Joel Cade (Dawg Pound Daily) wrote "5 Obstacles" to Browns Success in 2018.
I haven't read this yet, but really like Joel as an analyst, and since this one is the closest to a negative article as I could find, I just pasted it in here, and will read and comment on it now:
First up, find a left tackle (that's a "yup"!). And Joel feels that one should be chosen ASAP, so that he can get those first team reps with his starting line-mates.
I agree with that, but thanks to the current candy-ass Players Contract, there can be no contact until training camp, and none of the candidates are allowed to prove a damn thing.
Oh, they can prove that they can move their feet and run around, but that's about it. Offensive and defensive linemen need to actually duke it out for real before you can separate the wheat from the chaff, but the Players Union made sure that this can't happen (and then only a little) until training camp.
So the Coaches have to wait, and then they have to give each challenger a fair number of the limited contact reps before they can make an educated GUESS at which guy looks the best for 2018.
That could take two or more weeks, under the rediculous terms of this agreement.
Gregg Williams will have to help out by...oh wait are blitzes and stunts even allowed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement?
Well let's hope so, because Haley will ask Williams to run some "games" without mercy on the left tackle candidates, and put Garrett or Ogbah on them, and not screw around.
There are four, not just two, contenders here.
Rod Johnson is no longer a raw rookie, and Desmond Harrision is the best athlete in this group; niether should be brushed off like lint here. I admit they're longshots, but Harrison in particular is the one guy with "Thomasonian" physical tools.
Joel didn't factor Haley's scheme in here, either: Trust me, it will reduce the stress on the new left tackle significantly, and could influence this decision.
I don't have a dog in this fight, but it appears to me that Austin Corbett has the best shot in the offense Haley will run.
Next, Joel asks if there is enough depth on defense yet. I think he's reaching here, as he said that when most of your depth consists of first and second-year players, that's a problem.
Well, in the first place, that's just plain wrong. Ogunjobi, Brantley, and Peppers are second year players. Rookie Denard Avery needs time to develop? Ward is a rookie: is he not going to start over a bunch of veterans? Didn't an undrafted Boddy-Calhoun sieze the nickel slot as a rookie and never let it go?
Quarterbacks are different, and rookies at other positions need time to refine their skills (to a drastically lesser extent). But defensive players rely more on athleticism and instincts in general, and when you start sweating first and second year players as backups, you're just getting silly.
In the second place, it does not apply here:
Coley is a third year player, Meder enters his geezerhood, Nassib a third year player, Orchard fourth, the secondary is stacked with veterans, and the Kendricks' signing has guaranteed veteran depth at linebacker (even if he starts).
Joel totally muffed this "obstacle". Rookies can be good depth, and the depth isn't inexperienced anyway.
Okay maybe Joel will come back on the next...
Another reach. Will Hue Jackson interfere with Haley?
Well at least Joel breaks down Hue's 2017 screwups concisely, and correctly expects Haley to do much better here (like I said he's a good analyst).
But no, Hue won't "panic" if he's down by 7 points and start overriding Todd Haley.
He can't. He doesn't dare. Haslam will fire him if he does. Haley won't stand for it, and (candy cane and lollypop PR aside), Hue has zero credibility, and is still the Head Coach for political reasons only.
I also don't think Hue Jackson "panics". I just think he's an inflexible blockhead who thought his system could transcend the players he had.
I don't believe he'd interfere with Haley even if he was allowed to. He handed Haley the offensive keys, and he meant it. He's a blockead, but not an idiot.
Joel aint doing too good here, but next up: Safety play needs to improve/can Jabrill Peppers play Strong Safety?
This part is pretty good overall, as Joel points out that Derrick Kindred is the better strong safety at this point in time, and Damarius Randall has zero NFL experience at Free.
But he's still trying too hard to go against the grain and be negative (wow never thought I'd say that!)
Gregg Williams didn't invent the "Angel" safety to help nurse Peppers along. It won't disappear now. Randall might be a better free safety now than he would have been had he started at free safety instead of cornerback. Kindred and Peppers will not be pure strong safeties in 2018; they are safetybackers(@all rights conserved).
I'm getting extra-deep here, but in general Joel did a fine job of projecting a worst-case scenario.
Next, Joel asks if Jarvis Landry is a possession receiver, and wonders how soon the receiver roles will be defined.
This part was quite insightful and thought-provoking for me:
Joel points out that Landry is actually about the same size as Antonio Brown, and wonders if Todd Haley intends to use him the same way.
