Trade For Browns? Think Defense First.

The NFL trade deadline doesn’t usually have the juice that the same date has in baseball, basketball, or even hockey, but in recent years there has been more and more activity.

With the loss of Odell Beckham Jr. for the season due to a knee injury, there has been much speculation the Cleveland Browns could be in the market for a replacement for one of their offensive playmakers.

However, would that be the best move GM Andrew Berry could be making?

You see, the Browns are the second highest scoring team in the AFC, behind only the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. Overall, they have scored the fifth most points in the NFL, topped only by the Buccaneers, Chiefs, Seahawks, and Cardinals.

Outside of the game in Dallas, Kevin Stefanski’s crew has done it without a huge contribution from Beckham, who scored three times that day.

The former Giant is second on the Browns in receptions, behind Jarvis Landry, and just one catch ahead of TE Austin Hooper. He’s also second in receiving yards.

We are not trying to insinuate the Browns won’t miss Beckham. None of the players Cleveland will use to replace him are close to him in terms of talent.

But the team is getting KhaDarel Hodge back from IR and we saw what Rashard Higgins and rookien Donovan Peoples-Jones did against Cincinnati. Higgins had over 100 receiving yards last Sunday, and we would remind you Beckham has just two in 22 games with Cleveland.

Our point is the Browns have plenty of weapons on offense, even without Beckham. Assuming Nick Chubb can return after the bye week (or shortly thereafter), Stefanski still has Chubb, Kareem Hunt, Landry, and Hooper. We would also envision a bigger role for David Njoku and rookie TE Harrison Bryant.

If Berry is going to make a deal, we would look at a defensive unit that has allowed the second highest point total in the NFL, ahead of only Dallas.

That puts a lot of pressure on the offensive to score 30 points virtually every week. In fact, the Browns are 5-0 when they score 30+, and 0-2 when they don’t.

Right now, the Browns have two very good players on that side of the ball. Let us correct that. They have one superstar on defense and a very good cornerback. We are obviously talking about Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward.

There shouldn’t be a debate that if Berry makes a deal, it should be with an eye on improving this area of the team.

Another pass rusher would be ideal, but right now, only Garrett is making his presence felt, and no doubt future opponents see the same thing. Being double teamed is one thing, but the former first overall pick might start seeing three men blocking him, because no one else is applying pressure.

Sheldon Richardson has 2.5 sacks, Adrian Clayborn has 2, and no other defensive lineman has one. In fact, the only linebacker on the board is B.J. Goodson, who has .5. The rest are from blitzing defensive backs.

We certainly aren’t saying to give up high draft picks, but in the past couple of days we’ve seen two pass rushers (Everson Griffen and Carlos Dunlap) go for lower round picks. So it can be done without a high cost.

Another receiver would be nice, sure. But the biggest area of need for the Browns is fixing the porous defense. It probably wouldn’t put Cleveland on par with the likes of the Chiefs, Steelers, or Ravens level, but it would take pressure off the offense to score every time they get the football.

And if you get to the playoffs? Why not win a game or two?

Whatever The Reason, Nothing Is Clicking With Baker & OBJ

Earlier this week, we asked a question on social media. We wondered what was different between Baker Mayfield’s rookie season, and the other 22 games he has played with the Browns.

A few people responded with the changes in the head coach and the offensive coordinators. No one answered with the response we felt was the difference. That would be the presence of Odell Beckham Jr.

The former Heisman Trophy winner completed 63.8 percent of his throws in his first year in the league, since then? 59.7% He had 27 touchdowns and 14 interceptions as a rookie, he has 32 TD’s and 27 picks since.

His yards per completion increased by a tenth of a yard last year, but it has decreased by more than a yard in 2020.

It has been noted there are have been many differences and we aren’t overlooking the four head coaches and offensive coordinators Mayfield has played for in his 38 NFL starts as a factor. He has never had the opportunity to play in a system and then be able to tweak things in the off-season. He’s always been in a learning mode.

There is no denying that the starting quarterback and the superstar wide receiver haven’t clicked like former GM John Dorsey thought they would when he dealt for Beckham over a year ago.

Beckham Jr. has played 22 games as a member of the Browns, and really, how many of them has he made a major impact?

