Brian Hartline Put His Miami 'Place Up in December'
Brian Hartline appeared to have one foot out the door of South Florida as early as December, alluding to as much towards the end of an interview on the Joe Rose Show on WQAM Tuesday morning.
Rose: "Are you going to be spending any more time down here? Are you going to keep [a place down] here or are you moving out of here completely?"
Hartline: "No I'm outta there -- I put my place up in December."
Rose: "Boy you did see this coming, didn't ya?"
Hartline: "[laughing] We're just looking for our next chapter. Florida was an unbelievable place. We'll definitely be back down there at some point in our lifestyle but right now it just didn't make sense financially. We'll keep one house in Ohio and looking forward to being down there vacationing and seeing old friends and yourself and hopefully one day be retiring down there."
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Earlier in the interview, Hartline was asked about his options in free agency and what led him to his hometown Browns.
"It was really coming down to getting a gut feeling of where I wanted to be, where I saw my career growing, where could I learn the most, where could I potentially achieve the most as an individual and as a team," Hartline said. "Chicago, Houston, New England, Cleveland, that was basically the run of the four."
After two consecutive 70-catch, 1000-yard seasons, Hartline appeared to be phased out of Miami's offense last year, especially late, catching just 10 balls over the last six games. He was targeted just 63 times on the year, down from 134 the previous season, and finished with 39 receptions and a career-low 474 receiving yards.
"At some point I guess I just wasn't a part of the experiment, I wasn't a part of the progress moving forward and that was evident," Hartline said. "And they decided to go a completely different direction."
Hartline expected to be in South Florida for 10 years and admitted moving on to a new team has been a "surreal" experience. Now in Cleveland, who will be throwing him the ball?
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