Consensus is almost unanimous that the Browns will draft Josh Rosen first overall, and not Sam Darnold.
The reason? He's more pro-ready. That's it. That's all. More pro ready.
Clearly coachability, personality, upside, and character are all far less imortant than pro-readiness.
One prognosticator even said that Darnold and Rosen are pretty much interchangeable...then picked Rosen.
Pro readiness: Are we really talking about starting a rookie quarterback in game one again? A rookie quarterback will be expected to take down the Ravens, Steelers, and Bengals in 2018?
Pro readiness will be a low priority for Ken Dorsey. Upside will be the top priority, and Darnold has more.
He's more accurate, he can improvise, throw off-balance, and run like Wentz.
Not that this matters or anything, but he listens to coaches, and his teammates will run through walls for him too.
I go back to my last post, and think a veteran (quite possibly McCarron) will be brought in to start. We can give DeShone Kizer a puncher's chance. After all, he hasn't had time to stabalize his mechanics, and he has had his moments.
The drafted quarterback will be protected and nurtured. If he's a little less pro ready than that prick, who cares? Dorsey will want the best quarterback in 2019.
Most of these guys also want desperately to replace that bumb Ogbah at defensive end with the Texans pick.
I don't understand this. Left tackle, probably downhill running back...well that's kind of it...make more sense, unless the defensive end is like Garrett himself.
But there's a problem here:
I've been defending Hue Fisher's playcalling up til the Green Bay game, but now I've got to concede that he's pretty bad.
As Dan Labbe and others have pointed out, despite the fact that the run was working vs the Ravens, Hue scrapped it, and had DeShone Kizer back to pass for most of the game, including when the Browns were leading.
I personally noticed that the Ravens blew up dumpoffs to Crowell (for losses) at least three times. The Ravens obviously had the answer for that play. The second one I can understand, but the third one shouldn't have been attempted.
Just as Hue refuses to adapt to his personnel, he refuses to adapt to the opponent and game situation.
Vs Green Bay, I'm almost positive that Gregg Williams didn't willingly back off and allow the Packers to dink and dunk up and down the field and come from far behind.
I know for sure that this was one time when Hue did fall in love with the run. Know who else knew it? The Packer's defense.
Kizer actually looked good in that game! But Jackson took his foot off the gas with half the game remaining. The Browns went away from what was working, and the Packers exploited it.
Dear Mike Brown: Please come get him. He's the perfect replacement for Marvin Lewis. We'll take a 7th round pick. And a bag of Doritos too. Ok skip the pick.
This is deflating. All the stuff I said about his Bible-sized playbook, creativity, and adaptability. I've rarely been this wrong about anything.
Well at least I admit it. Other stuff I was wrong about: Pryor, Britt, Dayes (I thought he was a wasted pick)...can't think of much else recent but feel free to read more posts and nail me.
Yes, I now hope that Mike Brown is crazy enough to want Hue back, and yes...to start over with yet another Head Coach of Dorsey's choosing.
I doubt it will happen, however, or that Haslam will change his mind and fire him.
Well Marvin Lewis won lots of games. Hue can, once he has the players to fit his rigid, inflexible scheme, and the majority of those players have some experience.
The problem is, I don't trust him in critical moments anymore, and did you see it vs the Ravens again? He was indeed yanking Josh Gordon off the field for Ricardo Lewis, including in the red zone and in come-back mode!
Look, cornerbacks stay on the field for every down, and they have to work harder than wide receivers! Why the hell would you want your best wide receiver randomly stanting on the sidelines over 35% (I'm guessing) of the time?
Peter Smith strikes again! This time he's all over Hue Lewis for how he handled DeShone Kizer, and he's mostly on the money.
I just disagree with Pete on a few minor points. For one, I think Kevin Hogan shouldn't be judged on his one and only start. If you check out his overall performance (and progress) through his first two seasons, you see potential here.
But Pete backs me up on Hue's inflexibility. "The system is the system, no matter who is at quarterback". I would add: Regardless of the skill-set of your running back, the types and number of tight ends you have, how bad and few your wide receivers are, or how athletic your offensive line is.
Smith is quite fair to DeShone Kizer. He was absolutely not ready to start in the NFL, and this isn't his fault.
I don't know how good Kizer will eventually become, or even how far his "leap" from his first to second year will take him, but he'll obviously be significantly better than he is now.
If Angelo Dundee had put Cassius Clay up against contenders in his first few pro fights, you might never have heard of Muhammud Ali. Hue Jackson is no Angelo Dundee.
Peter takes Hue behind the woodshed in this one, and I concur about 86.2%.
If the improbable happens, and we get to replace this Marvin Lewis clone before 2018, Gregg Williams and his assistants should be safe, which would provide continuity on defense.
This defense has disappointed recently, but you have to realize that Danny Shelton, Ogbah, and Jamie Collins not being there matters.
A few more Bullcrap corrections:
1: Deep safety was one of the few positions Jabrill Peppers rarely played in college, although he's faster than most NFL starters at that position.
2: Peppers is at deep safety something like 30% of the time.