He’s had two 100 yard receiving games, 161 yards in week two of the ’19 season against the Jets, and 101 vs. Seattle in week six. He’s had just one game with more than one touchdown, that was in his great performance against Dallas three weeks ago.

He’s only caught more than five passes six times, topped by an 8 catch for 66 yards in a loss to Arizona last season.

During his last season with the Giants, a year in which he played just 12 games due to an injury, Beckham had 100+ yard games and seven games with more than five catches. Worse, dating back to his third year in the NFL, OBJ’s team has a 3-8 record when he has over 100 yards receiving.

To be fair, Beckham has played on some lousy football teams, but this year’s Browns’ squad isn’t one of them. Which made his “tired of losing” comments after the loss to Pittsburgh last week a little curious.

There has been no evidence that Beckham is a problem in the locker room, and it appears his teammates like him. But, maybe it’s just that the personalities of Mayfield and Beckham just do not mesh.

On the other hand, we wouldn’t be surprised if Beckham is one of the those guys who sucks the air out of every room he enters.

He’s a big name for sure, but as we have just shown, he’s more reputation than production throughout his tenure with the Browns. He’s a media favorite, but that’s more for his career before he came to Cleveland.

In terms of his place on the roster, would OBJ even rank as one of the five best players on the Browns? No doubt Myles Garrett would rank #1, and you have Nick Chubb, Denzel Ward, Kareem Hunt, and his fellow wide receiver Jarvis Landry, who since his former college teammate arrived also has two 100 yard games, both in wins, and also has one game with more than one TD.

Yet every game, there is the need from fans and media alike to “get OBJ involved”. When Chubb is healthy, wouldn’t it behoove the Browns to get Chubb going right away?

If Mayfield feels a need in each game to get the ball to Beckham then someone should have a talk with him. His job should be to guide the offense and produce victories, not accumulate stats for a particular player.

It would be interesting to see how Mayfield would play without Beckham in the equation. Would it make a difference in his game? We may never find out.

But it is pretty obvious there is no connection between the two players. Mayfield and Landry have it, heck, Rashard Higgins and Mayfield have more of a chemistry.

Something isn’t clicking though. Can it be fixed and is Kevin Stefanski the guy who can make it happen?

Browns Need Draft To Address Defense, Not QB

In our last post, we talked about Baker Mayfield and asked the people who have seen enough of him as the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns what is the alternative.

We know the other QB on the roster, Case Keenum, will be 33 years old soon, and has a 27-35 record as a starter, with just one season, 2017 with the Vikings, with a winning record. His record taking the opening offensive snap that season was 11-3.

This means, even with rudimentary math skills, other than that season, Keenum is 16-32 as a starter, so he is not exactly a QB who raises his team over their shortcomings. He’s a journeyman. He’s a good backup because he’s a former starter in the league, but we don’t think for a minute that Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt want to explore a scenario where Keenum is getting the majority of snaps for the Browns.

What this also means is if Mayfield will not be the quarterback in 2021, his replacement isn’t on the roster right now.

Where would the Browns find a replacement?

Keep in mind, the Browns still have weaknesses on the defensive side of the football, and we would have expected a great deal of next spring’s NFL Draft (to be held here in Cleveland) will be spent upgrading that unit.

Right now, the defense has Myles Garrett, a candidate for the league’s defensive player of the year, and a very good cornerback in Denzel Ward, although many around northeast Ohio don’t seem to realize how good he is.

Larry Ogunjobi and Sheldon Richardson are solid on the defensive line, but the linebacking corps and the safety positions have to be addressed if the Browns are going to be on the same level as the Ravens and Steelers.

So, trading draft picks to either move up in the draft or to get a veteran starting quarterback from another team looking to rebuild inhibits the team’s ability to address the defense.

And do you really want to go back in the draft to find your next signal caller? The year the Browns drafted Mayfield (2018), here are the other passers taken in the first round: Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, Josh Rosen, and Lamar Jackson.

Jackson won the league MVP last season, but more for his all around skills than as a passer, and Allen is on a team that made the playoffs a year ago, but his numbers aren’t as good as Mayfield’s. He has 20 touchdowns running the ball, three more than the guy picked second that season, Saquon Barkley.

In the 2017 draft, two excellent quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson were taken in the first round. That’s the good news.

