OK first of all, Elam is not terrible. You want him; need for him to suck because Mangini brought him over, and everybody he brought over has to suck. If he brought in anybody who was any good, it might make him look good. Can't have that.
In reality, Elam is a decent journeyman. He's a solid hold-the-fort guy who's niether great nor bad.
Others among you are absolutists. Absolutists generalize a lot. The secondary was bad most of last season, so you include the entire secondary because you are unable or unwilling to analyze individual players.
They had a problem with McDonald, and at times (rarely during the last six (not four) games), QB's had too much time. NO secondary can cover for longer than a few seconds. Every coach and player knows this.
Now, you guys at OBR need to go back and do some more research on Schaefering. He's only entering his third season, was a NOSE TACKLE in college, has nice speed and quickness for 3-4 DE, and what he did late last season is only the beginning for him. He's learned a new position and is maturing; still improving.
He needed to work on leverage and technique. He WILL BE in the rotation, and that does NOT mean that this defensive line is in trouble!
I can't believe you guys are throwing Kenyon Coleman out with the bathwater! He's only 31 and is a very solid DE! "Nobody else there"? You guys are normally pretty sharp, but that's assenine.
C.J Mosley has really emerged, too! He was best suited as a penetrator--quick and athletic. He needed to work on the two-gap and standing his ground when he was brought here, but he's done that, and if you'd paid any attention you would have seen it last season. Both he and Schaefering have also become really good at getting off blocks and making plays as soon as they see where to go.
Are you raising the bar again? Are Rogers and Rubin the new "average'? Kenyon Coleman, CJ Mosley, and Schaefering are "nobody" now, huh? Oh--I forgot: Mosely and Coleman are ex-Jets...you've got to keep the haters happy!
And Robaire Smith is getting up there, yeah--but he sure looks good for one more season, too.
Letting Rogers play defensive end: DUH! Part of the reason teams ran all over the Browns with Rogers on the nose is that Rogers freelanced. He was so disruptive that the Coaches let it happen, I believe.
Offenses adjusted their blocking and found ways to run around him...with hats on linebackers.
When they put Rubin in, he played two-gap like he was supposed to, and suddenly the linebackers stayed clean and stuffed people.
The disruption, by design, came from constant blitzes.
I'm not bashing Rogers here. It's just that if they put him at defensive end (more), he can go ahead and attack from an angle--they still have to try to stop him. They can run away from him, but proably not around him. They can let him go by and then block him from the backside to seal him away from the play, but he still shrinks the window for the back, and the pocket for the quarterback.
The man's a whole lot smarter than he looks, too. Put him outside and let him go.
Coleman and Smith are aging, along with Rogers, so the Browns do need more young players.
But Schaefering IS pretty good, and Mosley IS better than that--and I don't care where they came from--they're good enough to be in the rotation for several years.
Now just pay freaking attention to them and see if I'm wrong.
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