Ray Farmer knows what he's doing, but I don't. Unlike some others, I'll assume that Ray knows something I don't. There's nothing more pitiful than an armchair GM.
Nor is he finished yet. There will be other moves.
As for Johnson, it could be that he wants to get him onto the practice squad, and felt that delaying his release would improve his chances...or I could simply be wrong about the kid. I mean, there's a much better chance that I'm wrong than that Ray is, in the real world.
(Of course I reserve the right to bash him down the road if Johnson kicks butt somewhere else).
It is possible that Shanahan will go with smurfs with an offense deliberately intended to exploit the strong trend towards taller cornerbacks in the league, and that Byrd is here (for the moment) as purely a red zone and short yardage player.
Except for size and hands, there's nothing else special about him. He's Robiskie, except a little bigger.
The delayed release of Rex Grossman I do understand. I believe that Ray and the staff planned to carry two active quarterbacks, and to stash Connor Shaw on the practice squad all along. They had to hang onto Grossman until Shaw cleared waivers and was locked up.
Now, on game day they'll go with Hoyer and Manziel, period. That's a calculated risk, of course, but losing both quarterbacks in one game with this offensive line and these running backs is unlikely enough to justify it.
They'll have a week to activate Shaw and/or recall Grossman should it be necessary. I'm glad Shaw was kept. He has more experience than Manziel, and if he were a couple inches taller with a stronger arm he'd have been very popular. His stats are just otherworldly. He belongs.
I missed again on Marqueis Gray, it seems, but this is also sort of telling: Gray was the only guy with the physical tools to do what Cameron does. The other tight ends are conventional, in-line types. It puts more weight on the smurf-WR offense.
The tight ends retained are underrated recievers. They're not big-play guys, but can move the chains. They're big, safe short targets. They can also chip or block very well in max-protect, and do fit the zone-blocking scheme.
Smurfs can't use their reach or bodies as big guys can, and can only get open through separation. They're at a big disadvantage outside of the slot, as they can get held up and leveraged outside to prevent slants and crosses. This can shrink or eliminate the quarterback's target if the corner can run with them vertically.
The backs (notably fullback) and tight ends have to present the easy check-down options, because the smurfs can't be counted on to get open (like a tall guy with a big catch radius can).
While I'm sad about Gray, I'm glad about Agnew. Agnew rarely caught passes in college, but in his brief time here proved that he can do it, and do it consistently.
Agnew is a prototype blocking fullback ideally suited to a man-blocking scheme, but he can excel in this system as well. No system is 100% zone or 100% man, and there will always be short-yardage situations. where smashmouth works best.
In space, I still like him slightly better than Gray because of his leverage.
I'm glad that Crowell made it, and agree with some writers that he might be better than West. I had misgivings about West because of his high number of carries in college. Running backs wear down much more predictably than other players, and they only have so much tread on their tires.
I still feel that we haven't seen the best from West yet--but then I felt that about Trent Richardson, so...
Whoever told Grossi and the other guys that a "third down back" is mandatory has got to be kidding. The three guys the Browns kept are (or will be) effective recievers and pass-protectors.
It's nice to have a guy with a contrasting style to screw up a defense and make game-planning harder, but not if it means you have to release a superior player.
The second reason a third down back was brought into vogue was to give the bellcow a breather, or else as part of a committee. The Browns have that part covered in spades.
Crowell, and to a lesser extend West, will probably need to work on blitze pickups and recieving somewhat, but they're otherwise ready for primetime.
It's telling that the Browns have retained five wide recievers and four tight ends. This simply has to mean that two tight ends will be on the field a whole lot.
This is understandable. The kneejerk assumption will be that everybody but Cameron is here to block, but as you'll see, the second tight end will also catch some balls.
As Pat Kirwan said, opposing defenses will crowd the line to stop the run first without a Josh Gordon type to keep a safety deep. "Nobody scares them", Pat said.
Pat doesn't like the Browns, but he's partly right. I just really look forward to the first time Hawkins or Gabriel have the ball behind the safeties. If Pat's Steelers want to single-cover those guys or Benjamin, it might work 2 out of 3 times...but number three is a bitch.
But the two tight end sets are partly an answer to the tininess of most of the WR's, and specifically to 3-4 defenses in general.
The defense must take Cameron seriously and expect him to line up outside--sometimes even outside a wide reciever on his side, and have a fast linebacker or big safety on him. But they'll always regard the second tight end as an in-line guy. So two wide recievers calls for a big nickel, because with Cameron it's really like a 3-wide.
Three of the five nominal DB's have to focus on the three obvious recievers. If they blitze from the outside, the in-line tight end sort of dictates to them from which side it has to come, since he has the feet and size to pick it up. The outside backer on that side also has to make sure he doesn't leave an open zone for that tight end to sneak into.
My guess is that Pitt's nickel will turn them into a 3-3 front, naturally including Shazier. If they don't put Shazier on Cameron (outside), they're taking a big chance--so he'll almost certainly blitze, either between the tackles or from Cameron's side. This would likely prevent the running back from becoming a reciever, since that guy can run circles around offensive linemen and many tight ends.
This leaves two more linebackers to blitze or watch for the run, along with two nominal defensive backs. They can even go ahead and keep one safety back.
If they do what Pat thinks they'll do, they'll send five passrushers out of the nickel, man-up on Cameron and the two wide recievers, and keep the three remaining guys fairly shallow to charge up and blow up the run.
I hope that's what they do, because the in-line tight end can run a few steps and catch a pass. The outside backer on his side isn't a coverage guy. He's a passrusher/run-stopper first.
For that matter, the blocking tight end makes a sixth in-line blocker, and the nickel is undersized and spread out. Pat will say that LeBeau will wave a magic wand and make sure that the running back can't run a safety running sideways over, or make one big guy miss, but that's blind faith.
And great! Polumalu got to Hoyer! Except the ball was gone! And Hawkins has it and it's a footrace! Oops!
Twelve defensive backs doesn't suprise me much, since in today's NFL nickel and dime defenses are the rule rather than the exception. Some of these guys are primarily special teamers, but from what I've seen, all of them can cover.
With all these guys, the coaches can design and practice packages based on general and individual matchups for each unique opponent.
I missed on Josh Aubrey too, but hope he lands on the squad, because he's really good. I can see how Leonhard helps everybody else, though--he knows this scheme as well as Pettine himself does, and can really help everybody else, including the veterans, mentally.
No moves made now can effect the gameday players in Pittsburgh, so we can call the wide recievers based on what's here now: Austin and Hawkins outside, and the amazing Taylor Gabriel inside. Benjamin will get in there--this partly depends on which of these two will be the returners. Pettine even said that Gabriel could play outside!
So for now it's exactly what I said: Austin, Cameron, and smurfs.
It just might work, too! The Stoolers corners aren't that good, and the venerable Polumalu is overrated.
The new emphasis on defensive holding and interference also favor smurf recievers.
Unfortunately, it's in Pittsburgh, so the referees probably let Stooler corners get away with murder. You can also count on at least two Big Ben bombs to end up inside the ten yard line by penalty, as usual. They'll probably flag the Stoolers for meaningless holding penalties to make it seem fair, as usual.
I like the idea of Hawk, Benjamin, or Gabriel running around with the ball in space against these guys. I expect lots of short and intermediate passes and hard runs.
May the most talented team win. That means the Browns.
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