Rodney Harrisonfield

Jerome Harrison played last season at 192 lbs. As I predicted, because it was obvious and typical (apparantly you need to be Sherlock Holmes to expect the obvious and typical), he has returned pumped-up.

But even I was surprised by how big he now is: 212 lbs.!!!

"It remains to be seen, whether or not he can block".

CORRECTION : While that statement is true, it's still pretty dumb. Any running back with adequate size (weight) can learn to pass-protect. Harrison is now, suddenly, at about the average weight for an NFL running back, and his ability to pass-protect is not quite a "given", but is close to it.

In max-protect, pre-snap the back must read the defense and try to anticipate any blitzes. He is responsible for those. Post-snap, he allows the QB to get behind him (unless a cornerback or somebody else is coming from the side, which he must go after). He's now the bodyguard. If no one has penetrated, after a moment he'll flare outside as an outlet reciever.

A short back will cut a large person. He'll go right for the guy's legs. They're paranoid about their legs, of course, and will slow down and try to get their hands on his pads and shove him down on his face. That's a lot harder with a quick, explosive guy like Harrison, who can time his dive to make this tough to do.

Jamal Wright was pretty cool. He'd often succeed, and knock the guy cartwheeling foreward over his back--and then go right where he came from as a reciever.

However, a short back can still meet any cornerback, safety, and many coverage linebackers head-on. 192 lb. back can't. A 212 lb. back can DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

When Tiki Barber came out of college, he was a "third-down" back. But since that time, he's built himself up. Tiki Barber, for his last two or three seasons, led the NFL in YAC yardage. Yards After Contact. Still relatively small, he broke a lot of tackles.

It DOES remain to be seen of Harrison's increased size will translate into a lot of broken tackles, but cretainly to some extent he'll be harder to take down.

What bothers me here is that the Cleveland media must have been aware of Harrison's increased size, and yet a number of them still caterwall over a "lack of depth" at running back behind Lewis, and others, when asked about Harrison, label him a "change-of-pace" back only.

CORRECTION: Last season, as a raw rookie, Harrison ran inside and outside very effectively, at 192 lbs. The only thing he didn't do well was block. Clearly, Savage and the coaches know something that the sports media doesn't. Not because they're keeping secrets, or because it isn't glaringly obvious, however.

Now, because you read this, you know that the Browns have a potential every-down back like Barber, Holmes, Sanders, Smith etc. waiting in the wings behind Jamal Lewis.

They're committed to giving Lewis his shot to get the number of carries he insists he needs to wear down defenses (that's a translation--it's what he means). They'll often field a lead-blocking fullback when they don't use two tight ends. That's fine, if Lewis is in good shape and still able. But Harrison will get in there, especially on third and longs. And watch out.

Edwards working with the third team is just about meaningless, except for the fact that he got a bunch of reps with Quinn. He should be a difference-maker this season. Last season, he made a lot of catches, but not many big plays. Well, he was not fully recovered from his ACL surgery, and now he is. He's the guy that can keep a safety back off the line (and away from Lewis).

They might occasionally use Tim Carter opposite him for a real deep-threat combo, but Carter, who is always injured, should back Edwards up, so the deep threat can be maintained.

Wilson's game speed is somewhat underrated, too. He's certainly no deep threat, but can make some big plays. Just sayin'.

Well, now you know.