His new teammate, freak Miami tight end David Njoku, describes DeValve as a freak (I really perked up when this particular player said that). DeValve describes himself as "Bigger, stronger, faster".
Normally, you take such self-serving statements with a grain of salt, but for Seth, it holds water. 15-20 lbs mean he built up his lower body as well as the impressive guns you see in this pic.
Assuming Browns (or other NFL) Hans's and Franzes oversaw DeValve's workouts, his butt and legs (including calves) got rocked up as well (and by the way, a calf weighs as much or more than an upper arm; I'll bet two thirds of the mass he gained was in his lower body).
Seth DeValve, a wide receiver at Princeton, got some truly ignorant scouting reports ahead of his own draft, but his combine numbers approximate those of Njoku, including a faster 10-yard split!
Ohhh yesss, eggzellent! Sashi and company dug a diamond out of a pile of coal on this one! Even I was selling DeValve short. "He'll never be like Njoku, but--" boy was I fulla crap!
This kind of seals the deal: We are looking at a two-tight end offense here, for sure. Njoku and DeValve are too good not to use in tandem.
I have almost zero doubt that DeValve will be an effective in-line blocker by game one, and continue to improve game-by-game. Anybody that works that hard to become a real tight end will work just as hard to refine his techniques, and give his all on every play (which Gary Barnidge, unfortunately, did not).
I guess Randall Telfer must be a really good blocker, and I know he can catch, but he's not like Seth or Dave.
This is what my man Terry Pluto still doesn't get. He's technically right that Kenny Britt is the only proven wide receiver on this roster. He stipulates Coleman's talent, and expects him to make a jump entering year two. He even credits Ricardo Lewis as a bigger, taller fast guy with potential.
But he wants more proven veteran wide receivers! He's not optimistic about the two other big wide receivers who were rookies last season...for some reason...and he thinks a veteran should come in and kick one or both to the curb.
I say "one or both" because, while Terry has decided the "Josh Gordon" experiment is over, Sashi Brown has not, and odds are that Gordon will be re-instated in the preseason, and will NOT be released.
...because...well, Terry, with all due respect...that would be idiotic.
But I digress: Perhaps Terry is being condused by the fact that Lord Insideous has released a star tight end and nabbed two slot receivers in a clear move towards a smurf 4-wide and away from the two-tight end model he's run for several years.
Maybe Terry assumes everybody else (including the Browns) will copy him, or something.
But the best Coaches use their best players as much as they can first and foremost. They set up their schemes that way.
...well it gets deeper into the weeds, of course. Like, if you have cap issues, you look around for ways to save money, and if you see that little waterbug microbe wide receivers are cheap, and athletic tight ends are expensive, and you have a quarterback who can...well but I digress again for the 2107 BROWNS, it's a fairly obvious two tight-end base, with some two-back.
This means that not only would the third wide receiver be uncommon, but sometimes there would only be one true wide receiver (remember all 3 running backs in the slot, and Duke or maybe Atkins outside), and then...what about Josh?)
Well enough picking on Terry. I really didn't want to beat him up like that but couldn't help it.
For fun, let's try to figure out how Gregg Williams would try to mess up Hue Jackson:
Well for one thing, Gregg has the people to match up with two tight ends (relatively speaking: nobody really does).
The closest comparison to what Gregg Williams wants to do is the Seattle Seahawks defense.
Gregg doesn't run as much press/man as most others. He mixes more off/man with some zone. Off-man and zone can set up identically, unless there is pre-snap motion by a wide receiver...ok long story but it's just harder for a quarterback to read until he sees what the free safety is doing after the ball is snapped, or until he's in trouble, ok?
...you want me to break this down more?
I thought not. Anyway here Gregg runs his ideal package with four down linemen, two official linebackers, and five defensive backs, with the fifth DB being a safety.
The announcers would call the fronts all sorts of stuff from down to down, because all the defensive ends (including stretch Nassib btw) can stand erect, and at least 2, and maybe 4 of these safeties can set up where a linebacker sets up.
