Mayfield Best in Red Zone, Rodney Hassellfield, Fantasy Browns

Per good old Jake Burns, PFF had Baker Mayfield tied with Drew Brees as THE most efficient Red Zone Quarterback in the NFL in 2018.

Jake shows a ton of clips to tell us why...and our "undraftable" rookie covered all the bases.  He scored on every possible route with bullets, timing, perfect touch passes...well just everything.

As Jake points out,  the quick reads and decisions Baker made are rare for a rookie.

Inside the 20, the Defense has less ground to cover, and can use the back end of the end-zone as well as the sidelines to "shrink the field" and the windows.

What was interesting to me here is that fellow rookie Antonio Callaway was competitive with Rashard Higgins as Baker's best Red Zone targets, and was THE main "deep" guy in general.

Randy Gurzi sees Higgins as an ascending young player (who is big and tall and a Mayfield favorite): Jake thinks it would be a good idea to use Higgins opposite OBJ outside in 3-wides and keep Landry in the slot.

What about Callaway, you axe?  Aint it rereshing to have these problems, for a change?

But seriously, Callaway strongly resembles OBJ skillset-wise, and OBJ gets hurt a lot.  Then there's the matchup thing: vs some defenses, Callaway will look better than Higgins.  Then there's 4-wides:

These haven't been practiced in public so far, but they're most certainly in the new Playbook.

If Njoku gets hurt, that's high among the "Plan B's".  Even as-is, I promise you that Njoku will line up "in the slot" sometimes to create a defacto 4-wide, so these adjustments are minor but I digress:

Andrew Gribble wrote a great article about UDFA J T Hassell, who was born with a left hand that looks like a lobster claw.

But I think that while Andrew wrote an outstanding Human Interest story here, he's underestimating J T's chances of making this team.

I've addressed this before:

His athleticism is off the charts.  He got a lot of interceptions in HS and college (lobster claw and all). He has the physical tools to play ANY secondary position in any system at the highest level (including that linebacker/SS hybrid position).

Andrew is label-struck here, and sees JT as a safety.  He looks at Randall, Burnett, Whitehead, Redwine and Wilson and thinks there's no room for this kid on this roster.

Well, it is NOT inconceivable that a kid with a lobster-claw and a bunch of interceptions can play cornerback when he has above average speed, hips, and suddenness for the position.

The top 3 corners here are etched in stone, of course, and then there's TJ Carrie.

Well, Paul DePodesta John Dorsey has to look down the road apiece, and realisticly has to figure he's going to lose Damarius Randall to the cap.  He has to look hard at every potential replacement for him as of 2020, and JT Hassell might be the BEST candidate on this roster!!!

Then there's TJ Carrie:  He's pretty good, but not great.  Then there's Rodney Mitchellfield, who is terrific, but might also be lost in 2020.

Then there's the fact that Special Teams Coordinator Mike Preifer is no doubt begging Dorsey to retain JT as a core Special Teamer.

And then there's Steve Wilks, who usually uses 5 Defensive Backs, and replaces a linebacker with a guy exactly like JT Hassell, and the fact that it's possible he'll carry only 5 true linebackers (including Genard Avery), and more than 10 Defensive backs.

Finally, JT Hassell is a good Practice Squad candidate, as he might make it through waivers (because of that lobster-claw thing, see?)

The fantasy football guys do a nice job of ranking individual Browns players and Defense/Special Teams, and offer good advice.

...but I kinda specialize on the Browns, so I can tell you where they're wrong:

They ranked the Browns' "DST" too low.  The whole secondary is eyeball deep in ballhawks, the passrush has been massively upgraded, they just hired Mike Preifer, Dorsey and Kitchens both talked about a new emphasis on Special Teams, the bottom of the roster has been upgraded impressively.

Delving deeper, the Browns should lead in games more often in 2019, which means that opposing Offenses will be forced to throw more, more predictably.

They should have estimated the Browns'  DST in the top 7-8, at least, in fantasy.

I think they overestimated OBJ a little, and underestimated every other Browns receiver (including Njoku) a little, as well.

Baker Mayfield hits the open receiver, and Beckham will command extra attention from opposing secondaries.  

These guys expect Mayfield to make more of OBJ than Eli Manning did (which he will), but underestimate Baker Mayfield.  Mayfield will NOT play favorites.

They were pretty good about what little was left, even including Mayfield's ranking (the Browns WILL run a lot).

Right now, I'm guessing that Mayfield will be priced about right, or slightly under.  Njoku should be slightly cheap.  OBJ will be overpriced.  DST CHEAP!!!  Higgins underpriced.

Chubb might be slightly cheap too because of Hunt and the general underestimation of his receiving skills, but he won't be a bargain.

Based on these guys ranking Mayfield lower than the top 5 I think he'll be a good deal, the DST a bargain, and Higgins too.

Oh sorry last call okbye