The bad news is the first QB taken was Mitchell Trubisky by Chicago. He’s been benched.

So, will the Browns find someone better than Mayfield in the draft next year? We would say it’s 50/50. And any thoughts of another tank job to secure the first pick in any subsequent draft should be squelched by everyone. Been there, done that.

That leaves with the veteran option, and who are you going to get on that market. First, you will have to pay a king’s ransom in terms of draft capital and takes a significant salary cap hit.

Likely, you will also be getting someone past their prime. And if you don’t win a Super Bowl within two or three seasons, you will be setting back the franchise in the long run, because you will need to find a younger QB very soon.

It’s definitely a quandary for Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski, but hopefully Stefanski will coach and guide Mayfield, and we will see better results going forward. Remember, this is Mayfield’s fourth coach since he was drafted.

It hasn’t been fair to his development and hopefully he is strong enough to overcome the obstacles his career has had.

What’s needed most? Patience.

Blame Baker? What Is The Alternative?

The Cleveland Browns were no match for the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday, as they fell to 4-2 on the season after the 38-7 beat down.

After six games, we can make this conclusion about the Browns. They aren’t in the same class as the Steelers and Ravens, both of whom put a wallop on the brown and orange, over 30 point defeats.

That isn’t meant to be catastrophic news. Both of these things can be true. Cleveland is a much improved football team. They won four straight after an opening loss to Baltimore, and it would not be a surprise to see both Dallas (weak division) and Indianapolis in the post-season.

However, the three best teams in the AFC might just be the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, the Ravens, and the Steelers, although Tennessee might have something to say about that.

As usual when the Browns lose, the questions surrounding quarterback Baker Mayfield start. Our guess is if you didn’t want then GM John Dorsey to take the former Heisman Trophy winner from Oklahoma, you feel he isn’t the guy long term at QB, so your ire is focused on Mayfield.

If you watched that game on Sunday and determined the reason Cleveland lost by 31 points is Baker Mayfield, then we question your football acumen.

Look, we aren’t saying Mayfield played a good game. His first quarter pick six on the first drive of the game was a terrible throw, and good QBs can’t and don’t make that pass. But the Browns were dominated on both lines of scrimmage.

The offensive line, which has been so good in the four game win streak, was simply out muscled by Pittsburgh’s front seven. And you can blame Wyatt Teller being out, but rookie Jedrick Wills, Joel Bitonio and J.C. Tretter struggled too.

What is the alternative to Mayfield? It certainly isn’t veteran Case Keenum, who replaced the starter in the third quarter and completed 5 of 9 throws for 46 yards, 24 of them coming on his first pass, a busted coverage throw to Jarvis Landry.

We know what Keenum is, he’s a serviceable starter, but mostly a backup QB. He’s not going to become a top 10 signal caller at this stage of his career.

And the Browns have improved enough so they will not be picking in the top five of the draft, barring injuries. Add to this we have seen the quarterbacks coming out of college in the past few years, and most of them don’t look as good in the professional game.

We don’t want to make excuses for any professional athlete, but Mayfield has played 36 games in the NFL and has had four head coaches, and four offensive coordinators. Before we make any judgment on him, we want to see how he grows with Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt, who most certainly will be back in Berea in 2021.

That’s only fair.

By the way, Mayfield has a 16-19 record in his 35 starts. Before he came to the team, they won just four of their previous 48 games. Now, Mayfield isn’t the sole reason for this, but it does tell you the kind of ditch the Browns are digging their way out of.

We will also learn a lot about Stefanski and his staff in the coming weeks. The Browns have games against the Ravens and Steelers at home and it will be interesting to see what kind of adjustments his staff will make in the second go round.

Based on what we’ve seen, Cleveland will be much better prepared in the second meeting with each of these teams. A good test will come this week in Cincinnati, when the Browns and Bengals match up for a second time.

What have we learned thus far? The Browns are much better, but they aren’t at the Super Bowl contender level. Sometimes teams have to take steps. There is nothing wrong with that as long as the steps are upward.

Who’d Think Solid Coaching And Talent Leads To Winning Football?

It has been so long since we’ve had a winning football team in northeast Ohio, perhaps fans don’t know how to act.

