Terry's lukewarm opinion of Mychal Kendricks was startling, and he even cited some lame scouting reports which described Kendricks as "spotty" in coverage.
Kendricks' 76.8 PFF score in coverage isn't spectacular (a bunch of linebackers are over 80), but it's higher than that of any other linebacker on the current roster, and certainly above average.
Despite this, Terry seems skeptical that Kendricks will even start; I mean he felt obliged to point out that "somebody might get hurt".
Once John Dorsey paid Christian Kirksey good money long-term, Terry and others colored him a "cornerstone" player who Dorsey would never replace.
That's the thing with a lot of pundits: Pay a guy 3.5 million and that's how he's judged.
I got Terry. Stay tuned, and you'll see.
I'm thrilled that Dorsey extended Duke Johnson for three years! And the contract is really smart, as only something like 60% is guaranteed. That makes him much easier to trade down the road, if that comes up (be realistic: it could).
But how the hell is Dorsey going to get Duke on the field, with Landry hogging up the slot and the two hammerheads playing a lot of first and second downs?
In Pittsburgh, Haley had Brown and Bell, and everybody else was secondary.
Here, that "secondary" skill talent is a lot scarier...how will he use it?
For one thing, Haley can run any offense he wants, on any given down/distance. He can adapt to any defense.
In Pitt, he could do a lot of that, but not really the empty backfield de-facto five wide stuff. He didn't have 4th and 5th receivers like he does now (Duke is one of those by the way).
We have to assume that he'll use Landry and Gordon AMAP. Next, Njoku.
I now know that Landry has/can play outside, but he's best in the slot. I'll bet we'll see some Njoku outside and Landry inside stuff.
But Duke: he's right there with Landry as a wide receiver! But putting him there with those three would make a four-wide!
Certainly on third and longs, you can use Duke at running back (and not even sneak him into a second slot.)
Duke is actually pretty good in pass-protection, by the way.
But can you see why Todd Haley probably can't wipe the grin off his face? He's got Chubb, Coleman, Callaway and DeValve too!
(No disrespect to Carlos Hyde, but he just isn't like these guys).
I spared you the link to the Jarvis Landry interview, but can point out a couple more things off it:
Landry is very proud of his blocking. He points to his downfield blocks as reasons why drives were kept alive sometimes (and doesn't apologize for turning first and ten into second and four, or third and four into (just barely) first and ten, either.)
He's a good guy to have here, because he'll be making sure the other receivers take their blocking seriously too; he understands how important it is, and what an edge it can give an offense.
Landry described himself as a (security) "blanket" in Miami, saying he remained near the quarterback, and in his range of vision.
It felt to me like this bothered him a little; it sure as hell opened him up to critics citing his 8.6 (or whatever) yards per-catch average.
But if you check out Landry's highlight reel, you see that he can do more than that. I also have the impression that Haley is going to give him a better chance to prove that, and the public OTAs sure make it look like that. Taylor is hitting him intermediate a LOT.
It makes sense. Landry will certainly still be the security blanket sometimes, but Duke Johnson can also do a lot of what he does, and Njoku should quickly become a nice security blanket as well.
Landry's Miami offense didn't have a lot of skill depth, except at running back.
By the way, I'm not a Tannehill-basher, and niether is Landry, if you really listen to him. Tannehill was coming into his own when he got injured.
But Landry and I both like Tyrod Taylor (and Baker Mayfield) better.
You can't help but feel optimistic about this offense (with Todd Haley in charge, I mean).
Even DeShone Kizer might have survived and won a couple games if he'd had Landr...oh yeah Hue Palmer...nevermind.
(No in fairness to Hue, he instantly used Duke in the slot often and frequently---I never meant to call him an idiot).
Setting Josh Gordon and Jarvis Landry aside, the biggest battle at wide receiver will be between Corey Coleman and Antonio Callaway for the outside slot opposite Josh.
These are the big-play game-changers. While we can be "concerned" about each of these players as individuals, I personally offer 5:2 on one or the other (or both) making a big impact in 2018.
