Although I think that Mike Mularkey could well be hired as a Head Coach again, I have to say that I would love to have him as an offensive coordinator here.
When he filled that role with the Steelers, he was a huge pain in the Browns' ass. How a bunch of nimrods in Tennessee can say he's a blockhead, I don't get.
I lightly skimmed articles on Mularkey, and a number were negative.
The linked article is accurate. Mularkey will use three tight ends and max-protects (two receivers) sometimes vs scary passrushes. Like Bill Belichick.
That works if you have two dangerous and reliable wide receivers who can bring in contested balls, and a quarterback who can find and hit them. The Browns have two out of three so far.
Also, this doesn't tell the whole story. Those extra big guys don't all just block. One or two tight ends will just chip and then become receivers, and one of the nominal receivers might be a Duke Johnson type. It's actually rare that fewer than three receivers become available in Mularkey's max protects.
Mularkey USES tight ends as receivers! HE would use DeValve and Njoku at the same time!
One guy bashed Mularkey for running options with Mariota.
This is a fact: Mularkey is right: a big fast athlete like that CAN protect himself outside the pocket! Joe Theisman was a scrambler, but his carreer ended in the pocket! You can throw it away, slide, or run out of bounds! The guys chasing you have to sift through traffic and can't catch you. You see the other guys coming.
Mularkey made the most of Mariota while he was learning. Meanwhile, can you name a Titans wide receiver? The guy didn't have a lot to work with! Give Delanie Walker and both of those running backs their props, but Henry is a one-trick pony with vertical speed, brute force, and no receiving skills to speak of.
Oh yeah and Mularkey didn't run as much max protect in Tennessee as he had in the past; he did the best with what he had, and he went 18-14 and made the playoffs.
Mularkey would truly max out with the Browns. As I mentioned, DeValve came on strong as a blocker later in his second season, and Coleman/Gordon vs four DBs could well be a double-mismatch.
Bullcrap aside, Mike Mularkey has "old school" roots, but is adaptable and even creative.
...but I doubt he'll be available so nevermind. But while I'm daydreaming, Pat Shurmer would be awesome, but he's going to be a Head Coach again for sure, and is probably allergic to the Browns now anyway. Too bad.
Bud Shaw isn't in my top ten (except for being really funny), but the linked article is really insightful.
As you know, I've taken it further: Hue Jackson has zero leverage now. If he doesn't succeed with the Browns in 2018, he's probably done as a Head Coach. And he could be fired at any point during next season. AND Haslam has promised that he will be back (much to the consternation of just about everybody in the NFL community), but he could change his mind the first time Hue gets in a pissing contest with John Dorsey.
That's why I've told you that Dorsey, and not Hue, will pick the new offensive coordinator, and that the new guy will have real power (to override Jackson, if Hue objects to zone-blocking or playing DeValve and Njoku simultaneously, or dinking and dunking here and there, or sticking with the run when it's working, or not rotating Coleman and Gordon in and out like they're defensive linemen, for example).
This will be good for Hue Fisher! He really does have a big brain, and is not an egomaniac. He'll have to accept the results, and the fact that he was a blockhead. He might yet evolve into a really good Head Coach! Like the Sith Lord in New England!
He really doesn't have that far to go. As I've been illustrating to you through my last couple posts, if the Browns had had a real quarterback in 2017, they probably would have won several games, even with him running the offense.
In 2018, Dorsey will make sure the Browns have a real veteran quarterback of some sort (I hope not McCarron), and the very real and impressive talent already on this roster (entering it's second and third seasons), plus six top 65 draft picks, plus at least three impact veteran free agents should carry the day.
...Unless you think John Dorsey left his brain in Kansas City?
Or do you think Alex Smith or Kirk Cousins or whoever will suddenly suck, with only merely Coleman Gordon Duke Njoku!?!
But I'm glad to tell you: Bud Shaw is right: A real quarterback will extinguish this dumpster fire instantly, and the right offensive coordinator will make it work a lot better.
Hue Lewis will kinda be a figurehead in 2018 and take credit for everything. But Paul DePodesta and I think Hue will be a real Head Coach in 2019.
Just a note here: Gavin Escobar has a lot of upside. He'll challenge Telfer and DeValve. Good signing!
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