After averaging 200 yards per game on the ground in the first four weeks, including a whopping 307 against Dallas last week, we are sure Browns’ coach Kevin Stefanski was preparing for the time when an opposing defense would decide they weren’t going to let Cleveland just dominate them with the run.

That happened Sunday when the Colts, who allowed the least yards per game in the NFL entering week five, said they weren’t having it.

However, unlike past seasons, this Browns’ team had an answer. Baker Mayfield threw for over 200 yards in the first half and the home team had a 20-10 lead going into the intermission, including TD passes to Kareem Hunt and Rashard Higgins.

Stefanski said after the game that he wanted to keep his team out of third down and long situations where the Indianapolis pass rush could pin their ears back and get after Mayfield. He controlled the game by having his passer throw some short, ball control passes to stay in favorable down and distance situations.

We understand that it’s been a long time since we seen this in our fair city, but this is good coaching, getting your team in good situations and keeping them out of bad ones.

In the second half, the Colts adjusted to this attack, and the Browns struggled a bit, with Mayfield throwing two interceptions, but he also could have sustained a couple of drives had the usually sure handed (if there was something better than that adjective, we would have used it) Jarvis Landry dropped a couple of balls.

One of those picks is on Mayfield as he threw high over the middle. The second was a result of him being crushed as he threw. We give Myles Garrett credit for forcing turnovers, so why isn’t the same true for the Cleveland quarterback?

Look, it was nice that Mayfield had two straight games without an interception, but they happen to even great passers. He has thrown as many as Tom Brady and Dak Prescott, and Deshaun Watson and Kyler Murray have thrown five each, one more than Mayfield. Russell Wilson, who might be the leader in the clubhouse for league MVP, has three.

If you want to pick on the Browns’ QB, point to his low completion percentage, which at 61.2% is 26th in the league, just ahead of Dwayne Haskins and Daniel Jones. Accuracy was the strong point of his game in college, and he needs to do better to be a top flight NFL quarterback.

Speaking of top flight players, Garrett continues to state his case for Defensive Player of the Year, with another sack on Sunday.

We have followed the Browns since 1965, and we will state the franchise has never had a player who can get to the quarterback like Garrett, who now is one sack shy of Carl Hairston’s (92 games) total of 37.5.

Garrett has played in 42 games.

With four more sacks, he will tie for third in Browns’ history with Rob Burnett (93 games), behind just Clay Matthews (232 games) and Michael Dean Perry (109 games). To be fair, the stat was not official in Matthews’ first four seasons.

He has become the player we expected when he was drafted first overall in 2017, and he’s a guy you know opposing offensive coaches are scheming for and accounting for on a weekly basis.

With players like Garrett, Nick Chubb, Denzel Ward, and the wide receiver duo of Landry and Odell Beckham Jr., the Browns have players who rank among the best at their position in the NFL. We didn’t even mention the offensive line until now.

And that’s how you win games.

Having Running Back Depth Is Huge For Browns

Many times, the thing that separates the good teams from the great ones in the NFL is depth. While bad teams have some good players, if those players go down, there isn’t anyone close to replace them, and the team can’t overcome the loss, and start losing.

We saw that to a degree last season with the Browns, when Myles Garrett was suspended, and the Cleveland defense couldn’t put any pressure on opposing passers. That was a major factor in a 2-4 record in those games, and the opponents scoring 30 points in half of those contests.

In Sunday’s 49-38 win over Dallas, the Browns lost perhaps their best player, running back Nick Chubb, to a knee injury, and it was announced yesterday, he would be put on injured reserve, with reports being he will be out about six weeks.

While it is a blow having Chubb on the sidelines, it is one area where Cleveland has some depth because of the presence of Kareem Hunt, who led the NFL in rushing in his rookie season (2017).

Hunt now figures to get the bulk of the carries, although after the Dallas game, they aren’t too far apart in attempts, as Chubb has carried the rock 57 times, Hunt has 50 carries.

While both Chubb and Hunt are elite backs, Sunday’s tremendous total of 307 rushing yards shows they are just a part of the machine that Kevin Stefanski, offensive line coach Bill Callahan, and running backs coach Stump Mitchell have put together.

We say machine because when Chubb left the game in Dallas, D’Ernest Johnson, who had 26 in five NFL carries prior, came in and ran for 95 yards in 13 carries, and Dontrell Hilliard, who was on the practice squad the previous week, picked up 19 more on five attempts.

