During his press conference (via ClevelandBrowns.com) on Thursday following OTAs, Cleveland Browns head coach Rob Chudzinski was asked specifically about the team's interest in former Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer.

Chudzinski avoided referring to Hoyer by name, saying:

Just a few hours later, the Browns signed Hoyer (per Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer).

The Browns and Hoyer have been at least casually linked since the front office changed hands and Michael Lombardi became the team's general manager.

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Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice said at his youth football clinic, Ray Rice Day, that he's ready to start catching more passes, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun.

The idea of "Rice the Receiver" isn't anything new. As Wilson points out, Rice has had the most receptions of any running back since coming into the league in 2008 (311), and he has the second-most receiving yards among running backs (2,713). The idea of Rice being a top receiver in the Ravens offense, with Jim Caldwell as offensive coordinator, is something new, however.

It's not a bad choice for Baltimore in 2013, especially as the team searches for a reliable receiving replacement for Anquan Boldin, whom it traded to the San Francisco 49ers for a sixth-round draft pick. In 2011, Rice had 104 targets—just one less than Boldin, who led the team—and he's regularly amassed 500 or more receiving yards in a season, including over 700, twice. 

Rice's overall offensive role appeared to diminish in 2012. Both his 1,143 rushing and 478 receiving yards were his lowest totals since his rookie season. This wasn't because of any real or perceived decline in Rice's abilities—he's never been injured and is four years away from the dreaded age 30. It was more about the personnel around him and the man tasked, for most of the season, with coordinating them.

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Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green is one of the most talented young players at his position. In his two seasons in the NFL, Green has amassed 2,407 yards, 18 touchdowns and 104 first downs on 162 receptions. 

In 2012, he ranked 10th in the league in receiving yards, seventh in receptions, fifth in targets, fourth in touchdowns and ninth in first downs, all while being thrown to by a quarterback, Andy Dalton, who has been in the league for the same amount of time as him.

In both 2011 and 2012, the Dalton-Green connection helped lead the Bengals to the postseason and has produced an offensive renaissance that has nearly faded the Carson Palmer-Chad Johnson years into a vague memory of things past. 

But a wide receiver—even one as naturally talented as Green—needs to be available to catch passes. Yes, Green—like his older contemporaries Calvin Johnson and Andre Johnson—is prodigious in his ability to pull down completions even when double- and triple-covered (just look to his 2012 game summaries by FootballGuys.com for full details), but it's not safe for Dalton to continue to force passes to Green when he's covered by a cornerback (or two) and a safety at the same time.

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While a team's rookie class gets dissected in the days and weeks following the NFL draft, the best way to evaluate how well it did is to see how those players that comprised that draft perform over the course of their careers. 

In 2010, the Pittsburgh Steelers had 10 picks in the draft. Let's take a look at how the Steelers fared that year when it comes to identifying talented players based on how much of—and how positive—an impact they've had in their three seasons in the league.

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A common practice when any year's NFL draft ends is to hand out draft grades for that year's class. While useful in some respects—it's a way to tally how well a given team has met needs and found value and talent—the true measure of whether or not a given team has done so successfully cannot be assessed until years down the line, after these players spend meaningful time in the NFL.

Here, we look back at the Cleveland Browns' 2010 draft class to see just how well the team did in that year's draft. Complicating things somewhat is that these picks were made two regimes ago; to stay with the Browns, therefore, these men need to have serious staying power.

How well did the Browns do in 2010, and how does that translate to the team's current situation, with a new front office and coaching staff? Read on.

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Though grading a draft class right after the NFL draft ends is a popular practice, there's not too much one can learn from it. Granted, it's useful when it comes to evaluating how a team met their perceived needs, found value and made the most of each of their picks, but nothing can really be learned about how well a team drafted until those players take the field and start their professional careers.

Here, we look back at the Baltimore Ravens' 2010 draft class and see how each of their seven picks have fared in the NFL after three seasons and whether or not general manager Ozzie Newsome's vaunted draft genius is a proven fact or just part of the team's mythology. 

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Once the NFL draft ends, there's a mad rush to grade each team's picks. While a good practice in theory, it's ultimately limited. All one can grade is how well a given team met perceived needs, found value and picked players who had strong college production, all while projecting how those players may perform on the NFL stage.

Many things can change for teams and players alike between the draft and Week 1 of the season, and they certainly change again between that first snap and the final one, which can render those day-after grades useless.

It's better to look at draft classes from previous years after those players have had a chance to make an impact—or not—in the NFL.

Here, we look back at the Cincinnati Bengals' 2010 draft class and hand out grades now that each player has had three seasons to prove his respective worth in the league. 

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The Cleveland Browns were criticized for not finding a starting-caliber cornerback in the early days of free agency, but it seemed to only indicate it would be a position they would address in the draft. 

Though the Browns did draft a corner, the one they did take—Leon McFadden in Round 3—seems best suited for a slot or nickel cornerback job in the NFL and not to join Joe Haden on the outside. 

So who joins Haden? It's the big offseason question in Cleveland—well, at least the biggest one that doesn't involve the quarterback situation—and none of the answers feel entirely comfortable. Buster Skrine, who spent 2012 bouncing between the slot, left and right receiving jobs, appears to be a front-runner based on his level of experience. 

Trevin Wade could also be in the running, and free-agent signings Chris Owens and Kevin Barnes could also play snaps on the outside. Johnson Bademosi played just 24 defensive snaps (subscription required) last year, which makes it seem like he still has some developing to do before he becomes a starter in the secondary. 

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