(...okay but the Des Bryant thing? That really is just plain stupid. As a junior high graduate, I'm qualified to state the obvious.)
But I digress: The cuts first: Carl Nassib, Jamie Meder, Austin Reiter, Jermaine Grace, and Jeremiah McKinnon. Holeee crap!
But clearly, Dorsey (and his coordinators) felt that the five free agents they signed were better---or at least fit better--than these guys.
While I loved Jamie Meder and Austin Reiter, and was impressed by McKinnon, we're not talking about superstars here, so if you're having a kniption fit right now, take a pill.
The real story here is that most, if not all, of these guys will get jobs somewhere else in the NFL. We'll have to wait to see if Dorsey's new players are indeed better, but right now the Browns are kicking guys to the curb that other teams will gobble up.
That's exhibit G; more evidence that the 2018 Browns are one of the most talented teams in the NFL (already).
And by the way: the Reiter cut might well indicate that Austin Corbett is moving to center (behind Tretter I assume), and that would in-turn indicate Bitonio's return at left guard.
Anyway what about the new guys?
Chris Pokorny saved me a ton of time here, as he sysopsizes all five players, and proposes possible reasons for the moves.
Center Aaron Neary just about matches Reiter in experience, and based on his 299 lb listing, he's a similar athletic "type", as well. Clearly, they felt that Neary was just plain better.
Defensive lineman Carl Davis was drafted in the third round by the Ravens (take that seriously). 6'5", 327 lbs. Great run-stuffer; mostly rotated in as a defensive end in the Ravens' 3-4.
He's more powerful than Nassib and has better reach than Meder. Experienced rotational player for the Ravens.
He's...kinda like Nassib and Meder tossed into a blender. He's been dinged up and played with lingering issues.
Defensive end...oh god Ifeadi Odenigbo (had to be careful with that one) is 6'3", 258 lbs., and was drafted by the Vikings in the 7th round as a situational passrusher.
He went apeshit in preseason; the Vikings moved him inside to under-tackle and he blew the big uglies' doors off. Definitely a Gregg Williams guy! He's an edge-rusher who can play inside, and of course quarterbacks hate him. This is an emerging young player that the Vikings were probably trying to sneak onto their practice squad.
Tanner Vallejo (linebacker) is another short/light guy (6'1", 226 lbs); another run-and-hit guy who can blitze and blow stuff up.
I'll look deeper later, but right now I don't think he's a safetybacker like Jermaine Grace, exactly. But he is a good special teamer.
Like Ifeadi, he's early in his growth-curve, was actually drafted, and looked great in preseason.
Defensive back Tavierre Thomas is 6', 202 lbs., and that's all I got.
One of the reasons for these moves is almost certainly an attempt to further upgrade special teams.
The Browns now have sufficient depth to start tweaking the bottom of their roster with this in mind.
Three of these guys were actually drafted, and Carl Davis is a proven commodity.
Dorsey and the Coaches had to have been scouring footage from all the preseason games (except for Carl Davis).
Meder and Nassib are GMFs, but Reiter, Grace, and McKinnon are eligable for the practice squad (if they clear waivers).
These moves offer some clues about what Gregg Williams is up to...if I can figure them out...
Ok well that Ifeadi guy (paranoid about getting that last name wrong) is like Avery, except he's taller, and can put his hand in the dirt.
All of this supports my theory that Gregg is leaning towards more Wade Phillips-type 3-4 looks.
Carl Davis vs Meder and Nassib, plus Ifeadi, certainly says something: Ifeadi is the unique one, because he's a definite edge-rusher and (it looks like right now) can shoot inside gaps better than everybody else not named Watson too.
Davis redundates with Meder somewhat: He has the size to play nose tackle, and excels at stopping the run. Davis probably "beat" Meder because he can also play 4-3 defensive end (at least on running downs).
Nassib could play 4-3 defensive end as well, including on passing downs, but in the real world, you generally don't want skyscrapers like him going against interior offensive linemen, so his versatility in a Gregg Williams defense was limited.
Davis and Ifeadi simplify things somewhat. One is for passing downs, and the other for neutral or running downs. Both might line up at two different spots, in either a 3 or a 4-man front.
Carl Nassib was probably unemployed for about a nanosecond, and Meder should have a new job shortly.