The Browns lead the NFL with a whopping 5.9 yards per carry, and are averaging over 200 yards per game on the ground. The Baltimore Ravens did this a year ago, but no other team has done it for a full year in a 16 game season.

You have to go back to the 1970’s to find teams that averaged 200 yards per game on the ground outside of the Ravens. It was done six times in that decade before the league went to 16 games in 1978.

This shows the zone blocking scheme, popularized by the Shanahan family (Mike and Kyle), installed by Stefanski and Callahan is more than doing its job. It also shows the improvements made by the front office in the off-season, drafting Jedrick Wills, and signing Jack Conklin as a free agent has paid tremendous dividends.

However, it helps that with Chubb not being able to see the field for awhile, that Cleveland has a back the caliber of Hunt to pick up the slack. And you might see more end around runs for Odell Beckham Jr., who had 73 yards rushing on Sunday.

The offense will get a big test coming up this weekend when the Indianapolis Colts come to town. The Colts lead the NFL in total defense, and are allowing just 76 rushing yards per game, and since an opening week loss to Jacksonville, haven’t allowed more than 11 points in the last three weeks.

Here is the problem for other teams, though. If they crowd the line of scrimmage to stop the run, Baker Mayfield and his cadre of receivers, led by Beckham and Jarvis Landry can stretch the field and spread out the defense.

Through four weeks, there is a lot to feel good about in regards to the Cleveland Browns being able to put points on the scoreboard.

Running The Ball Well Is A Tradition For The Browns

There is a theory that everything comes back into style eventually, and the Cleveland Browns are putting that axiom to the test.

Throughout the late 1950’s through the early 1970’s, the Browns featured a crushing running game. Starting in 1957, when Jim Brown was drafted in the first round, the brown and orange finally shifted from a passing team with Otto Graham at the helm, to a team that dominated on the ground.

They finished second in the NFL in rushing that year (the Rams led the league) and went to the NFL Championship Game, losing to Detroit.

The following season, Cleveland drafted Bobby Mitchell in the 7th round, and the combination of Brown and Mitchell, both Hall of Famers, vaulted Paul Brown’s team to the top of the heap running the football.

Mitchell was traded to Washington prior to the 1962 season, for Heisman Trophy Ernie Davis, who never played for the Browns due to leukemia, and Cleveland dropped in the running game. But outside of the ’62 season, Cleveland was in the top three in running the ball every year Brown was on the roster, until he was forced into retirement (by Art Modell) after the ’65 season.

Their record in that span was never worse than the 7-6-1 mark in ’62. They were always above the .500 mark, and won nine or more games (in a 14 game slate) five times.

When Brown retired, Leroy Kelly picked up the slack, and Cleveland led the NFL in running the football in 1966 and 1967, and finished third in the league in ’68. They won nine, nine, and ten games in those seasons.

That’s a 12 year period where the Cleveland Browns had a devastating ground attack. And they were winners.

Now, let’s flash ahead to 2020. The Browns are currently third in the league again in running the football, behind just the Patriots (2-1) and Green Bay (3-0). Note the Packers are running the ball even though they have perhaps the game’s best passer, Aaron Rodgers behind center.

Cleveland features Nick Chubb, who finished second in the NFL in rushing yards a year ago, and Kareem Hunt, who led the league in the same category with Kansas City in 2017.

Chubb trails the current leader, Tennessee’s Derrick Henry by 27 yards this season, despite the latter having 31 more carries in the first three games of this season.

Hunt is 13th in the NFL and none of the players he trails have less carries than he does, as Hunt only averages 13 carries per contest.

So, Cleveland has two of the top 13 runners in terms of yardage after three games. The only other team with two players in the top 20 is the Arizona Cardinals, who have Kenyan Drake (9th) and their quarterback, Kyler Murray (18th).

We know that new coach Kevin Stefanski has always been a proponent of running the football during his time as an offensive assistant in Minnesota, but the franchise is also reaching into its past as to what was successful when the Browns were an NFL power. And this may come as a shock to those under 30 years old, but they really were on of the best teams in the NFL from 1950-1972.

