In my last post, for about the 30th time, I explained to Terry Pluto et al that wide receiver isn't rocket science, and the Browns need a new geezer veteran like they need a hole in the head.
Well, here we go with Antonio Callaway blowing everybody's veteran doors off already. And those cornerbacks are no jokes, okay?
Gee, I thought it took years to learn how to...nevermind.
In fairness, the few snippets I saw showed some pretty soft coverage. We still need to see if the kid can beat press/man coverage at this level.
His (second team) quarterback is Baker Mayfield, and that's helping Callaway out a lot too. Mayfield is as accurate as any quarterback I've ever seen.
Corey Coleman, however, stumbled out of the gate. He is making terrific plays, but also dropping balls. As far as I know, Callaway only dropped one.
Coleman at Baylor was pretty reliable, so it's too soon to take this and run with it. However, at this point, Antonio Callaway is the better player.
...but Coleman is a veteran, and Callaway hardly even played in college. How is this possible?
Well, Terry, wide receivers need to be quick and fast and to catch footballs. Once you have that down, you're mostly "there", you see? So the Browns don't need more veteran wide receivers, okay? Is any of this sinking in yet?
Clyde Simmons and Bob Wylie were typically "careful" in their press conferences. These guys will never say anything bad about any of their players, so you really have to re-read every sentence in that transcript to draw any conclusions.
I'm suprised to see our homie Jamie Meder as the number one left defensive tackle (over Ogunjobi) so far.
Clyde mentioned mistakes in re Ogunjobi (hastily adding "but not a lot"---too late Clyde!)
Jamie Meder is now the most experienced defensive lineman on this roster, and he's always had terrific instincts. He needed to, because he's not a quick-twitch athlete.
Jamie is 6'2", 305 lbs. His athletic "numbers" are frankly substandard, which is why he wasn't drafted in the first place.
But he has those instincts (and that's probably part film-study), and he uses leverage exceptionally well to stand up or shed bigger guards. He even collapses pockets and chases quarterbacks out sometimes. He reminds me of another home boy named Bob Golic.
Trevon Coley is the other defensive tackle (so far). Coley is a year ahead of Brantley and Ogunjobi (interesting fact: Meder and Coley were both initially signed by the Ravens).
Coley is 6'1", 307 lbs. He's more athletic than Meder, but in 2017 (per PFF) he didn't play well (Ogunjobi made everybody else look sick).
It looks like this year, Gregg Williams' defensive tackles need to stop the run first.
Gregg Williams is adaptable, and really has no "core" scheme. He sees what players he has to work with first, and then sets up the best scheme to make the most of them.
Jamie Meder can play nose tackle, by the way. Coley might be able to as well. Short is good there...just sayin.
As those of you who read this Blog understand, the real NFL "base" defense in 2018 is a nickel, with only six official defensive linemen/linebackers.
I've been trying to figure out Gregg's 2018 nickel. I came up with Meder at nose tackle, Ogbah and Garrett down between the guards and tackles, Kendricks and Collins just somewhere or other (Collins is different: He can put his hand in the dirt on the edge), and Schobert calling the shots/plugging the leaks).
If that sounds insane to you, Gregg and I are glad. Stand by. I bet he runs it, and that it will work.
They'll call it a 3-4 or a 4-3 depending on what Collins does, but that's just a meaningless label.
Don't write Carl Nassib or Nate Orchard off yet. Clyde Simmons confirmed my assertion that Nassib is bigger now; I'd guesstimate 305-310 lean pounds, and I bet you quicker and faster too.
Clyde also backed me up on Nate Orchard: Nate would actually fit as a 3-4 outside linebacker, but here, he can play just about anywhere in the front seven.
Nate Orchard is a passrusher who can stop the run and cover too. Good instincts, good athlete, smart.
Bob Wylie was helpful as well. In Bob's case, you just listen for what he doesn't say.
When Gregg Robinson got dinged at left tackle, they just put Austin Corbett there. ...and?
But Bob is also refreshingly honest about some things. Like moving Joel Bitonio to left tackle is "option Z". He was trying hard not to insult the person who asked him that question, but I heard "that would be idiotic".
Wylie burned up a bunch of extra words on (injured undrafted rookie left tackle) Desmond Harrison. He likes this guy (and so should you...has anybody had the brains to ask Joe Thomas about him?)
Of course not! I mean, he was undrafted, played against the Little Sisters of the Poor, got in trouble, and has very little experience. He was also less than 300 lbs., and he's already 25 years old.
Okay but he's a freak. He's got two inches on Big Joe and looks/moves like a tight end. If anybody had the brains to ask Joe about Harrison, he would have told them that this guy is a prototype left tackle physically, once Hans and Franz pump him up a little more.
I've ranted about this guy before, but only as a "project" guy. But Terry Pluto and his "veteran" fixation on wide receivers got me to re-thinking this:
A left tackle's job isn't rocket science, either. As a pass-protector, he simply has to stifle one passrusher.
Oh, there are stunts and games he has to learn to handle, and at this level he'll get outmanuevered and bull-rushed sometimes, but check this out:
Harrison is the only guy on this roster (including Greg Robinson) with Joe Thomas-like physical tools.
Joe himself thinks that Shon Coleman can be a good left tackle, but as we know, he wasn't all that good at right tackle last season.
I now think that Desmond Harrison isn't that far behind Coleman and Robinson, based on Wylie's comments.
He is injured right now, but he's pumping iron, and he's 6'7" tall. I bet he's over 300 lbs by now. He's studying his playbook and films, and I presume has been coached by Joe Thomas as well as Wylie. He's 25 years old, and presumably sees clearly the opportunity he has here.