"That's errah a 3-3 no wait I mean 3-2 correction a 4-2 no wait--"
Browns practices will be a lot of fun! If I've read this right (and I have), Hue Jackson told Gregg Williams the defense was all his, and that he (Hue) would try to stick it to him in practice.
Jackson described Williams as a defensive version of himself. That's all I needed to hear. These two will be playing chess with eachother throughout training camp, and well into preseason.
I can tell you, this is part of the reason that all the players are so enthusiastic. While fundamentals can't be ignored, the two units are in real competition with eachother. As it goes along, they'll be throwing curve balls and sliders at eachother.
They'll get in fights. They'll also tease eachother, challenge eachother, and back-slap eachother, and flip eachother off. Williams vs Jackson. Offense vs defense. Steel sharpens steel.
Of course, Joe Thomas will be standing back and watching a lot, so poor Roderick Johnson (along with Shon Coleman and Cam Erving) get to deal with Garrett, Ogbah, Johnson, Orchard, Nassib, etc.
It's likely that Des Bryant will get used up here, and traded or released very late.
Des is 31, but is still really good, and will give Bitonio and company all they can handle; every dirty trick etc., throughout this Gregg vs Hue competition. All THREE of the younger guys trying to take his job will learn a ton by watching him, even if he's reluctant to actively help them (highly forgivable).
I would use him this way, because I can be "heartless".
Now, before you start calling me names, you need to remember that this guy is a multi-millionaire, thanks mainly to the Browns, who gave him a pretty good new contract.
I like him too, but that is irrelevant, and Sashi can't get mushy here either.
Bryant himself understands this. He sees three talented younger, cheaper players nipping at his heels and his own salary, and can count the candles on his cake.
Des Bryant is fighting to get traded instead of waived, and he has a chance: Des could help a real contender for one to three years. His salary is "obsolete", and he could renegotiate pre-trade. Sashi would accept a 4th round pick or lower.
I tell you now that Des Bryant is on the block.
Ok but Sashi Brown's job is not to look out for Des Bryant. His job is to build the Browns into contenders. If he has to kick a guy who makes a lot more money than he does out into the mean streets of Paris or Maui, to perhaps scrape by on 3.5 mil/year instead of 7, well, he'll just have to carry that burden somehow.
I don't fault the anonymous NFL executive who found Kevin Zietler's contract outrageous. It really was. But Sashi couldn't screw around, and he had to pay the 1-15 premium.
Zietler is being more politic now, but shortly after the trade, when NFL Radio asked him why he had signed on with the Browns, he said "The money" PERIOD.
Still, the exec went overboard. Aside from spazzing out over .5 to .75 mil over market in salary, he said that Zietler would "block air" 33% of the time which...I guess this guy must think right guards grow on trees or something.
Anyway Sashi overpaid for Zietler, but not by much, and he got Tretter and the rest dirt cheap. Anybody who says the Zietler signing was terrible, let alone pollutes the rest of the offseason, is mentally impaired or demented.
Certainly, the 2017 Browns are far from perfect, but I weary of this sniping from the peanut gallery. It's sometimes irrational, and always vindictive.
Sashi Brown=Donald Trump. If he walked on water, they'd bash him for not being able to swim.
Oh yeah: A right guard doesn't "block air" on one out of three downs--that statement was psychotic. The right guard is normally the "pulling" guard, and on passing downs is usually challenged by TWO passrushers. He's the first offensive linemen to go linebacker-hunting, and sometimes he rotates back and outside to head off an edge-rusher who's beaten a tackle.
Ross Tucker said that next to left tackle, right guard was the hardest position to play (harder than center), as he was often isolated one-on-one with the best interior passrusher, who could go to his right or his left.
...Well that's obsolete, I think. Nowadays the right guard is on a Shelton--but wtf he's "blocking air" every third down who tf says this crap!?!
Oh I get it. It had to be Buzz Kill Bill. Nevermind.
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