First thanks to the Cleveland cops and medics for refusing to bear the flag for a bunch of brats who used it as a prop to protest a manufactured "problem" which does not exist.
Next thanks to the New York Jets for trading for Jevon Kearse. For a minute, I was thinking the Browns would be dumb enough to give up more than a fifth rounder to resolve another imaginary problem which does not exist.
No knock on Kearse, who is a fine player. But he's not better than Coleman, and isn't a big target like Britt. He wouldn't displace Duke in the slot, and (oh yeah) isn't a tight end.
Oh wow they just traded for Sammy Coates. They got a 7th rounder along with him, and gave up a sixth rounder, so he was kinda free really. And he's not an old geezer either. And he's big.
I was ready to lose my mind until I found out the price they paid.
Based on his scouting report...and his performance thus far as a pro, here we have the next Edwards Scissorhands.
This dude can burn, but has LITERALLY failed to catch more than half of the passes thrown his way.
I really hope this is a "flier" based on Coates' irrefutable talent, and that the Browns will release him if he doesn't become massively less unreliable quickly.
Meanwhile, however, a wide receiver who is better than Coates was as a Steeler will now be lost. I don't like this move, but can probably figure out why it was made:
Coates is a lethal deep receiver...err, half the time...
Now that this is Kizer's team, Hue will want to take advantage of his superb arm talent, and go deep often.
As it stands, Coleman has that kind of speed, but doesn't have the ideal catch radius, and is more useful turning short and intermediate routes into big plays.
Britt can burn, but himself has underperformed thus far. Coates is competition for Kenny Britt--not for Corey Coleman, as one misguided pundit suggested. Most likely, the potential reward if this is the season that Coates gets his head out outweighed the negligable cost and risk.
I don't like it. Just remember I said that.
The final cuts are in, and now I HATE this move, because sure enough, they cut Jordan Leslie. Sammy Coates, Jordan Leslie hmmm...I guess he never had a chance no matter what he did, and that sucks, Hue Jackson. That sucks.
Greco was released. I'm not too surprised because of his age, and won't knock it, but it's still sad. Good luck, John!
I'm not surprised that they retained only five wide receivers, but am surprised they only kept three tight ends. No doubt, they can stash one or even two on the practice squad, and activate him at any time.
Nice to see Telfer make it. I personally underrated that guy, but he proved himself.
Payton got cut too, so at least Sashi Brown isn't afraid to cut his own draft picks. Higgins survived. While Leslie is obviously better than he is, I don't hate that. Higgins is a big possession guy who blocks well, and you need those guys. Except Leslie is better at that too how do you paint lipstick in this pig dammit?
Keeping ten offensive and defensive linemen is really unusual. This is a philosophical statement by this regime: They intend to win "up front", in the trenches. That spells "physical", which is a really good idea in the AFC North.
I kinda like it, because they kept Tye Holmes AND Nate Orchard, along with both drafted defensive tackles and Nassib, and I didn't want to see any of those guys cut.
...We might see them TRADED down the road, but that's a different story. This was partly why they didn't cut them. You don't give anything up for free if you can sell it--analytics, see?
Burgess made it at linebacker! Alexander and Olugbode didn't! That's surprising. They retained five linebackers. That's low for a 4-3, but evidently if Schobert gets hurt they'll revert to a 4-2 again. Somebody else they cut might make the practice squad.
Whoa FIVE safeties? They kept Pryor and Nacua too.
Hillary and Burley are the fourth and fifth of five cornerbacks (remember Wilson is injured--he'll be back).
Hillary has been fairly quiet, but I guess in his case that's a good thing.
Congrats to Zane Gonzalez for winning over Cody Parkey. Parkey was/is actually an excellent kicker who won't be unemployed long. Gonzalez must be...what comes after excellent?
Martin and Sterup both made it on the offensive line.
Zach Sterup is a second year player from Nebraska (which matters) who mostly played tackle but played inside too. His Pro Day numbers were actually pretty good; he's a real athlete!
I kind of ignored him myself and, as you can see if you clicked that link, people were not impressed enough by him coming out of college to bother analyzing him.
For this reason, I'm glad he made it.
Rod Johnson was Big Joe's backup, and when he went down it "exposed a lack of depth at tackle" right?
Gimme a break! Left tackles don't grow on trees, and nearly every team in the NFL is in a jam if their starter goes down (or even if he doesn't, for that matter).