I fell off my stool at first, but by the time I got back, I was considering it:
Antonio Brown is actually not as big or strong as Landry. He was generally regarded as...well not much by most scouts or teams.
He was drafted by the Steelers, where he met...
Todd Haley.
Joel wonders if Landry might be a whole lot more than a possession guy in a Todd Haley offense.
Well, he gets open. He catches everything. Brown isn't actually faster.
Still, Joel reaches a little here, and I shortly found out why: If Landry becomes a number one receiver, where does this leave Josh Gordon?
HUH?
1: Josh Gordon is already the X-receiver here, because he is a threat at every level, including DEEP, and double or triple-covered.
2: Even Antonio Brown is not a deep threat. He does his damage after the catch. He did at least half of it from the slot. When you say "number one" receiver, that means the X, and niether Landry nor Brown are X's. Nor was Steve Smith, and Steve would tell you that.
3: It's not semantics: Real X-receivers are rare. Julio Jones, Randy Moss, Green in Cinci; I guess Thomas in the Big Easy is kind of another one.
An X is what Pat Kirwan calls a "coverage-dictator". He is a big, tall, fast guy with a huge catch-radius who can't be caught from behind, and who can bring down even inaccurate passes in a crowd.
Free safeties have to keep an eye on this guy first, because if he gets even slightly past a cornerback, the ball might already be in the air, and it's major damage, if not a TD.
Short guys need not apply.
4: Forget the labels: Every offensive coordinator in the NFL wants a true "number one" X receiver, but in any given
season, only 4-7 teams in the NFL have one.
The last few Superbowl participants have "done without" (don't tell Kirwan! He still thinks you can't win without one shhh!)
5: In reality, it doesn't matter. Todd Haley "made do" with Antonio Brown and (of late) Juju Smith-Schuster (and of course Ebineezer Bell), but the Bryant thing fizzled, right?
Haley hasn't had a real number one receiver for a long time...did he even have one when he won a Superbowl with Warner and the Rams?
6: Well, he has one now.
Jarvis Landry might indeed look better under Haley than he has with the Fins, but Josh Gordon isn't going anywhere...
Joel Cade clearly went "contrarian" here in an attempt to separate himself from the crowd, but this article doesn't hold water.
Joel remains a great analyst in my opinion, but this might have been his worst article ever. In an effort to be "different", he reached for negativity.
He'll learn from this, and return to his objective analysis, even though it neccessarily sounds positive.
Now I'm challenged to find negative stuff myself...
...Nothing in the news (Kellen Winslow's arrest or anything Manswellian don't count G).
Uhhh...well okay there's Jabrill Peppers: He tested out great at the combine, but rarely made big plays in college (mainly at WIL). He mostly crapped out at Free Safety here as a rookie.
Meanwhile, Derrick Kindred was excellent in the SS and safetybacker roles prior to season-ending injury.
Peppers' "floor" is pretty high, and his potential (based on his measurables) is very high as well. But he was a first round pick, and (in reality) didn't play much strong safety in college.
He can't play weakside linebacker here.
As a first round pick, if Peppers doesn't play a lot, and make some "splash"-plays in season two, he could legitimately be called a "bust".
I can't even call that a negative, since the rookie salary structure makes him comparatively inexpensive, and here for up to five years, and if all he turns out to be is a special teamer and versatile backup well...the market will decide.
Pessimistic enough?
Errumm...well how 'bout Gordon falling off the wagon" again?
Read back several paragraphs (see "Todd Haley"). That would be bad, but not catastrophic.
Oh! Oh! What if Jarvis Landry is only just what he was in Miami...okay that's not really negative, except Dorsey overpaid him...a little.
Depth at...nevermind.
Hue Palmer still here!!!
...Nah. Already addressed that. Irrelevant.
Oh! Oh! I can always count on the Permabasher Playbook:
If we compare each Browns player to the best at their positions in the NFL, we can make this team look bad!
Somebody is better than most of the Browns' individual starters! We can even come up with ways to knock Garrett and Bitonio this way!
That's da ticket!
Oh nevermind I can't even feign idiocy for more than a few seconds.
Hmm...oh yeah QUARTERBACK!
...ok well Gramps Rottenburgers is better than Taylor, but Flacco and Dalton aren't.
Joel Cade made a great effort at being negative, but was forced to "reach" too much. Also, he was "in his cups", and I have some advice for him on that "submit" option.
Strength of Schedule! We're doomed, I tell you! How's that?
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