Browns In A Meaningful December

It is December, and the Cleveland Browns are still in a playoff race.

That seemed impossible after a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers dropped the Browns record to 2-5-1, and raised the Steelers mark to 4-2-1. When Pittsburgh won the next three to jump to 7-2-1, it made the prospect even more remote.

But Jimmy Haslam and GM John Dorsey let Hue Jackson go after that game, and since, the Browns are 3-2, while the Steelers have dropped three straight, and have games the next two weeks with New England and New Orleans.

It’s still a tremendous long shot, but for the first time since 2014, the Browns are playing meaningful football in December.

Whether or not it will continue beyond this weekend will depend on what the Browns do this weekend against Denver, a very difficult place to play.

The Broncos are just 3-3 at home this season, but their losses are to the Chiefs (11-2), the Rams (11-2), and the Texans (9-4). A win there by Cleveland would be very impressive indeed.

It would also set the team up very nicely for a week 17 game with meaning. There is no doubt the Browns will be favored at home the weekend before Christmas against Cincinnati.

And wins in the next two contests would put Gregg Williams’ team at 7-7-1 heading into the season finale, on the road against Baltimore.

For a team that came into the season with one win in the last two years, that’s very exciting.

Again, it’s a long shot. The Browns could very well lose in Colorado this weekend, and drop the season finale and end up at 6-9-1, which again would be a tremendous accomplishment given the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

The reason for the hope is not just Baker Mayfield, although he is the chief one. But Cleveland has exciting players all over the field.

It’s fun to watch Nick Chubb run the ball, to see Myles Garrett go after the quarterback, and to see the toughness of Jarvis Landry and Demarious Randall.

Sundays are fun again. And that’s a breath of fresh air.

But back to Mayfield. After the Panthers marched right down the field on the game’s opening drive, there were no worries at all. That’s what having a quarterback does for you.

When the Browns have poor down and distance situation now, we don’t dread it, instead we wonder if Mayfield can make a play to keep the drive going.

We have a QB who can throw the long pass, can beat the blitz by hitting the hot receivers, and can put the touch on the ball to get it over a linebacker and into the hands of his teammates.

When was the last time we had a signal caller that gave fans that kind of confidence?

This isn’t to say we are elevating Mayfield to top ten quarterback in the league status, he’s started just ten games in the NFL. We’ve seen other young quarterbacks (Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston for example) come into the league and have people proclaiming them as the league’s next best things.

However, we have to say, that there aren’t many young QBs we would take over Mayfield. Perhaps just Patrick Mahomes and Carson Wentz.

Again, we may think differently next year. But, the future of Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns look very bright. Maybe even pre-expansion team bright.

Browns Youth Shows Up Vs. Texans

Any chance, however how remote, the Cleveland Browns had of making the playoffs went away after Sunday’s 29-13 loss to the Houston Texans.

The Browns dropped to 4-7-1 on the season as the Texans won their ninth straight contest. Cleveland took a step up in class after beating Atlanta and Cincinnati, and failed the test. Houston looked like a team that could have some success in the playoffs against Gregg Williams’ squad.

The Browns have played a number of the top teams in the NFL this season: New Orleans, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles Chargers, and Houston. The Texans rank right up there with Kansas City and the Chargers as the toughest foes for the Browns.

We are sure there will be those complaining about Baker Mayfield’s performance in the game, but to us, it was just a reminder that last year’s Heisman Trophy winner is a rookie. He hasn’t played like it for, really, most of the season, but he still has played only 10 NFL games.

It was a learning experience, and our guess is Mayfield will learn from it, and be better this Sunday at home against the Panthers.

Think about how few games many of the best players on the roster have played in the league. Besides Mayfield, Myles Garrett, Nick Chubb, Denzel Ward, David Njoku, and Larry Ogunjobi have all played less than two complete seasons in the league.

And we would bet at least two of those players will be Pro Bowl selections this season.

As for Garrett, we can’t believe some fans are disappointed in last year’s first overall selection in the draft.

He’s second in the NFL in sacks this season, for cryin’ out loud!

We think there are some fans who think Garrett should sack the opposing quarterback on every certain passing down. It just doesn’t work that way.

Garrett commands double teams and opposing offensive coordinators make sure they know where is at on every down. Believe us, they are aware of him.

Since sacks started being tracked as a statistic in the NFL in 1982, the Browns all time leader is Clay Matthews with 62, followed by Michael Dean Perry with 51-1/2.

If Garrett gets four more before the end of this season, he would join the top ten all time for the Browns, tying Kennard Lang and Jamir Miller.

In two years!

Barring injury, he is going to be one of the cornerstones for this franchise as they move into playoff contention.

With four games left in the season, and none of them against the class of this year’s NFL, the Browns have a very good chance to finish the season 6-9-1 or even 7-8-1.

This week’s opponent, Carolina, is reeling with four straight losses and is 1-4 on the road.

Traveling to Denver is always tough, even if the Broncos are 6-6. They have won three in a row.

Then come divisional games against Cincinnati at home, and the non-passing Ravens in the season finale. Andy Dalton is done for the year, getting hurt last week against the Browns, and although Baltimore is a playoff team right now, it will be interesting to see how the league adjusts to the Lamar Jackson experiment.

Six or seven wins coming off a winless season would be phenomenal improvement, and so would not finishing last, which is also very possible.

On the other hand, it’s tough to gauge how this young football team will handle, what for many, is their first 16 game schedule.

For the first time in a while, the last four games should be interesting to watch, at least from a developmental standpoint.

Texans Are Browns’ Toughest Foe Remaining.

We have always thought playing the NFL schedule game before the season starts is idiotic because so much happens during an NFL season, particularly injuries.

After the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Gregg Williams’ head coaching debut, the Browns rebounded to knock off Atlanta at home and followed up by breaking their 25 game losing streak on the road, beating the Bengals 35-20 on Sunday.

Now at 4-6-1, it appears the toughest remaining opponent on the schedule comes up next weekend when the Browns take on Houston, currently leading the AFC South at 7-3.

Another win and the Browns will be in playoff contention, believe it or not.

This is not to say Cleveland will be favored in any of those remaining games, heck, only two of them will be at home, a December 9th visit from Carolina and the Bengals come in for a game two days before Christmas.

However, no one would be shocked if Gregg Williams’ team won any of the five contests left on the slate, which also includes road games at Denver (5-6) and Baltimore (6-5).

This is a different team than the one that lost to Pittsburgh on October 28th.

Changing the play calling has helped Baker Mayfield be a more efficient quarterback, completing almost 74% of his passes over the last three weeks, with nine touchdown throws and just one interception.

Gone are the constant downfield throws which Hue Jackson used last year with DeShone Kizer and Todd Haley continued over the first eight games this season. Mayfield is throwing a lot of short, quick routes, getting the ball out of his hand quickly, and using his accuracy.

That doesn’t mean he’s become a dink and dunk guy though. When need be, he can fire the ball downfield, like the pass over the middle to TE David Njoku on Sunday.

Speaking of Njoku, we don’t hear (or see) the dropped passes that had some in the media suggesting he is a bust anymore.

Nick Chubb continues to impress as well, still averaging over five yards per carry. Chubb finally passed the traded Carlos Hyde in carries against the Bengals, and he’s been the featured back for the past five games. That’s how the old regime forced the ball into Hyde’s hands.

Hyde is a reliable back for sure, but Chubb is too and he can break the big run as well, which makes him the more dynamic runner.

Another observation we have on the Browns is on defense. Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward, both high first round draft picks get a lot of attention, and rightly so, but watching Sunday’s game, man, is Joe Schobert a heck of a football player.

It seems whenever the defense makes a good play, he is in the center of it. He plays and run and the pass both very well, and as Williams pointed out earlier this season, he is responsible for making sure everyone is lined up in the right place too.

The pick was criticized when it was made, people blaming analytics for the choice because Schobert doesn’t look like Dick Butkus. But in today’s NFL, he’s a perfect middle linebacker.

He made the Pro Bowl a year ago, and we would not be surprised if he made it again. He’s that good.

No Doubt Changes Have Helped The Browns

It’s nice to have professional football back in Cleveland again.

We say that slightly tongue in cheek, but that’s what it feels like after the Browns 28-16 win over Atlanta on Sunday.

There was no rallying behind a rookie in his first NFL game (like win #1 this season), nor was there a last second deflected made field goal in overtime (like win #2 in 2018).

This was simply the Browns looking like the better team pretty much from the first quarter of the game on, getting Gregg Williams his first win with the Browns, and raised the team’s record to 3-6-1.

That’s three times as many wins as the team accumulated over the past two seasons. Chew on that for a second. Three times.

Before that game, we heard some in the media wondering where the Browns could come up with another win or two on the schedule, meaning they thought a 3-12-1 season was the most likely outcome for the season.

After Sunday’s victory, is there any reason Cleveland couldn’t go into Cincinnati and get a win after next week’s bye week?

Also, thankfully, there won’t be any jokes about the brown and orange losing during the bye week either.

There is no question this is a different football team from two weeks ago. Just look at the number of times the team has been penalized.

In the last two games, the Browns have been penalized 11 times. The two games prior to the coaching change? Try 22 yellow flags.

For whatever reason, these guys aren’t shooting themselves in the foot anymore.

They are protecting the quarterback better too. Baker Mayfield has been sacked just twice in the last two games, none on Sunday.

In the prior two games, he was tackled seven times for loss. New offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens seems to be calling for quicker throws, and if you remember last year (we know you are trying to forget it), Hue Jackson seemed to call for longer throws down the field, which took more time for DeShone Kizer to throw.

As yes, we are well aware that Todd Haley was calling the plays this season, not Jackson.

It also helps that there was a change at left tackle last week. Greg Robinson has been solid where rookie Desmond Harrison was struggling. This is not to write off Harrison, who pretty much everyone agree has a boatload of potential. But there is no question he was having a tougher time as the season went on.

Then, we have Duke Johnson. He caught 20 passes in the Browns’ first eight games, and ran the ball 22 times. In the last two contests, he’s caught 13 passes and had four carries.

His touches have gone from 5.4 in the first half of the season to 8.5 per game in the last two weeks, and probably would have had more on Sunday had the game been in doubt. And he scored three touchdowns, the only three he has tallied in 2018.

New coaches and coaching staffs are more receptive to change. The best coaches recognize that while they still have a job and make alterations because they understand players’ performances can ebb and flow.

Hue Jackson wanted to run the Cleveland Browns a certain way, and really didn’t feel the need to change even though he won one game in two years.

Who knows how many games the Browns will win the rest of this season? It does seem a new attitude has hit the locker room though.

And that cannot hurt.

Hard To Tell If Changes Made A Difference Vs. Chiefs

It is difficult to evaluate the Cleveland Browns in their loss on Sunday to the Kansas City Chiefs because quite frankly, the visitors were too damn good.

And once CB Denzel Ward went out of the game, it was going to be difficult to get the Chiefs to punt the football, which they didn’t do until the fourth quarter when the game was all but decided.

Despite the injuries on defense, S Demarious Randall was already out before the game started and Ward, CB E.J. Gaines, and LB Christian Kirksey all left during the game, the Browns were in the game at the half, trailing just 21-16.

This was partially due to Kansas City not having a real good defense, and partially due to new offensive Freddie Kitchens using some of the weapons that Hue Jackson and Todd Haley never utilized.

Duke Johnson caught nine passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns, his most catches since week four of 2017. It was the most he was used out of the backfield all season.

David Njoku grabbed four passes for 53 yards after not catching a pass against the Steelers the previous week.

And recently signed WR Breshad Perriman was also involved, catching two balls for 36 and running two end arounds for nine more. One of his receptions was on, get this, a crossing pattern!

It also may have helped the offense that rookie LT Desmond Harrison sat out and was replaced by former second overall pick, Greg Robinson. Granted, quicker, shorter throws were called for Baker Mayfield, but pass rushers weren’t sitting in his lap either, at least from his blind side.

We would keep Robinson in the starting lineup going forward, and it sounds like interim coach Gregg Williams may keep him there.

The defense should get a boost after the bye week with the return of CB Terrance Mitchell, and hopefully Joe Schobert as well. There is no question at all the defense misses Schobert, a Pro Bowler last season, who calls the signals on that side of the ball.

And although John Dorsey has done a great job building the roster, heck in the first round, he drafted a possible franchise quarterback, and a cornerback who could make the Pro Bowl in his rookie year.

However, we do have point out that drafting Chad Thomas in the 3rd round is not looking good, nor was the signing of Chris Hubbard to play right tackle. Those are blips on the radar though.

The truth is, the Browns may have faced the most brutal schedule in the league this season. They have played five games against arguably the top ten teams in the NFL: Steelers twice, as well as the Chiefs, Saints, and Chargers.

And it ain’t getting any easier with Atlanta (4-4) coming in, and games remaining with Carolina (6-2), Houston (6-3), and Cincinnati (5-3) twice.

It could be very difficult for the Browns to get more than four wins this season, but that will mean a probable top ten pick next spring.

This time though, Dorsey can look for best player available. This team needs depth, with the primary areas being offensive line, linebacker, and cornerback.

Our guess is the Browns coaching change will be a positive thing going forward, but it may be tough to see because of the schedule.

Jackson’s Dismissal Was Inevitable

Whether or not the news came yesterday, or next week, following the Chiefs game, it was inevitable. Hue Jackson was going to lose his job by the end of the 2018 season.

Really, it was only the ridiculous organizational set up the Browns have, where multiple people report directly to owner Jimmy Haslam, that allowed Jackson to have started this season at all, because we doubt GM John Dorsey would have kept Jackson on as head coach after going 1-31 in his two seasons here.

After winning two of the first five games this season, two consecutive losses had the “dysfunction” returning to Berea. There were reports nationally that offensive coordinator Todd Haley could be fired after Sunday’s game. That’s the kind of news that permeated the media a year ago.

Sashi Brown was gone, Dorsey was here now. The only common denominators to the feeling the organization was in chaos were Jackson and Haslam, and the owner wasn’t going anywhere.

That leaves Jackson, whose best attribute as head coach seemed to be blaming other people for the losing.

We have heard reports that Brown wasn’t the person making the decision to start DeShone Kizer last season at quarterback, we would have been fine going with veteran Brock Osweiler.

And as for real football players, as Dorsey said early in his tenure, don’t forget not all of the players who have played well for the Browns this season arrived before the 2018 season.

Myles Garrett, Joe Schobert, Christian Kirksey, Jamie Collins and others were on the roster, yet the Browns couldn’t win a single game.

The Buffalo Bills are rebuilding this season, going into the year with rookie Josh Allen and second year man Nathan Peterman at quarterback, and when Allen was injured, they signed former Brown, Derek Anderson.

They’ve already won two games this season.

Our point is it is hard to lose every game, and even more difficult to win one contest in two seasons.

Hue Jackson accomplished it.

In reality, the reason he was brought back for a third year was Haslam not wanting to be perceived as an owner who goes through coaches like he changes underwear. He may be the only person on the planet who would have brought Jackson back for a third season.

When the Browns drafted Baker Mayfield, we are sure they told him things would be different now with Dorsey in charge, but halfway through the year, it was back to the same old Browns routine.

It was surprising that offensive coordinator Todd Haley was let go as well, meaning the offense is now in the hands of running backs coach Freddie Kitchens, and we would guess Al Saunders will be helping him out.

And even more surprising is the appointment of Gregg Williams as the head coach, and maybe that’s why Haley was let go. Picking one of the coordinators over the other may have made it uncomfortable.

Going forward, the Haslams need to change the structure of the organization and commit to Dorsey by giving him the power to hire and fire coaches. That’s how most, if not all, NFL teams work.

This kind of stupidity should not happen again. Here’s hoping the changes make a positive impact on the Browns for the rest of this season and beyond.

Hue Jackson’s Biggest Problem May Be Talking

When John Dorsey was hired as the general manager of the Cleveland Browns at the end of last season, it was thought the circus atmosphere around the franchise would end.

Guess again!

Just seven games into the 2018 season, a season in which they have already won two games and tied another, a big improvement over last year’s winless season, the Browns are in the center of controversy once again.

And this time it started because one of Hue Jackson’s issues came out once again, the love of his own voice.

After another tough loss in overtime to Tampa Bay last Sunday, Jackson was asked about the offense’s struggles in the first half. His answer was that was his area of expertise, and maybe he could help out.

Afterwards, he stated that he was the head coach of the football team several times.

Jackson doesn’t know how to deal with or handle the media. For one, he tends to speak in absolutes. For example, there was a big deal about Josh Gordon starting the opener against the Steelers, because Jackson announced he would not start.

Our point is why say Gordon would not start? Jackson could have just told the media he would decide later as to who would take the first snap.

He’s done that before too. He did it earlier in camp when talking about Joel Bitonio playing left tackle, proclaiming it plan Z. A week later, Bitonio was playing the position.

He don’t know if Jackson says these things to make himself feel important, or to be glib with the media, but he needs to learn how to speak to the reporters. Don’t say anything that can be held against you later.

As for the comments after the game about getting involved with the offense, why not say something like we have to get better at all facets of the game immediately after kickoff, there is no need to point fingers at a particular unit or coach.

That comment became the story, and after watching the offense the last two seasons, we are sure the last thing Browns fans want to see is having Jackson’s hands on it.

All of this became an issue because of the ludicrous organizational set up the Browns have, where the GM and the head coach (and who knows who else) reports directly to owner Jimmy Haslam.

We would assume that Dorsey would love to bring in his own coach, but as of this moment, Jackson doesn’t report to him, so he has no authority to replace him.

That’s not how winning organizations are set up.

We feared this very thing in the off-season when Jackson was brought back after a two year record of 1-31. We felt because of all of the losing the past couple of seasons, if the Browns struggled this season, there would be clamoring for the coach’s job.

And that’s exactly what is happening. After an encouraging win over the Ravens at home, the team laid an egg against the Chargers and played a terrible first half vs. Tampa.

The wolves started howling.

When you think about it, the situation wasn’t fair to both Dorsey and Jackson. The GM doesn’t have the coach he wants, and Jackson is questioned about his employment every time the Browns lose a game.

However, Jackson needs to learn to be quiet. As someone once said, it is better to be quiet and have people think you are stupid, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Browns Need To Play Two Halves.

Someday, perhaps even this year, the Cleveland Browns will play a total game and then, and only then, will they start to win football games.

Of course, this season Browns’ games have lasted five quarters more often than not, as Cleveland lost another overtime game, this one 26-23 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Hue Jackson’s squad has no dropped to 2-4-1 on the season, and 3-35-1 since Jackson took the helm before the 2016 season.

In the first half, the offense was non-existent and the defense was porous, and the Browns went to the locker room trailing 16-2.

We thought if major adjustments weren’t made by the coaching staff, it would be a clear sign that changes on the staff needed to be made.

But after halftime, the defense played much better, holding the Bucs to just a single score, and the offense played with much more zest, and Cleveland rallied twice from 14 point deficits to force overtime.

That said, the offense made key mistakes late, errors which could be attributed to a young football team.

In overtime, Jameis Winston was picked off by Jamie Collins on the Tampa Bay 45 yard line. Getting one first down, would have given Greg Joseph an opportunity for a game winning field goal.

On 3rd and 3 at the 38, Baker Mayfield took a sack, so the Browns had to punt. That cannot happen.

Then, after forcing a punt, Jabril Peppers, who had a great 32 yard return to set up the game tying scored pass to Jarvis Landry, fumbled after a 14 yard return, giving the Bucs the ball at the Cleveland 48, setting up Tampa for the game winning 59 yard field goal.