And let’s not forget where the Browns play. When it gets cold and the weather is less than ideal in November and December, this offense should still be effective, and it also takes pressure off the defense, because they should be able to control the clock.

People say you should learn from history. Finally, someone in the Cleveland organization looked at the proud tradition of running the ball in northeast Ohio and has decided it’s a good idea.

It may lead to winning football again, and that would be a welcome sight.

Hard To Ask A Browns’ Fan For Patience, But…

If you are a fan of the Cleveland Browns, it is hard to be patient. One playoff berth since 1999 isn’t anything to brag about, but patience is exactly what is needed with the new coaching staff.

The NFL schedule makers didn’t do new coach Kevin Stefanski any favors pitting the Browns against the Baltimore Ravens in the lidlifter for both teams. Yes, the Kansas City Chiefs are the defending Super Bowl champs, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the Ravens are the next best team in the league.

So, the first argument for patience is the first week opponent. This goes for any team because we don’t know how good the other team is. For example, the Steelers looked good on Monday night, but maybe, the Giants are the worst team in the NFL.

To put it simply, no one knows yet who is good and who is terrible, although based on last year’s 14-2 record, we assume Baltimore is pretty good.

Now, for other things that were obvious to us in watch the blowout loss to the Ravens.

Odell Beckham Jr. continues to be a polarizing figure in Cleveland. His dropped pass late in the second quarter was glaring because not only cost the Browns’ offense a touchdown (the now departed Austin Siebert missed a field goal), it allowed the Ravens to tack on another TD before the end of the half.

We hear the national media telling us what an athletic freak Beckham is, but is he still that? We’ve really seen no evidence since he arrived in town a year and a half ago.

And we have written this before, we don’t think the former Giant is a bad teammate and he isn’t causing problems in the locker room, but for whatever reason, he doesn’t fit here. When he is on the field, both head coaches (to date) and the quarterback seem to make a conscious effort to get him the ball, at the expense of the game plan.

If everyone can’t come to a happy medium, Andrew Berry may have to say this is a situation of addition by subtraction, and get what he can for the wide receiver. And it won’t be anything close to what his predecessor paid to get him.

The other thing that stood out was the defense. Again, Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson was the league MVP in 2019, but the Cleveland defense was disappointing. Yes, we know there are a lot of injuries on that side of the ball, but you can’t let a team go 99 yards on one drive, and then convert a touchdown after getting the ball past midfield with less than a minute to go before the half.

Cleveland was 20th in takeaways a year ago, and had just one last Sunday, which occurred in the red zone, otherwise they would have given up 45 points.

The good news is the run defense improved, but again, bringing up the fallacy of the one game sample, it could be because the Ravens found it so easy to pass the ball, they really didn’t spend a lot of time trying the ground game.

We would anticipate seeing plenty of improvement tonight, but part of that could be feeling it couldn’t be any worse. Anyhow, the Cincinnati Bengals also lost their opener, and the odds are they aren’t as good as Baltimore.

However, an 0-2 start and more than a week to talk about doesn’t bode well for the Cleveland Browns. The angry mob could start forming earlier than anyone thought.

Baker Deserves The Benefit Of The Doubt, But Still A Big Year For Him

There is no question that the Cleveland Browns were a disjointed mess in 2019. If you think of them as a jigsaw puzzle, there were just too many pieces that were either missing or didn’t fit together.

It didn’t seem like the offensive coordinator fit with the head coach, and the general manager traded for an elite wide receiver for a group which had success running the football during the second half of the 2018 schedule.

Because of inexperience or perhaps star worship, head coach Freddie Kitchens and offensive coordinator seemed to feel obligated to force the ball to Odell Beckham Jr., and as a result the Browns got away from the things that led to a solid finish the year before.

All of this contributed to second year quarterback Baker Mayfield taking a step backwards.

The former first overall pick in ’19 saw his completion percentage drop (63.8% to 59.4%), his yards per passing attempt diminish (7.7 to 7.2), and his interception rate increase from 2.9% to 3.9%.

Not exactly what you want to see in terms of growth from your supposed franchise quarterback.

Did Mayfield prepare his body for the rigors of an NFL season during his first off-season? We believe he would admit (and has) he should have worked harder.

