Sunday, March 3, 2019

Night of the Living Permabashers, Jalen Hurd, Stupid Browns' Mock Drafts

Terry Pluto wrote a pretty good article about John Dorsey's statements and intentions for the 2019 season.

Dorsey said, in re the Superbowl, "We're not there yet", which is refreshing.

But the simpletonians in the comments section went into a Browns bashfest, most often repeating the mantra that they only beat one team with a winning record in 2018.

Superficially, that's a valid point, but this is why I call the bashers simpletonians and Memorex Morons.

You have to be a moron if you think that the 2019 Browns will be identical to the 2018 Browns.

Here are a few of the reasons why they won't be:

1: The starting quarterback, wide receiver, cornerback, and linebacker were rookies.  So was Ratley, who didn't get on the field, but should in 2019, and left tackle Des Harrison for half a season.

2: The Offensive Coordinator(s) and system were new.

3: Starters Robinson, Hubbard, Landry, Randall, and every other cornerback were new to the team.

4: Two (or more) games were lost on missed Field Goals (and extra points).  One was the tie vs the Steelers, and another was the loss to the Saints in New Orleans.

Greg Joseph (upon further review) was an upgrade at Kicker, and Mike Preiffer is generally regarded as one of the best Special Teams Coordinators in the NFL.

This was probably the biggest coaching upgrade John Dorsey pulled off this offseason, because the guy he replaces was just terrible---for his whole carreer (what were they thinking? This had to be a Hue Jackson guy.  Hiring him made no sense!!!)

5: The Defense got turnovers, but was just plain bottom five bad in the important categories.

Steve Wilks may or may not be an upgade over Greg Williams as a Defensive Coordinator, but John Dorsey is running the offseason, and 

A: There are some very good free agent linebackers and defensive linemen in this year's crop.

B: There are a bunch of terrific Defensive Tackles, several good-to-excellent Defensive Ends, and a pretty decent crop of 4-3 linebackers in this draft class.

In other words, there should be at least five new front seven defenders added to this roster before training camp...

And if you think this defense will stay in the basement, there is something wrong with you.

6: Back to youth:  Five rookies started for significant parts of 2018, but Njoku, Garrett, Ogunjobi, Peppers, and Schobert were only second year players.

We're up to nine starters with less than two years' experience here so far.  Then there were a bunch of guys going into year three as well.

For anybody with an actual brain, this describes a young and A S C E N D I N G team DO YOU U N D E R S T A N D?

7: The Bengals are in transition, as are the Ravens.  The Steelers are about to lose Antonio Brown.  And Baker Mayfield has now played each of these teams at least once.

The 1-6-1 record vs winning teams rescuscitated the permabashers, but they expose their subjectivity by ignoring the reasons for it, the youth of the roster, and who is running this Front Office.

Turning from this carnage, this here wide receiver Jalen Hurd looks very interesting to me, as he is a (currently injured) inexperienced skyscraper who should be available in the middle rounds.

Hurd is obviously a really smart guy, because he stayed in school (and transferred to Baylor) so that he could switch from running back to wide receiver after his junior season.

At that time, Hurd was projected by most to be drafted in the first or second round, but he felt that playing running back in the NFL would shorten his carreer.

Boy, is he right! There are reasons why there aren't any running backs over 6'1" that you've ever heard of in the NFL.  They lack leverage, can't cut as well, and defenders target their legs.

Smart kid!  I like smart kids!

Anyway, Jalen never missed a beat, and instantly became a super-productive Wide Receiver at Baylor.

He wasn't able to do much at the Combine because he was injured, but the guess is that he doesn't have elite speed, but is "sudden" (can get separation), and has good hands.

His RAC ability is obvious.

He played mostly out of the slot at Baylor, and hasn't mastered much of a route tree, and is seen as a project who could contribute as a special teamer and sort of "specialist" on offense as a rookie.

As for his "long speed", it's not the issue some people think it is.  Mike Evans isn't a burner, but he scrapes by somehow.

Monken and Kitchens could probably make more of Hurd as a rookie than other coaches could, so I'm rooting for him.

At 17th overall, I was hoping for Montez Sweat, among others, but the guy clocked an ungodly 40 time, and will probably be gone by pick 17.

CBS Sports broke down the defensive linemen's and linebackers' 40 times for us, and Sweat ran a freaking 4.41!!!

Also of note, D K Metcalf (if I remember right) ran a 3-cone of over 7.3, which is a red flag.  He was off the charts on his vertical leap and long jump (as well as his 4.33 40), however.

And I gotta say that in my amateur opinion, he looks kinda stiff on tape...but I defer to any real expert who says different.

Anyway, as you guys know by now, wide receiver is NOT a need here in reality.  Dorsey can wait for a top defensive lineman or a Devin at linebacker (White 4.42 and Bush 4.43 respectively), or make a move on Sweat or somebody.

Sparing you the link (you're welcome), another mock draft has John Dorsey drafting a shrimp slot receiver at 17th overall (this year's John Ross).

That's brilliant.  Duke, Callaway, Landry etc need to be replaced by a smaller microbe who...jeez this idiocy just wears me out.

And this cornerback stuff--wtf!?! Terrence Mitchell got injured, not killed, for cryin out loud!  

And Wilks doesn't predicate his coverage schemes on press/man either -snap-snap- like Gregg Williams did.  Even if you think Terrence Mitchell died, what makes you think Steve Wilks wants a press/man corner more than a linebacker or defensive lineman?

8: The 2018 Browns' Defense sucked especially vs the run, and also failed to generate much pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

The aforementioned quarterbacks had too much time to throw too often.  Coverage wasn't the issue.

Obviously, the big needs here are in the front seven.  These are the guys that stop the run and pressure the quarterbacks DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

Not that these mock-drafted cornerbacks or wide receivers or whatever suck, or anything.  Not that most of them wouldn't be upgrades.

But you only have one first round draft pick, and in this draft, John Dorsey should have several elite front seven prospects available.  Why thee f--k would he draft any other position?

Daniel Jeremiah puts his two cents worth in on the Draftables so far, and it's worth the click (and a ton more than two cents).

Slow day.  That's all I got.  Okbye.






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