Duke Johnson surprised me at first--especially since one knucklehead said "the Browns got themselves an every-down back"--like they didn't have any.
But Duke Johnson, listed as the fourth-best running back by CBS Sports, is a smaller, elusive guy. He's an accomplished reciever who can catch the ball running patterns downfield.
The new offense ideally uses the running backs as recievers ala Lindy Infante, making a guy like Johnson a nice fit. He's much different from Crowell and West, so opposing defenses will now have to prepare for two different types of threat.
Johnson should also return kicks and possibly punts.
The correction here is that the Coaches will be developing Crowell and West as recievers. It's common for running backs to come out of college a little light on these skills, simply because they were rarely used that way. Both bigger backs have shown promise as recievers.
But Duke is the curveball.
Xavier Cooper also surprised me, since I'd colored the Browns all set on the defensive line. Then it dawned on me that Ray was actually doing what he said he'd do, and drafting the best available player.
He obviously thought Cooper was a bargain, as he traded an extra fourth and sixth rounder to make a big move up to nab him.
According the the reports I've read, Cooper has barely scratched the surface of his potential. He's blistering fast for a defensive tackle, and sounds kind of like a faster version of Billy Winn.
In Pettine's defense, he can play the three technique (on the guard), five (on the tackle), and either DT in a 4-3--although personnel indicates rush DT here.
He has even played in both the 3-4 and 4-3.
This pick, along with Danny Shelton's, gives the Browns too many defensive linemen, and I believe Ray must be shopping around for a trade.
Forget where Cooper was drafted. He is here to stay, and will be part of the rotation immediately. He adds speed and passrushing ability to this defense.
Nate Orchard (can't miss with a name like that!) led the nation in sacks last season. He's kind of like Armonty Bryant. The knocks on him are that he needs to get stronger, and he clocked a pedestrian 40-time.
The scouts specifically mentioned that they saw no bull-rushes out of him. I learned from Pat Kirwan that this is important for outside pass-rushers--to "translate speed to power".
If an NFL tackle knows that you won't attack him directly, they can risk reaching and leaning more to reroute you. If the passrusher can juke to one side to make a blocker lean or overstep to that side, then slam in under his pads at full-speed, he can deprive the bigger guy of leverage and drive him back, off-balance.
Nate demonstrated decent functional strength with 22 bench reps, and Hans and Franz will go to work on him. He's really not far away from becoming a quarterback-killer in the NFL, and he can immediately be a situational rusher from the edge.
Along with Kruger, Armonty Bryant, Solomon, and Mingo the Browns are eyeball-deep in outside linebackers now. From among the latter three and Orchard, one or two almost have to emerge as real threats opposite Kruger.
Vince Mayle was a dice-roll. He's a natural pass-catcher, and his drops were concentration lapses. Still, we've had experience here with Scissorhands Edwards and Greg Little, so I take this one with a pound of salt.
Despite his glacial clock-time, the scout consensus is that he is a deep threat. He's most likely a strong special teams player for now, and we will cross our fingers.
Corrections: Dwayne Bowe was drafted high in the first round. He never lived up to those lofty expectations, but some of this stuff is getting rediculous. Please pretend that Bowe was drafted low in the second round.
See? He's pretty good after all!
Orchard can cover, but it's not his thing. Mingo is the only one of these guys who can actually MAN-cover tight ends. I know that Mingo hasn't been a great passrusher so far, but let's quit the hate, ok? Give him credit for what he has done.
More on Pettine's 3-4:
Danny Shelton uses leverage and his low center of gravity exceptionally well, and can single-handedly collapse pockets. This deprives quarterbacks of the ability to step into throws, and forces them back, beyond where the offensive tackles expect them to be.
When this happens, the edge-rusher can get around them for the sack. Those blockers don't have eyes in the back of their heads. In fact, the best edge-rushers use their eyes and body language to fool the tackle into thinking the quarterback is behind them when he isn't.
But I still think that Shelton will play roughly half the snaps so that he doesn't wear out, and he'll rotate out on obvious passing downs.
Cam Erving won't start? That's possible, but unlikely. He can be better than Schwartze immediately, and if he and Greco are tied, he will start so that he can refine his skills while Greco backs up multiple positions and extends his career.
It's possible that they could have the kid focus on center instead, but real experience in the trenches is valuable.
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