Dorsey drafted a legally (as well as vertically)-challenged Tyreek Hill in KC, and so far, so good.
Callaway and Coleman both have similar quickness and speed, but are bigger and taller too.
I know that for five posts or so I've sounded like a cheerleader, but just can't help it. Most of the dumbassitude I hear or read is negative, and as my mission is to ferret out and expose dumbassitude wherever I find it, I'm compelled to sound extra-positive in the process.
And as I constantly review decisions, and do that again and again with more and more information, I have to say this, yet again:
John Dorsey seems to have done the best job he's ever done in his carreer in this one offseason. He may well have actually made a 0-16 team into a potential playoff contender!
Skipping the draft, the veteran free agent additions of Taylor, Landry, Fells, Randall, Gaines, Carey, Kendricks, Hubbard (etc) brought in a lot of leadership along with real talent.
He had to overpay for the early ones, but they got cheaper in a hurry, and now he just extended Duke Johnson for reasonable money too.
In 2017, the Cleveland Browns were one of the youngest teams in the NFL. Now, they're suddenly a much more "seasoned" team. Dorsey's massive additions of (mostly still young) veteran free agents has brought in both leadership and talent. He may well have skipped the "winning six games" stage, and got this team into the "in the Steeler's face" stage one season ahead of schedule.
He won the draft, too. Yeah, he inheritted all those picks from Sashi Brown, but he still ignored the hype, and just drafted the best quarterback.
The Ward over Chubb thing...well we'll just have to see how that and Corbett and the rest of this draft will shake out.
Ward looks terrific right now, though.
Hue Jackson is taking credit for signing Todd Haley (and giving him full control of the offense), but I still credit Dorsey for that, too.
Jackson knew he had no choice. Haley knew he could trust Dorsey, and that he could be a Head Coach again off this gig.
Jackson and Haley are probably genuinely freindly, and Haley could stand to refine his "people skills" by watching Hue in action. Hue will hopefully refine his "How to USE people" skills by watching Haley.
Irrelevant: Dorsey did all the aforementioned, and has two of the best offensive and defensive coordinators in the NFL.
The "tough schedule" certainly matters, and the Browns have a tough one.
Still (redundancy alert), the best teams tend to lose talent, while the worst teams tend to improve. Also, offensive and defensive coordinators adapt, and come up with "solutions" to stuff other teams succeeded with last season.
For some reason, I'm fixating on the Saints, who the Browns play after beating the Stoolers week one at home.
Kamara will be suspended (thank God). That could be just enough.
You guys need to try to comprehend this: Drew Brees is a Hall of Fame quarterback, but there are 21 other starters on that team, and they matter (at least a little) too.
Denzel Ward will be used to covering Josh Gordon, and if you think Micheal Thomas is like Josh, you're hallucinating.
Tedd Ginn Jr is in his geezerhood,...
Nevermind I won't even go deeper. The Browns' 22 starters are better than the Saints 22, and Brees can't overcome that all by himself, any more than Rodgers or Manning or Big Ben or Ryan or Wilson or Newton or Brady could.
Even some real experts like Pat Kirwan go overboard with the quarterback stuff (Brees vs Taylor = Saints win).
The "home field advantage" is also irrelevant vs veteran teams: veterans don't choke. ...of course there's always the zebra-factor...
I could go through the whole schedule here, but the core of it is the six games they'll play within the AFC North.
The 2018 Steelers should remain elite (and got the refs in their pocket) so they might get "awarded" one win. But the Browns should still sweep the Bungles and Ratbirds, and bag five wins here, and maybe a tie-breaker, uh...because they are better, ya no?
Skipping the Jets, a bunch more inked-in "W's" by opposing fans are greatly exaggerated.
I can't help repeating myself again here: The 2018 Browns have a top 15 veteran quarterback, one of the best WR corps in the NFL, a top 5-8 offensive line, top 3-7 tight ends, top 5 backfield, top 5-6 defensive line, top 4-8 linebackers, and top 4-7 secondary and two top 5 coordinators!!!
Sorry, I've again allowed my logic and rationality to overwhelm my pessimism.
Excuse the hell outta me.
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