Bengals now unlikely to match Browns offer for Andrew Hawkins and how that effects Julian Edelman

Poor Julian Edelman. He seems to be the second choice of any team that's interested in him, except the Patriots.

The Pats offered Edelman a three-year deal which his camp felt was too low. So far, he's garnered interest from both the Ravens and Browns. However, the Ravens seem to have their eyes set on signing Steve Smith, who was just released in Carolina. The Browns were in the Edelman sweepstakes when their offer for Bengals receiver Andrew Hawkins was reportedly going to be matched.

That's not the case anymore.

B/c of the structure of Andrew Hawkins' now-signed offer sheet with the Browns, I'm told the Bengals rethought things, now unlikely to match

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 13, 2014

Hawkins is another shifty slot-type player, so it wouldn't make much sense for the Browns to sign both he and Edelman. If the Ravens end up locking up Steve Smith today, Edelman might have to cut his losses and come back to the Patriots.