Shon Coleman would have been Joe's backup had he not been competing for (and ultimately winning) the right tackle job. Until Johnson returns, it's possible that he would move over to replace Big Joe, and Martin or Sterup (or Rango) would replace him at right tackle.
Naturally, you don't want to play musical positions like this unless you have to, which is why Roderick Johnson focussed exclusively on left tackle since he was drafted, and why he was THE backup there.
The Browns have average or above depth at offensive tackle, with or without Rod Johnson.
They have outstanding depth at guard and center. Fabiano didn't make the cut, but Reiter did, Rango is still here, and Martin/Sterup can play guard (Martin was a starting center btw).
I'll go over Pokorney's final roster again here:
Quarterback check running back check wide receiver...
Rashard Higgins is the only guy who isn't a deep threat. Coleman is the smallest, and he's by no means a shrimp. Everybody else is at least 6'1.5" and over 212 lbs.
Let me tell you (and I'm not guessing): Once it became clear that DeShone Kizer and Kevin Hogan were the best quarterbacks on this team, Hue Jackson shuffled his playbook around.
Instead of West Coast crossers and slanters, he wanted deep threats. He's still got Duke Johnson, Higgins, Crowell, and yes Coleman too (and the tight ends of course) for the crosses and slants, but this is not going to be a West Coast scheme anymore.
NFL analyst Brady Quinn grew up as (and remains) an open Browns fan, and actually watches every game like the rest of us do, ok?
HE says that picking on Kizer for holding the ball too long is off-base. Per Quinn, DeShone was running a different offense than Osweiler and Kessler were. He was not supposed to hit crossers and slanters "on time" to get the ball out of his hands nearly as often.
Quinn is impressed by Kizer's "pocket awareness" after watching him avoid sacks with a step here and a step there (like Tom Brady btw though Quinn didn't say it), and said (I paraquote because I don't remember exactly) "His job was to buy time for his receivers to get open, and throw it deep."
Prior to Don Coryall, this was how all NFL offenses operated. The quarterback did have progressive reads and knew the patterns and stuff, but it was line-of-sight and the deeper the better. Those quarterbacks used their instincts more, and thrived or perished based on that.
This is not obsolete, and never will be. Most of Ben Roethsenberger's carreer has been doing exactly this. Cam Newton still does this.
Brady Quinn thinks that Kizer will improve on the timing patterns as soon as he feels he can trust his receivers to be where they're supposed to be, but says he already has the instincts and arm to "play it by ear" and strike deep.
Anyway, that's why 4 of the 5 wide receivers are deep threats, and partly why Sashi just bought Sammy Scissorhands for a nickel, and released a much better wide receiver to make room for him dammit.
The five safeties and five linebackers (with five corners) is interesting too.
I think that Gregg Williams considers strong safeties and weakside linebackers almost interchangeable. He runs more zone coverage than most, as well (more accurately he "mixes in" more zone but disguises it).
The guy Gregg Williams most resembles is Bud Carson. He is willing to risk "burns" to play in the offense's backfield, and wants his zone coverage guys to hammer people.
Five corners is light, and five safeties heavy for most teams, but that's because most teams run man coverage more.
We here in Cleveland think "man" means press/man, but another thing Williams uses is off-man, like the Seattle Seahawks do.
It's really hard for receivers and quarterbacks to read accurately...I will defer further explanation for a future post, but it really cuts down on the "burns", assuming the quarterback is in trouble, which is a logical assumption on every. Single. Down.
Forget 2016's defensive stats. Everybody (including my man Ross Tucker) who blamed that historicly bad performance on "lack of talent" is fulla crap.
Many feel that Shelton belonged in the Pro Bowl, Collins arrived late, Kindred was injured, Ogbah, Calhoun, Schobert etc were rookies, Haden played with TWO groin injuries, Bryant was out for the season; my God Ray Hortan was playing Meder and Cooper at defensive END...
...Ok Ross had a point after all in a way.
Still, 2016's talented rookies are still here, along with Garrett, Peppers, three more draft picks, Coley, McCourtey etc. Even if Ross was right about last year's defense, this year's defense is stacked!
This just might be a Superbowl caliber defense, right tf now.
Can't predict that. The quarterback is a rookie and the offense is inexperienced. They will screw up.
They need to upset the Steelers in game one. If they manage that, the sky's the limit.
...but I doubt it.
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