Cleveland Browns Analysis Corrections

Terry Pluto is da man, but he's wrong about the tight ends.  Terry said that from among the current group, there don't seem to be any playmakers.

Jordon Cameron was drafted because he was a basketball star with hardly any experience as a tight end.  Part of the reason he lacked experience there was that he was a wide reciever first.  

Pat Shurmer wasn't about to park Ben Watson on the bench to let the kid play more, so his playing time was limited--he mostly played when Watson was injured.  He did pass up Alex Smith on the depth chart, which was part of the reason Smith was used at fullback.

It seems more likely than not that in ChudTurner's offense, this third-year player will emerge as a big-time playmaker.  

Desperate for Browns' stuff, I hit the Bleacher Report and read this projection of the Browns starting line-up.  It was actually pretty good and well-reasoned overall, but this one thing blew it out of the water:

He's got Travis Benjamin starting opposite Josh Gordon, and Little in the slot.

Little is excellent in the slot, so that's okay.  But Travis Benjamin is 5'9", 175 lbs.  The only way for him to get by a bump is to run around it.  Any pass to him, especially to the sideline, has to be way more accurate than it has to be to a Greg Little-sized reciever.  In today's NFL, the smurfs are all in the slot, for these and other reasons.

Situationally, largely depending on (or to force) matchups, Benjamin could go outside and Little inside, but in a vertical offense you simply can't have that as a permanant formation.  It can work in a West Coast, because the little guy isn't trying to get vertical and will win the footrace if he can get inside leverage for a cross or slant.

It'd be nice to have (or discover on the roster) another big guy who could bump Little to the slot, but the smurf can't/won't.

Little is also getting dissed as an outside receiver for no good reason.  He can use his body to wall off defenders, has reach, has improved his patterns, and has the explosiveness and speed to get and keep separation.  Just as importantly, he can power through press coverage.

But as I said, this guy was pretty good everywhere else...I was pretty shocked.