The Browns say that they are better today than they were yesterday, and I buy it.
Ifeadi Odenigbo suddenly gained about 15 lbs and mutated into a defensive tackle! Wow that was fast! Ok this is more current information, but it helps explain things:
He was 258 lbs when he was drafted (as a defensive end) in 2017, and the Vikings (deep at DE) put him at 3-tech defensive tackle, so he's been working with Hans and Franz to get bigger.
He should still be a "passrush" specialist, but (now) he also looks like a Wade Phillips 3-4 DE and a 4-3 DT too. Yeah this guy is the "utility" defensive lineman (for passing downs).
Also, this guy is SMART. I saw that immediately as I read what he said about his transition. (That's not about being "articulate", neccessarily, by the way).
Nineteen Sashi Brown players seem to have been "real football players", because they're still here.
Sashi only had two offseasons to work with, but John Dorsey still can't scrape 19 (to 21) Brown picks and signings off his shoes.
Since John Dorsey has one of those shoes in his mouth now, he must be jonesing for some Listerine.
These Brown guys are Tretter, Zeitler, Njoku, Ogunjobi, Coley, Garrett, Ogbah, Schobert, Collins, Higgins...
Burgess, Boddy-Calhoun, Peppers, Kindred, the kicker and the punter.
AND most of these players are STARTERS, and every single one of them will play a LOT in 2018.
Fortunately, John Dorsey sounds like an idiot sometimes, but is actually not one.
As Terry Pluto points out, only three offensive skill players made it to the 2018 roster (Howard Wilson and Ricardo Louis are on IR).
Dorsey deserves a lot of credit for how well he used the shitload of cap space and draft picks Sashi left him to revamp the offense (including 40% of the offensive line after Joe Thomas retired).
On defense, the front seven aren't real football players (or talented), since Sashi Brown signed every single starter, and many of the backups as well.
But Dorsey DID replace most of the secondary, and irrefutably upgraded it significantly.
But dammit...he's still stuck with "not real football players" like Peppers, Kindred, and Boddy-Calhoun even there!
And Gonzalez. And Colquitt. Poor John. It might take two more seasons to purge this roster of all these not-real football players!
Okay-okay, Dorsey said that crap trying to support Hue Jackson (ie to insinuate that the boob Haslam stuck him with went 1-31 because Sashi didn't give him enough talent), but he knew better, and was lying, and would have fired Jackson on the spot if he'd been allowed to do so. He never believed a word he said.
Thankfully, Dorsey isn't in deed the idiot he was in word. He listened to his coaches (I mean the assistants more than Hue), and got them the guys they wanted. He would never have extended Duke Johnson unless Haley wanted that, or gone after and then signed Jarvis Landry, for example.
What John Dorsey has done in one offseason is one of the most impressive feats of engineering I've ever witnessed.
...as long as he doesn't screw it up with Dez Bryant.
Dorsey was almost certainly chasing Khalil Mack, but that's different, and he knew when to fold his hand.
Terry Pluto probably reads my Blog, because he's going into more detail on why he thinks Dorsey is still looking to sign another veteran wide receiver.
He points out that both Gordon and Callaway are a slip-up away from another suspension. Terry thinks the Browns need more insurance.
Terry Pluto could never be an actuary. Even if the odds that Callaway/Gordon could screw up again were 50% (each) (which is overly negative), the odds of BOTH screwing up are 25%.
Nor are these two wide receivers all there is, because Rashard Higgins is maturing into a real stud; reliable as hell, with some big-play ability too.
The Browns just cut Cajuste and retained a (fourth) tight end who can BLOCK. The Browns are going to be vulnerable at left tackle (on passing downs).
Todd Haley obviously INTENDS TO use two tight end sets, an H-back, and zone run-blocking...and of course to smashmouth run a lot.
Terry seems to expect 3 and 4-wide sets a lot--or something. Meanwhile, he also doesn't seem to recognize Duke Johnson as a wide receiver...or Njoku, or DeValve.
In fact, Nick Chubb in his freshman year in college was a GOOD receiver himself.
Damion Ratley is also way ahead of schedule, and EARNED his roster spot.
I am saddened to inform you guys that Terry Pluto is a blockhead. I don't know if I got smarter or he got dumber, but there it is.
