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Scary to think about

by Roger Dorn on May 6, 2009 11:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

by Bernie19Kosar on May 7, 2009 12:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

by rufio on May 7, 2009 1:52 AM EDT up reply actions 2 recs

Nice, this gets a rec from me

by Roger Dorn on May 7, 2009 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

me, too

burninating is firmly in my lexicon

by DontCallMeJoey on May 12, 2009 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

how do u rec a post

by BradyQuinnisBeast on May 12, 2009 5:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

click the “actions” button, and it’ll give you a couple of options. one of those is “rec”

by DontCallMeJoey on May 12, 2009 5:35 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Trogdor is a beast!

Eric Berry Bandwagon

by BradyQuinnisBeast on May 7, 2009 4:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

re: Furrey injury

As far as I know, you guys have all the right info-it was a concussion, but how severe it was depends on who you talked to- Marinelli seemed to think that he was still disoriented a few weeks after; Furrey, the “Heart Of the Lion” disagreed. There is nothing but upside to his signing with the Browns; Detroit’s loss is definitely your gain. For some reason management seemed to stab him in the back, after all he had done, both on the field and off, to improve the Lions’ reputation. Best of Luck, Mike- just sorry that you’ll have to change from #87!

by eirejoeh on May 6, 2009 6:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m loving it!!!

Baseball fans are junkies, and their heroin is the statistic. - Robert S. Wieder

by jerseywahoo on May 6, 2009 10:16 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Detroit fans will miss him: Link

Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.

by Chris Pokorny on May 6, 2009 10:53 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Now im loving this signing even more

Eric Berry Bandwagon

by BradyQuinnisBeast on May 6, 2009 5:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m feeling much, much better about our WR depth now. I’m looking forward to seeing how our offense comes together this year; hopefully they’ll name Quinn the starter before the preseason so he can get plenty of time working with the first team offense and integrating all these new recievers.

by Buckeye Brad on May 6, 2009 12:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This was a bigger need than I thought it was. The trade of Kellen Winslow would have hurt us a lot more if we didn’t have (what appear to be) a few more legit NFL wideouts.

by rufio on May 6, 2009 2:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Joshua Cribbs?

What, no love for Josh Cribbs? C’mon now, you didn’t even mention him once in this article,

but yeah Steptoe now he’s worth mentioning… /s

by Simmsinns on May 6, 2009 1:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

How about this one?

Like Cribbs, Furrey can line up on offense, defense, and special teams. (I’m pretty sure I read some special teams in his resume.)

by JustBob on May 6, 2009 3:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You want some love for Cribbs? Did you happen to read this FanPost posted just yesterday?

by Buckeye Brad on May 6, 2009 5:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

attaboy, Brad. Keep ’em in line!

by drjeo on May 7, 2009 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If you’re a first-time reader, I can see how you felt I shafted Cribbs. I’d like for him to play a role in the offense more, but I think we’ll be seeing him in more of a specialty package. He was supposed to be in that last year in the “Flash” package, but we never used it.

Basically, the reason he wasn’t mentioned is I don’t see the new staff making him a “starting” or slot receiver when they need him to return kicks, cover kicks, do specialty RB formation plays, and possibly play some safety.

Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.

by Chris Pokorny on May 6, 2009 7:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

On an unrelated topic, does anybody know what we are gonna do with Devale Ellis? I saw we signed him, but I don’t hear his name mentioned that much.

by tjk_doc on May 6, 2009 1:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

practice squad more than likely

Eric Berry Bandwagon

by BradyQuinnisBeast on May 6, 2009 5:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah thats what I figured. Now if we can just get Steptoe down there with him….

by tjk_doc on May 7, 2009 9:30 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Mike Furrey signing is falling in line with what Mankok wants. A guy who is willing to do whatever it takes to win. Play offense, play defense, play ST, it doesn’t matter.

I like Mike Furrey and I think he will fill a role on this team.

by Bernie19Kosar on May 7, 2009 12:51 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i’m still confused as to why we drafted MoMass, when guys like bennett and furrey, productive enough guys, are available every year.

by DontCallMeJoey on May 12, 2009 12:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I wouldn’t really call Bennett productive anymore. Furrey didn’t do much either last year. Drafting a guy like Mo Mass gives us a young player with upside under a cheap contract for the next 5-6 years.

I am not saying that I am sold on Mo Mass, but given the choice between Massaquoi for the next 5-6 years or Furrey/Bennett for the next 1-2, I think the choice is really easy

by Roger Dorn on May 12, 2009 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i guess what i’m saying is that you could have taken a different player at 50 (lesean mccoy?, defense?), and used guys like bennett and/or furrey as 1-2 year plugs for the next couple of years instead of investing a pick in MoMass AND picking up the bennetts/furreys of the world, who are available every single offseason. this all speaks to my opinion that there are too many positions of need on this team to have taken 2 wr’s in the first 50 picks.

by DontCallMeJoey on May 12, 2009 3:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If i was given the choice of mccoy and MoMass i would do what mangini did. The Ideal thing to do would have been to take E. Brown at 36 and traded our 6th rounder and our 50th pick to take Robo before the bears.

by BradyQuinnisBeast on May 12, 2009 5:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I really wasn’t high on McCoy but I know a lot of others felt otherwise. Defense wouldn’t have been too objectionable, though. Especially with some of the DEs around. I think Kruger was still on the board at that point, who I would have thought was worth it, too.

by rufio on May 12, 2009 7:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Who is supposed to be better between M. Johnson, Kruger, and DV

by BradyQuinnisBeast on May 12, 2009 9:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good question.

Johnson has more speed and height, but he is pretty narrow, especially for the DL. If he can learn to use leverage, and puts in the conditioning so that he can stay low and keep his motor running at 100%, I’d have to go with him. I don’t think he would make a very good 3-4 OLB, though.

Kruger looks like he has a stronger lower body, Veikune looks like he has the stronger upper body. Veikune looks like he has a better initial step, Kruger looks like he has more closing speed. Veikune looks more agile. Scouts inc liked Kruger more, I think.

by rufio on May 12, 2009 10:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I just noticed all 3 play in the AFC North so they will be compared for a long time more than likely

by BradyQuinnisBeast on May 12, 2009 10:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not a terrible point. I think there is some “upside” factor to Massaquoi, and if he has/develops reliable hands he can be better than the types of players that are available in FA this time of year. Kind of a huge “if”.

I am sticking with this being the pick I both really like and really don’t like.

by rufio on May 12, 2009 7:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs