Browns Changing Their Defensive Personnel. And Why Not?

The Cleveland Browns have made several moves so far this off-season, most of them involving players on the defensive side of the football.

When you look at it, it seems to make sense. Cleveland ranked 21st in the NFL in defense a year ago, and against the run, it was even worse. The Browns were 30th (third worst) in the league in allowing rushing yards.

Why wouldn’t the new front office, led by GM Andrew Berry, want to fix the worst part of the team?

Now, you can argue about how they’ve gone about it, such as letting Joe Schobert, who made two Pro Bowls, walk away in free agency, but our view is let’s wait and see the approach of the personnel department in trying to fix the defense.

Yes, we understand the defense looked much worse last season after Myles Garrett’s suspension, but one player, even a great one like Garrett, shouldn’t impact that side of the football so much.

They need to get better without Garrett so he can get rest during games without the threat of the opposition going 80 yards in four plays with him on the sidelines.

Schobert was a solid linebacker against the pass, but he didn’t make a huge impact in the running game, really no one did. My guess is the front office didn’t want to pay a Lexus price for a Ford player. We will find out if they are right.

It could also be as simple as Schobert not fitting the mold of a middle linebacker that new defensive coordinator Joe Woods wants.

As for Christian Kirksey, his problem was availability is an ability too, and out of 32 games the past two seasons, Kirksey played in nine.

According to reports, the Browns tried to reach an agreement with Kirksey, but he wanted more money than Cleveland thought a man who played in less than 30% of the games over the last two years was worth.

The next order of business for the front office is the fate of Olivier Vernon, who came over in the Odell Beckham Jr. trade with the Giants, and is making big money while missing more games in the last three seasons.

Vernon missed four games in 2018, five games in 2019, and six contests with the Browns in 2019. If he isn’t willing to take a reduction in salary, he likely will end up on the unemployment line.

In addition to linebacker and depth on the defensive line, the Browns also need help at safety.

When Sashi Brown was GM and Berry was part of the front office, the organization looked for young players coming off their rookie contracts in free agency. You would have to assume that will be the philosophy again.

Three of the top NFL free agents (according to The Sporting News) fit that criteria: Kansas City DT Chris Jones (25 years old), pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney (26), and Denver safety Justin Simmons (26). We would all be happy if the Browns signed two of these three players.

The best inside linebacker is the Rams’ Cory Littleton (26). He would seem to be another target for the Browns.

We view the Cleveland Browns as a playoff contender in 2020 and they have plenty of room under the salary cap. It’s time to use it to upgrade the team where it needs help.

The new regime has some work to do starting March 18th.

Thanks, Browns. For Making Football Matter Again

If the plan for the Cleveland Browns continues to progress, 2018 will be the known as the year football became relevant in northeast Ohio again.

This afternoon, the Browns have a chance to finish over .500 at 8-7-1, and as a bonus, they can knock the Baltimore Ravens out of the playoffs.

After a pair of seasons in which they won a single game combined, Cleveland has become normal. They can be classed with the rest of the league, and not a joke of a franchise.

And over the past three seasons, the organization (and yes, we mean both general managers) has put together a solid core of very good young players.

It appears after all these years the Browns have their quarterback in rookie Baker Mayfield. They have a pass rushing force, Myles Garrett, for perhaps the first time since the 1950’s.

They have a shutdown cornerback in Denzel Ward, if he can avoid getting concussions which kept him out much of the second half of the year. We have heard people talk about Ward not making as much of an impact since the first few games of the season, and that’s because opponents stopped throwing his way.

Nick Chubb should reach the 1,000 yard plateau today, despite not really playing much in the first half of the season. Joe Schobert is the leader of the defense from middle linebacker, and when Gregg Williams is asked about Mayfield’s leadership, he always brings up Schobert as well.

And Jabril Peppers and Larry Ogunjobi are showing they will be mainstays of the defense.

Yes, the Browns still have some holes, they need to add depth, and they could use help at linebacker and in the secondary, and also need to add to the offensive line.

Instead of looking for a quarterback, the main focus of this off-season will be to find the head coach that will hopefully guide the Browns to the playoffs for the first time since 2002, and the man who can take the franchise to its first Super Bowl.

In the past week, we have heard growing whispers that owner Jimmy Haslam will be involved in the process, and we pray this is not the case.

Let GM John Dorsey lead the search, make the decision, and have the owner sign off. That should be the extent of Haslam’s involvement.

Our concern is that ownership wants to bring in the “hot” name, a flashy hire, instead of getting the best man for the job.

In our opinion, there aren’t a lot of difference makers as a head coach in the NFL, and two of them, Andy Reid and John Harbaugh, were not the hot coordinators in the league when hired.

But they were leaders, and turned out to be the best men for the job for their respective teams.

And that’s what Dorsey should be looking for, and we believe he will pick the correct candidate. Hopefully, the ownership goes along with his choice.

With a bunch of draft picks this spring and a ton of salary cap space at his disposal, Dorsey’s charge this off-season is taking the Cleveland Browns from a contender to an AFC power, a team that is consistently in the playoff mix.

No matter what happens today, 2018 will be looked at fondly down the road by football fans here.

It was the year football mattered again.

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.

Browns Giving Themselves A Chance To Win, Need To Cash In.

The Cleveland Browns have played 25% of their schedule and hit the quarter pole with a 1-2-1 record.

That doesn’t seem much different from past seasons, but this year has a very different feel to it.

Last year, the Browns were 0-4 (obviously, they went 0-16), and outside of the first game of the season against the Steelers, Hue Jackson’s squad fell behind early and tried to climb back into the game (with the exception of Week 4 vs. Cincinnati).

In 2016, it was better. The Browns were in all four games to open that season, and should have defeated Miami if not for kicking woes (sound familiar?).

However, last season, the quarterback was DeShone Kizer and his traveling turnover show, and in ’16 Robert Griffin III was injured in the opener and was replaced by the local media’s favorite, Josh McCown.

Now, Jackson has turned over the keys to Baker Mayfield, and suddenly there is hope on the horizon.

We have heard the criticism of Mayfield’s four turnovers last Sunday, but there is no question the good he did outweighed the bad.

How about the throw to Darren Fells for a 49-yard touchdown, or the fade to Jarvis Landry for another score. For that matter, when was the last time the Browns used a fade pattern and it worked?

And the strike over the middle to Antonio Callaway was beautiful too. Yes, he was wide open, but Mayfield hit him in stride and he took it to the 1 yard line.

This year’s team has had a legitimate chance to win every game. Two games have went to overtime, one ended in a tie, the other in a loss. Cleveland had the lead against New Orleans with two minutes to go.

We fully support the Bill Parcells theory of your record is what it says it is, but after two seasons with very few good shots at winning, forgive us if we can’t help but be encouraged.

The defense has created turnovers, 13 of them to be exact. By the way, last year’s Browns created that many for the entire season.

Myles Garrett is becoming one of the NFL’s best pass rushers, and another first round pick, Denzel Ward is becoming a shutdown cornerback. You didn’t hear Ward’s name too often last Sunday because Derek Carr was trying to avoid him.

We get that people want to see more of rookie Nick Chubb at running back, but it isn’t as though Carlos Hyde has been bad. He ranks 5th in the NFL in rushing to date.

Still, Chubb should get more opportunities because as he showed Sunday, he can be explosive. Also, his carries will keep Hyde fresh for the end of the season.

Landry is a Pro Bowl wide receiver, Joe Schobert is a Pro Bowl linebacker.

The point is there is talent on this roster, and it’s not just people that Browns’ fans think highly of. People around the NFL respect the young players on the roster here.

Now they have to win. And winning is something you learn. Make no mistake though, it is no longer a talent issue.

If the Browns can’t start converting some of these efforts into wins, we doubt Hue Jackson will be here in 2019. That’s not a threatening thing, it’s just that the NFL is a result business.

Browns Need To Decide What Kind Of Team They Are During Break

The Cleveland Browns played a solid game for three quarters, but ultimately ran out of gas in London, dropping to 0-8 on the season, with a 33-16 loss to Minnesota.

Today, the Browns led after the first quarter, and actually led at the half, 13-12, and were getting the ball to start the second half.

It looked like today might be the day the Browns could get their first win of the season! And the Minnesota Vikings are a solid football team, coming into the game at 5-2 on the season.

But Isaiah Crowell fumbled on the first play of the second half, the Vikings recovered, kicked a field goal three plays later to take the lead.

Hue Jackson’s team regained the lead after a Zane Gonzalez field goal a few minutes later, but after that it was all Minnesota.

Despite leading late, the Browns’ defense was getting tired. The offense only controlled the ball only 22 minutes, and with Myles Garrett, Jason McCourty, Larry Ogunjobi, and Jabrill Peppers all inactive today, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams didn’t have enough bodies to keep his troops fresh.

And although DeShone Kizer played his first NFL game without a turnover, there were plenty of other mistakes to go around in this game.

On special teams, Gonzalez missed an extra point following the first Browns’ TD, and then missed a 35 yarder in the second half. That’s four misses in the last three games for the rookie, two of them inside the 40. You can’t miss those kicks in the pros.

It wouldn’t be a shock if there was a kicking audition during the time off.

Also, Bryce Treggs muffed a punt in the first quarter, leading to a Vikings field goal.

On offense, the use of the running game, or lack of use, we should say, continues to baffle.

The Browns averaged 5.2 yards per carry today, but Crowell and Duke Johnson had just 17 attempts. That accounts for the 22 minutes of possession, and a very tired defense in the second half.

The defense was plagued by horrible officiating. The last Vikings’ touchdown was a result of a series of penalties, and really, only one was obvious. The others could have went either way, and the first Minnesota TD after the half was also created by an interference call on a pass that Vikings’ QB Case Keenum was obviously throwing away.

Joe Schobert has an outstanding game with 11 tackles, an interception, and a forced fumble. Emmanuel Ogbah and Carl Nassib deflected several passes as well.

The defense held Minnesota to 2.6 yards per carry, and that is becoming a regular occurrence.

Another questionable decision was having WR Kenny Britt active and then not playing him. If that was the plan, then why have him active? The rules say you can have 53 active players, but the Browns chose to play with 52.

This situation needs to be resolved, and the proper move is to release the veteran wideout.

And where was Kasen Williams again today?

With the bye week to follow, hopefully the front office and coaching staff can get together and determine what kind of team this should be (hint: run the ball and play defense), and who should be getting the bulk of the playing time.

Regardless of what media people think in Cleveland, the Browns have more talent than they did a year ago. However, the record is the same, and that is cause for concern going forward.