Don't get me wrong here: "Blockhead" doesn't mean "dumbass". Marty Schottenheimer was a blockhead too!
"Blockhead" only means "in-the-box"/ risk-averse. I still totally respect Terry Pluto, just as I think Marty a terrific Head Coach.
But obviously, Todd Haley doesn't need to cut any of these wide receivers to replace him with an inferior player with more experience.
In fact, Terry Pluto is past blockhead and getting into OCD territory here:
Imagine that both Gordon and Callaway get suspended again (real odds of that: around 17.5 %...but I'll do Terry a solid and toss him an "injury" bone to get that up to 25% -you're welcome, Terry).
What a disaster! Higgins, Landry, and Ratley now (don't forget: Duke Johnson is a "running back", and DeValve/Njoku are "tight ends", so they don't count, right?)
I guess Rashard Higgins might be adequate, despite the fact that he's only in his third season, but it's unthinkable that Damion Ratley should even be on the field...
I mean, he might eventually become a good NFL wide receiver, but he's a rookie, so it's impossible that he will have mastered the basic abstract complexities of playing wide receiver at this level.
Ratley was drafted near the end of this class, so we already know that he is mediocre right now, even though we must acknowlege his eventual potential based on his height, athleticism, hands, speed, agility, mentality etc no-no!
The 2018 Browns are in "win now" mode, so we need to sign Dez Bryant (or somebody) to make sure aw crap I can't sustain this idiocy -end of parody-.
I'll leave Terry alone now, but I'm not done with him yet.
Anyway, like I said, Ratley is ahead of schedule, and has had a lot of second team, and a few first-team, reps.
Like Callaway, he was pretty "raw" coming out of college, and also was a bean-pole (at 195 lbs).
Screw that. Damion Ratley has been practicing against severe man coverage, and started burning it. The Browns second and third team corners are the real deal; almost every one a former starter with above average-to-elite man coverage grades.
He's been beating jams and making contested catches. Every quarterback throws to him without hesitation.
Terry--how is this possible? I guess Ratley must be an idiot-savant or something, right? After all, with the exceptions or Rice, Moss, Green, Jones, Gordon, Cooper, Warfield, Beckham, Baldwin, McCardell, and possibly not more than a hundred more wide receivers, everybody else took...
QUARTERBACKS (including the "prodigies") take time to develop in the NFL.
Offensive tackles (notably left tackles) usually take awhile.
Wide receivers, Terry? With a decent quarterback, and smart coaching, even the "raw" guys can be productive as rookies (although they need a whole off-season after that before they can go ape-shit).
I can't fathom Terry's veteran wide receiver ocd. It's utterly irrational. He's so insightful and smart at everything else--he's driving me nuts with this!
Anyway, I have it straight from Captain Obvious that the 2018 Browns are all set at wide receiver.
In previous posts, I hinted at sane, rational, logical reasons for why the Browns have a legitimate chance to upset the Steelers in the home opener.
Unfortunately, it's too late for me to get into that in this post now, as last call is looming, and I haven't done all my homework yet.
But I can give you the emotional/mystical stuff right now:
This team has better overall talent/depth than the Steelers do, and they know it. They EXPECT to win, simply because they are the better team.
YOU might start ranting about Big Ben, Antonio Brown, Ebineezer Bell, and that other lethal wide receiver, and what they did to the NFL last season, but the 2018 Browns know that they will have a top five defense, and that this defense was BUILT, first and foremost, to screw up this specific offense.
This defense isn't afraid of the Big Bad Ben.
And the 2018 Steelers' defense will be pretty good, but not in the same ball-park as their counterparts under Gregg Williams.
Tyrod Taylor will not be intimidated. He's a seasoned veteran, and has been practicing against a superior defense to that which he will face.
He won't choke. The TEAM won't choke. Tyrod is sick of being underrated, and he'll be looking to go deep first...but then, Todd Haley will be hammering the run, and it should work, because this offensive line and these running backs overmatch the Steelers front seven.
In general, we can expect the zebras to favor the Steelers as usual, and of course this is an elite veteran top contender vs a very young team with a new offensive system and a monkey-wrench Head Coach, so beating the Steelers is a tall order, BUT:
The whole team knows that the 2018 Browns are BETTER than the 2018 Steelers, and expect to beat them.
They're kicking me out okbye
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