Mike Mayock is, in my opinion, the best overall talent evaluator among the pundit class.
He's not always right about team needs. That's okay. Right now, he has around 400 draftable players to research, and any research he does on the 32 NFL teams comes later. For the moment, he relies on what he saw last season, and what he hears.
Mayock for now expects the Browns to draft Jared Goff or Carson Wentz at number two. (Mayock goes against the grain and thinks more highly of Wentz than most others).
He's almost certainly right, at least about Goff. It almost doesn't matter that none of these quarterbacks are guaranteed franchise guys. In reality, this is the best chance they'll have to get that position settled in the Hue Jackson era. If you expect another 3-13 season here next season, you're not paying attention, and may need therapy. Or medication. Or maybe you're overmedicated.
But then Mike lists a big wide receiver as the second need. Clearly, Mike isn't yet among my legion readers (now pushing double digits!). (Seriously there's a chance DePodesta has found me).
Mike Mayock should just delete all his other Browns bookmarks and read this blog instead. If he did, he'd know all about Gordon and Pryor (and Hartline too).
Well, he does know about Gordon, but the red flags scare him. Not only his suspension status and stage 3, but the fact that when he returned in 2014 he blew routes and may have been out if shape.
I simply feel more optimistic about Josh than Mike does.
Mike doesn't even bother with Terrelle Pryor for the most part. Right now he's watching college tapes, and I'm not sure if he'll ever pay nearly as much attention to any professional players, unless it's to compare them to draftable prospects, or rate them as free agents.
Even if he did, Pryor had only four targets (and one completion).
But he is wrong.
Mayock also says the Browns need a center. In the last draft, Mayock mocked Erving to the Kansas City Chiefs 18th overall, and rated him as his second best center.
Erving failed at left guard (and on the field goal unit) last season. But if you read my blog, you'd know that Joel Bitonio was getting his head handed to him before he got injured as well. Pasztor appeared to stabilize the position, but this was after Pettine and DeFelipo finally realized that they had the option to run to the right side as well as the left side, and defenses could no longer flood the weak side a-gap on every down.
Nor is Erving a bulldozer. He is ideally a zone-blocker, and Flip had taken the blocking scheme away from that. It undermined the performances of every inside blocker (including Mack).
Finally, when starting at right guard, Erving was servicable, despite playing yet another unfamiliar position as a rookie.
This was partly because early on, he was worked at that position more.
LeCharles Bentley said that he would need to get stronger, and focus on his footwork. Bentley wants to remind people that Cam Erving was a rookie, and these issues are common for rookies.
Fortunately, Mike Mayock suggested drafting a center in the fourth round, so he was accidentally right: Many centers can also play guard, and good centers and guards can often be found in the fourth round. The Browns will want to build more offensive line depth, and should have insurance in case Erving doesn't make the off-season improvements that LeCharles and I expect him to.
Caleb Bailey wrote a good article on the Browns draft needs, and he ranked edge-rusher number two. This makes more sense.
I do wonder what Ray Horton will do with Orchard, Solomon, and Kruger/Mingo for the second time, but heat on opposing quarterbacks is very important, especially in the AFC North.
Still, I would look at offensive linemen even here, or a tight end.
Gary Barnidge turns 31 shortly. Joe Thomas probably won't ask for a trade, but he's the same age. Ditto John Greco, who's now been injured.
For that matter, I like Mitchell Schwartze, but if the run-blocking scheme goes zone-heavy as I suspect, he doesn't fit as well as the other guys.
Some other fans say the Browns should just draft a quarterback "later". "Later" is where they got steals like Colt McCoy, Spurgeon Wynn, and several other guys nobody remembers.
Cardale Jones? It's easy to see another Cam Newton in this guy, but it's also easy to see another Terrelle Pryor. Like most of the other guys, it remains to be seen whether or not he will ever be able to make NFL reads, or throw with better accuracy or with anticipation.
Recent articles are giving Hue Jackson kudos for his innovative coaching organization. Well it's more likely a DePodesta idea. That's a big part of why he's here.
This setup sets Hue Jackson free. He can delegate literally everything on both offense and defense, and from day-to-day focus on whatever he needs to focus on. He'll have time to just think, and come up with new ideas.
He can just drift around, looking for things to do. This offensive staff will meet with him at the beginning of the week. With their experienced input, they'll hammer out a game plan, and the assistants are able to implement it in detail.
When Bill Belichick coached for the Browns, he worked 18 hours a day, and micromanaged every facet of the team. He kept changing the game plan throughout the week. He worked extremely hard, but in a dumb way.
After he went back to Bill Parcells, then got his second chance with the Patriots, he did it more like his mentor. He delegated.
Bill recruited the very best assistant coaches he could find, and allowed them to do their jobs. He routed his obsession into breaking down opponents and coming up with new ideas.
A couple of players who played for Hue Jackson and Bill Belichick said that the two were similar.
I know, some of you fell off your chairs there, but the locker room Bill bears no resemblance to the Press Conference Bill. His players say he's funny as hell, and makes them laugh a lot.
But more specifically, the players meant that Hue, like Bill, comes up with new ideas.
Most coaches just look around at other teams. They see what works best, and copy it. Elite coaches are the ones everybody else copies
Wes Welker was Wes Who? before the Patriots. He became Wes Who? when he left the Patriots. Julian Who? became Julian Edelman when he came to the Patriots. While all the other teams blew their budgets overpaying big "number one" outside receivers (following the model), Bill found the best tight end he could, a slot receiver, and kicked all their butts.
Patriot/Brady/Bill bashers abound. I feel sorry for all of you.
And please, quit saying Hue wants this or Hue likes that because of the players he coached. He only had one draft. He was assigned most of those players. He no doubt adapted to the players he was stuck with, including offensive linemen.
It's logical to expect him to want at least one big fast X-receiver (I'm sure Bill wants one every year too), but beyond that, you're just guessing.
For my next entry, I'll research what I can on how Hue Jackson handled things in his one year as Raiders Head Coach, and present my analysis for your edification.
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