3: He will be much better at that position in his second season, but it might not matter if Nacua (who is a true deep safety), or another high draft pick takes it over.
4: The defense's (unprecedented in Williams' carreer) lack of turnovers is alarming, but not terminal. When Ogbah went on IR, it stifled pressure from the edge, as defenses could focus on Garrett, and roll away from him.
The majority of turnovers are forced by getting to the quarterback, obviously. They come from deflections, strip-sacks (almost always from behind), and premature, off-balance throws.
The real experts who say that the Browns need a "bookend" for Myles Garrett are correct, but I can't understand their dismissal of Emmanuel Ogbah, who will be returning for his third season next spring.
Jamie Collins is a unique player. All the other linebackers are around 6'2", and under 245. Collins is 6'5", 260, and I think faster than all of them.
Collins can make interceptions, separate ballcarriers from balls, deflect passes, and (read this slowly), Gregg Williams uses him differently than he does the shorter, smaller, slower guys.
Overall, Ogunjobi, Brantley, and (especially) Coley mitigate Danny Shelton's injuries. The Browns now have great depth at defensive tackle.
However, when Shelton is on the field, it's a lot harder for opposing offenses to run the ball.
When Shelton is there on first and sometimes second downs, running backs get stuffed more often (still with me here?). This forces more passes on second and third downs.
When Ogbah, Shelton, and Collins were all on the field, this defense was forcing turnovers. Rodney Ogbahfield and Collins were two of three key playmakers on this defense, and Shelton was a catalyst who set them up.
Now in 2018, two or more of the top five draft picks (from first overall to the top pick in the third round) should be starting quality defensive players.
Ogbah and Shelton will be back and healthy. McCourtey is getting old, but as amazing as he's been this season, we can reasonably expect him to rank high at CB next season and to exploit any mistakes opposing quarterbacks make for turnovers.
I'm fuzzy on Dorsey's history with free agents (and undrafted free agents) at this point, but Andrew Berry is still here, so I expect this to go pretty well. The Browns won't lose any important defensive players, and should land one high-profile veteran and score on a couple more undrafted guys as well.
Personally, without doing any research, I am personally leaning towards a Joe Thomas protege with the Texans' first round pick.
I can't find the left tackle Sashi drafted in 2016 because for some reason the Browns injured reserve list is too hard for me to find. I know he's extra-tall and very athletic, but that's all.
"Project" left tackles rarely work out, however, so going by the numbers, the top of the first round is your best bet, and this is one position you need to make sure of.
If you think replacing Ogbah is more important than replacing Joe Thomas eventually, you need a brain transplant.
That would take us to the top pick in the second round (etc).
Ogbah himself was drafted much lower. Stud running backs and free safeties are often taken here (I'm editing based on real Browns team needs--so are guards, centers, linebackers, tight ends, edge-ru...ok well just everything except quarterbacks ok?)
Dorsey should "hit" on most of the non-quarterback top five picks. It's not nearly as hard as digging up gold in the lower rounds...
Wow, did Sashi Brown set this guy up or what?
I begin to understand why Dorsey said "AFC North Division Title or bust":
1: He expects Ogbah and Collins back.
2: He expects to add at least two Williams-freindly studs in the top three (ok get real more like the top two) rounds.
3: He expects to maybe nab another one in free agency.
4: He knows that Ogunjobi, Brantley, Peppers, Burgess, and Nacua will be better, and has to like Howard Williams.
5: He knows Gregg Williams.
Unless Ken Dorsey is just a compulsive blow-hard, he expects the 2018 Browns defense to be one of the best in the NFL.
And that is realistic.
Assuming he's stuck with Hue Fisher as his Head Coach, and that Kizer isn't the answer at quarterback, he can still push Hue around.
Hue's record is what it is. If Mike Brown doesn't bail him out now, he'll never be a Head Coach again if he's fired here.
If Peter Smith and I can see what's wrong here, so can Ken Dorsey. But Hue has to listen to Dorsey.
This is deep: In this organizational structure, both the Head Coach and the defacto GM answer to the owner, rather than the Coach answering to the GM.
Well, Jimmy Haslam just replaced Sashi Brown with Ken Dorsey; kinda-sorta siding with Hue Lewis. But Hue Fisher has since then managed to squander two leads in games, and might well manage to lose to da Bearss this week as well.
If this new voice, with a great history of achievement, tells Haslam "Hue sucks", he will LISTEN, and Hue knows it.
Dorsey can push Hue around, and he will. He's already declared himself a scumbag with his "real players" bullcrap (which was partly to manipulate Hue...how transparent this guy is...)
Anyway Ken Dorsey has more real power here than he has ever had before in his carreer. He WILL ask him about the Gordon rotation, the blocking scheme, the prevent offenses and defenses, and everything else all of us have seen.
Dorsey isn't a "football guy" himself, but he just said nothing short of the AFC North title was acceptable in 2018. And HE will be asking Hue why the hell he rotates Gordon in and out, won't zone-block, won't stay with the run, etc., like we all do.
But NOW, Hue has to LISTEN. Ken Dorsey is a despicable human being, but he just might be the answer.
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