Canton
Browns looking at Steelers' Cliff Haggans to aid linebacking corps
Thursday, March 20, 2008
BY
Steve Doerschuk
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER
Cleveland struck a little gold by playing rent-a-Steeler in 2002. Maybe it can happen again.
Needing to beef up the outside linebacker spot opposite Kamerion Wimbley, the Browns resumed courting Clark Haggans on Wednesday.
In 2002, the Browns made the playoffs with help from middle linebacker Earl Holmes, who had spent the previous six years with Pittsburgh and was a Brown for just a year. Haggans, an eight-year Steeler, is 31, roughly two years older than Holmes was when the Browns signed him.
A mad March dash through the player-acquisition market left the Browns with only two or three worrisome positions, one carrying the initials OLB.
Haggans' best year was 2005. Despite missing three games, he delivered a career-high nine sacks. During 2006 training camp, when Haggans was coming off a big Super Bowl, linebacker Larry Foote told Steel City Insider:
"Clark is definitely underrated. He should have made the Pro Bowl. He's ripped. He's a workout warrior, full of energy. Even if he's tired and everybody's dog-beat, you know Clark will be giving it 110 percent."
Cont...