If he wasn't busting ass, Wylie would have dispensed with him in one or two sentences, but he talked more about Harrison than he did anybody else.
Back to the position:
First and foremost, an NFL left tackle has to protect his quarterback's blind side against a defense's best passrusher. This is not rocket science. It's mano e mano.
Harrison can already do this...
Well sorta. He can "guard" like a basketball foreward, and nobody can get "around" him outside, but he could be vulnerable to somebody getting under his pads and bullrushing him. Even if Wylie/Thomas/Hans/Franz fix that, he has to
Nevermind. The critical thing is, if you have a left tackle who needs no help outside, you're in better shape than two thirds of the teams in the NFL.
IF Harrison can handle a bullrush, he has a real chance to actually start in 2018. Over Coleman.
Well...maybe. The top two quarterbacks are Taylor and Mayfield, and Haley intends to run a lot, and throw a lot of short passes. These quarterbacks can read-option and run-pass option and roll out, so (note to Big Joe), this offense can mitigate a weak pass-blocking left tackle.
In previous posts, I've explained this at length, but not completely:
One of the biggest reasons why the NFL has been using more mobile (and sometimes shorter) quarterbacks, going more West Coast, using more scary pass-catching tight ends, making slot receivers a staple, and digging up swiss army knife running backs is the fact that Joe Thomas's are rare, while edge-rushers are common.
This left tackle fixation is kind of obsolete. You can look over the last 3-4 Superbowl rosters and see it.
That's why in my last post I said that whoever wins the Browns left tackle derby, it's not critical.
Still, a team with a stud left tackle can do more. I kinda think Shon Coleman in 2018, but Harrison is next up.
Shon is a good run-blocker and a veteran.
It's significant that Tyrod Taylor financed all those off-season training sessions with his receivers. Skip the "good guy" part of that: it was a great investment for him.
The more I hear about Tyrod Taylor, the more I like him. I never expected him to "adopt" Baker Mayfield, but he has.
It's etched in stone that this is Mayfield's team in 2019, and Tyrod will be a GMF. But Tyrod is both smart and classy. Just a great guy.
Rashard Higgins (one of the guys Pluto et al want to to replace with a geezer of some sort) has been Baker Mayfield's favorite target on the second team, and he's made some big plays.
JC Tretter (actually a better left tackle prospect than Bitonio) says he's gained ten lbs of muscle this offseason. He thinks he can push people around better.
Hue Fisher, pretending to make all the decisions, implied that Joe Schobert might get some time off this season.
He mentioned Kendricks and Collins...well he's doing as well as me guessing about what Gregg Williams will do.
I seriously find it hard to believe that these reporters and pundits keep asking him these questions as if he's in charge.
Hue Palmer is mostly a figurehead. His three coordinators are running the team. Screw what Jimmy Haslam said to pacify you:
As Captain Obvious, I can assure you that Hue Fisher is in charge of public relations, and not much more.
He's grateful for this, and accepts it. He just won one game in two years; can't believe he's still here his own self. And if Haslam fires him after a few losses in 2018, nobody can say Hair-Trigger Haslam (remember I invented that all rights preserved) was "impatient".
I know I'm repeating myself here, but that's okay since you didn't comprehend it the first 3-4 times.
Anyway, Hue has a chance to salvage his carreer here, and I hope he does.
Hue is a blockhead, but not a dumbass. He had a stellar record, including a Head Coach stint with the Raiders, til he got to Cleveland.
It was specified in his contract that he could pick his quarterback. I remember this, but the rest of you never registered it in the first place, since Sashi Brown was the softer target.
Long story short, here comes a raw DeShone Kizer, there goes McCown, and skip the alleged "competition" he starts Kizer anyway, like he intended to no matter what, all along.
*Stay tuned on Kevin Hogan, if he ever gets a real chance*
The reason why the Browns sucked in 2016 and 2017 was Hue Palmer, period.
Don't start with Carson Wentz and the trade-down. Hue was on board and and I'm already happy to tell you that Sashi WON that trade! Even if Corey Coleman craps out!
And I'm pretty sure it was Hue (NOT Sashi) who traded down from Watson in 2016.
Skip Sashi here: Paul DePodesta had Watson ranked very high, and DeShone Kizer in the basement. Hue Jackson overrode DePodesta.
Check out the analytics numbers. It's not even close, and Watson was a bargain there! If you blame
I believe this was on Hue. Kizer sucked, but had a big arm and was 6'5" and was athletic, while Watson was---screw it read his draft profiles...
If you've read this blog, you know I would have jumped all over Watson (and I'm pretty sure so would DePodesta), but nooo! Mister "football guy" Hue Jackson knew better!
Don't blame Paul DePodesta (or his front man Sashi Brown) for this shit-storm. They brought in a LOAD of talent in a hurry, and piled up money and draft picks.
John Dorsey is the luckiest SOB in history, to inherit this!
But NOW is what matters. Dorsey has done an awesome job. He's rebuilt the secondary and linebackers, and...
Well we can debate that but anyway he's guaranteed defensive line depth too...
But I digress:
All of a sudden, Browns permsbashers have devalued quarterbacks.
In reality, Tyrod Taylor is a top 13 or so passing quarterback, and a top ten quarterback overall.
Baker Mayfield has (predictably duh) looked like a real threat to him already.
Yeah okay: Josh Gordon is done (or ineffective even if he isn't). Coleman AND Callaway are busts. Ogunjobi---I can't do this anymore. I can't stupify myself enough to meet permabashers half way.
Hell with it. Like talking to a door knob. An especially dumb doorknob.
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