Other observations from this game–

The Browns’ offensive line needs to improve quickly. In our opinion, tackles Desmond Harrison and Chris Hubbard had big problems. Remember, Tampa was missing Pro Bowl DT Gerald McCoy in this game. Mayfield was sacked five more times today, although some appeared to have been caused by receivers not being able to get open.

Which brings us to the wide receiver position. Landry caught 10 passes for 97 yards, but the other wide outs struggled to get open, catching just five passes. We have asked this before, but why not use more two tight end sets with David Njoku and Seth DeValve, both of whom are solid receivers.

The defense gives up yards, but continues to force turnovers and sacks. Four turnovers and five sacks today. Myles Garrett had two sacks, and Emmanuel Ogbah was a force too.

We don’t like when regimes seem to move on from players because they didn’t draft them, which appears to be the case with Carl Nassib, who had two sacks today. He couldn’t help more than Anthony Zettel?

Denzel Ward is pretty good, eh?

Nick Chubb did a good job in his starting debut, with 80 yards on 18 carries, but we are worried Duke Johnson is nothing more than a change of pace back. Wouldn’t the Browns be better off just switching the Chubb and Hyde roles?

Another week, another overly officiated game. Twenty two penalties were called, which disrupts the flow of the game.

Among this week’s bad calls were picking up a flag after a Mayfield run because he hadn’t started his slide (he did), a roughing the passer after Emmanuel Ogbah tried to block a pass because his hand hit Winston in the helmet (weak), and another missed false start, which Winston thankfully took a 12 yard sack.

The league continues to put its head in the sands on this problem.

Next week, it’s on to Pittsburgh. Let’s hope the Browns come ready to play four quarters in this one.

Hopefully, A Learning Experience For Browns

For those fans who thought Baker Mayfield had by passed the growing pains that go along with being an NFL rookie quarterback, you were proven wrong today.

The fact is, Mayfield is a rookie, and there were going to be days like today, especially when defensive coordinators were able to review some tape on the first overall pick in the draft.

The question now is will Mayfield be able to make the adjustments needed to come out and do well next week against Tampa? We believe he will learn from today and be better going forward.

But it was ugly to watch today, as Cleveland was dismantled by the Chargers, 38-14 at First Energy Stadium.

It was more disturbing to see what veteran QB Philip Rivers did to the Cleveland defense, which has played well in four out of the five games to date.

Make that four out of six.

The Chargers made big play after big play all afternoon, both in the running game and in the passing game. It seemed the Browns were clueless about stopping them.

LA averaged almost eight yards per play! Gregg Williams’ defense allowed over 200 yards on the ground, getting almost seven yards per carry.

Without the ability to stop the run, it was difficult for the Browns to muster the pass rush we have seen all year long.

In the air, Rivers connected on two long touchdown passes to WR Tyrell Williams (45 and 29 yards), the first of which Cleveland outmanned the receivers with three defenders, and he caught the ball anyway.

It was a dominating effort. Rivers was pulled in the middle of the fourth quarter, threw only 20 passes for the game, and was sacked just once (combination of Larry Ogunjobi and Joe Schobert).

Again, how the defensive unit comes back from this performance (or lack of it) next week is what should be taken from this game.

Now back to Mayfield, who completed just 22 of 46 passes for 238 yards and two interceptions, as Cleveland lost the turnover battle for the second time this season.

The lack of quality wide receivers didn’t help either as there were a few dropped passes, but that really didn’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things.

With Rashard Higgins out of there, the Chargers basically took Jarvis Landry out of the game, as he caught just two balls for nine yards.

Veteran Rod Streater, (yes, we know he was picked up off waivers, but he’s still a veteran) got hurt early, and Cleveland dressed just four wide receivers. That left them with only three.

Rookie Damion Ratley and TE David Njoku became Mayfield’s main targets.

And while the rookie held the ball too long at times, his offensive line didn’t have a great day either. It appeared tackles Desmond Harrison and Chris Hubbard struggled all day against a Chargers’ defense missing Joey Bosa.