Did he let his success as a rookie go to his head a bit? Look, part of the reason John Dorsey chose him first overall was his self-confidence, so without question, he likely felt pretty good about himself after leading the Browns to their best record since 2007 as a rook.

This season, the chaos surrounding the team seems to be gone. Expectations has been tempered by last year’s disappointing 6-10 record, and new coach Kevin Stefanski seems more like a CEO than a football coach.

Stefanski came from Minnesota, where they loved to run the football (4th most attempts in the NFL in 2019) and so we would anticipate the emphasis in Cleveland will be establishing the run, much like it was in Mayfield’s first season.

That reliance on the ground game doesn’t mean Mayfield isn’t a “franchise” quarterback either. The Seahawks ran the ball the third most times in the league a year ago and no one thinks Russell Wilson is just along for the ride.

So, while some fans and media members have written off Mayfield as the future for the Browns, we chalk up his performance as a by product of the mess surrounding him last season.

The offense was different and you can’t tell us everyone in the organization felt pressure to force the ball to the shiny new toy that was Beckham. We think you could feel it from the moment the season kicked off in Cleveland against the Titans.

However, there is no question this is a huge year for the third year passer. A season that looked more like 2019 than 2018 will no doubt put question marks in the heads of the folks who run football operation in Berea. Andrew Berry didn’t draft him and Stefanski wasn’t given input on the choice either.

So, there is pressure on Mayfield to perform well this season, and without a normal training camp and even a half of pre-season play (probably the only action he would have seen), he is at a slight disadvantage.

But it seems the things the new coaching staff want to do offensively should emphasize the quarterback’s skill set. And certainly, the talent the Browns have accumulated helps immensely.

We are willing to write off last season as a result of the dysfunction within the building for Baker Mayfield. He won’t have that benefit this season. He has to produce.

Garrett Signing Is A No Brainer

When the Cleveland Browns signed DE Myles Garrett to a five year, $125 million deal this week, it really was a no-brainer for GM Andrew Berry and the Browns’ front office.

Yes, we have heard the criticism that Garrett isn’t the best defensive player in the league, so he shouldn’t be the highest paid, but that’s semantics.

Our guess is Garrett won’t be the highest paid for long, although the state of professional sports in the wake of COVID-19 may keep afford him that status longer than normal. However, in a couple of years, the former first overall pick in the 2017 draft likely won’t be in the top five.

As we have pointed out before, Garrett ranks 7th all time in sacks for the franchise, despite playing just three seasons in Cleveland. And with another 10 sack season in 2020, which would be a “meh” season for Garrett, he would jump into a tie for third with Rob Burnett.

According to our research, Garrett is the first Cleveland Browns to have recorded two seasons of 10 sacks or more with the franchise. And yes, we are dating back to 1946.

We understand sacks weren’t an official statistic in the NFL until the 1982, so the greats of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s aren’t eligible, but still even in the last 45 years, no other Browns’ player has had two seasons with 10 sacks or more.

The criticism of the deal comes from two sets of people. First, there are Browns fans who we think believe Garrett should get a sack on every play. It doesn’t work like that.

Last year, Shaq Barrett of Tampa Bay led the league in sacks with 19.5, just ahead of Chandler Jones with 19. In 2018, it was Aaron Donald of the Rams with 20.5, with J.J. Watt of Houston second with 16. Garrett was sixth that season with 13.5, his only full season in the NFL.

The second group of people are those who treasure salary cap space above everything else, seemingly including winning. Cleveland has the most cap space in the NFL, owing that to stripping down the roster and Garrett is the first player coming off their rookie contract.

These people exist in other sports too. The baseball people who think every minor league prospect is the next Mike Trout, and the basketball fans who want their team to be in the lottery every year so they have a shot at the first overall pick.

Winning for those folks is secondary.

We can tell you that Garrett is the first pass rusher the Browns have had since we can remember (mid sixties) that opposing offenses have to plan for, except maybe for when they had Lyle Alzado If you don’t double team him, he’s going to reek havoc on your passing game.

He’s also solid against the running game too. He’s not someone who is a subject to being trapped and therefore woefully out of position on running plays.

The Browns have a foundation for winning, now they just have to do it. If they succeed, they are going to have to pay big cash to the players who are the reason for that success.

Garrett is the first of those guys, and the Browns got it done. That should be celebrated, not questioned.