One bright spot was the special teams performance of Jabril Peppers, who returned three kickoffs for a 23.7 yard average and also had a 33 yard punt return.

Another was the use of Duke Johnson, which we hope Todd Haley remembers going forward. Johnson had a 23 yard run and has a 33 yard reception as well. He needs to touch to ball more often.

Also, it wouldn’t be an NFL game without a horrific call, or in this case a missed call, by the people who are supposed to be officiating the game. On the Chargers last touchdown of the first half, LT Russell Okung came out of his stance at least a second before the ball was snapped, and wasn’t penalized for a false start.

The Browns looked a little like a team who started thinking they were better than they are after the overtime win over Baltimore last week.

Hopefully, the coaching staff will use today’s game to remind them that they still are one of the bottom feeders in the NFL, and they have to play much better to win games.

The best case scenario is to use this as a learning tool. The game itself was total domination.

Happy With Baker, But Let’s Ease Up A Bit

There is no question that fans of the Cleveland Browns are looking for things to be optimistic about.

After one win in the last two seasons, having a 2-2-1 record through five games certainly provides a glimmer of hope. There is even talk about playoff contention, and heck, if the Browns can get to Thanksgiving still in the hunt, that would be outstanding.

The rookie class is exceeding everyone’s expectations, with Denzel Ward showing signs he can be a shutdown cornerback, Nick Chubb showing flashes of being a top flight running back, and Genard Avery doing very well as a pass rusher.

And then you have the first overall pick, QB Baker Mayfield, who has been pressed into service quicker than most figured after the acquisition of Tyrod Taylor, brought in so the team could ease the rookie into the job.

Mayfield has completed 58.9% of his passes and has a passer rating of just 81.4, but he is providing football fans in northeast Ohio a reason to tune in the Browns every Sunday.

He put up 42 points in a loss to the Raiders, even though he turned the ball over four times.

He ranks 10th in the NFL in yards per passing attempt, meaning he’s not a dink and dunk type of passer, he’s picking up yardage in chunks

We have heard people in the local media and also fans saying the Browns have found their “franchise” quarterback, the franchise’s first since Bernie Kosar.

We say let’s slow down a bit.

We believe you have to string a couple of very good seasons together to achieve the franchise moniker. And while he like Mayfield a lot, let’s wait until NFL defense have seen the rookie and compiled a dossier on how to combat him.

Let’s look at the two quarterbacks taken with the first two picks of the 2015 NFL Draft, Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota.

Winston started all 16 games his rookie year, and after 12 games, the Buccaneers were 6-6. In those first dozen contests, he threw 17 TD passes vs. 12 interceptions as Tampa looked much improved from a 2-14 season the year before.

He threw for at least 177 yards in every game, topping out with a 363 yard effort in a 31-23 loss to the Rams in the 14th game of the year.

Three years later, does anyone consider Winston one of the top 10 QBs in the NFL?

Mariota started 12 games his rookie year, with the Titans going 3-9 in his starts. He completed 62% of his passes with 19 touchdowns, 10 picks, and a 91.5 passer rating.

His second year was even better–26 TDs, 9 interceptions and a 95.6 rating as Tennessee went 9-7 for the season.

They made the playoffs last season, but the quarterback’s performance declined. He threw 13 scoring passes with 15 interceptions, and this year they are 1-2 in his starts and he has a TD to interception ratio of 2:4.

Again, he wouldn’t make anyone’s Top 10 either.

And that’s our definition of a franchise quarterback, a guy who is among the top players at the most important position in sports.

Don’t forget Dak Prescott in Dallas, who was hailed as a future All Pro after his rookie year, when the Cowboys went 13-3. Now? He’s showing he may just be average.

So, while we are very excited about the former Heisman Trophy winner from Oklahoma, we aren’t ready to ordain him quite yet. He is playing very well right now, but let’s evaluate him in late November or early December.

By then, we will make more of a sample size to evaluate him. We do like what we’ve seen so far.