I won't be happy if we play much Big Nickle unless our safeties improve tremendously.
That brings up an interesting point. I'm yet to read anything promising about Burnett. To my understanding, his best position - where Pitt played him - is the very position he has stated that he doesn't like to play (in the box S).
Randall is Randall and is very good...Whitehead is getting a lot of love in the press and from the coaches...Burris is making himself seen...Redwine isn't getting cut...Murray has the ability to play the slot and his versatility is spot-on for what Wilks appears to covet.
That's (5) safeties...and Burnett's name isn't one of them. I don't see us taking (6) safeties...unless Murray is called a CB. I dunno. I'm with you that all the 'big nickel' talk is a little disconcerting.
I was hoping Redwine would be a STs guy with good depth at DB ... but he’s not played well in either spot of yet
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
That brings up an interesting point. I'm yet to read anything promising about Burnett. To my understanding, his best position - where Pitt played him - is the very position he has stated that he doesn't like to play (in the box S).
That is incorrect. He did not like being used as a LB.
That brings up an interesting point. I'm yet to read anything promising about Burnett. To my understanding, his best position - where Pitt played him - is the very position he has stated that he doesn't like to play (in the box S).
That is incorrect. He did not like being used as a LB.
Burnett is still our starting SS.
Whatever one calls the position...he doesn't "like" to play the position that seems to be his best position. Not to mention that wherever he's played, he's been about as noticeable as Kirksey.
I think Wilson and Taki were drafted to look to the future, and let Schobert walk after this year. If one of them shows big time, there's your starter for next year. The Browns are in an improvement/playoff push this year and need his experience. Next year, the new guys take over.
jmho
Why would you think that, when Schobert is a good player, and they haven't done anything yet?
Can Deshaun Watson play better for the Browns, than Baker Mayfield would have? ... Now the Games count.
I think Wilson and Taki were drafted to look to the future, and let Schobert walk after this year. If one of them shows big time, there's your starter for next year. The Browns are in an improvement/playoff push this year and need his experience. Next year, the new guys take over.
jmho
Why would you think that, when Schobert is a good player, and they haven't done anything yet?
Because of costs, salary cap, or the need to sign players at other positions. If you have have the position adequately covered with backups and you need to sign, say a Right Guard, do you let the Guard position go, or the adequately covered LB ? The Browns no longer have 140 mil in salary cap space and will need money to fill voids. It remains to be seen if LB will be covered by Takitaki and/or Wilson, but if they prove to be servicable, then the position will be covered by the draft and the money that would be spent on LB, could be spent on other positions, or perhaps on resigning OBJ, or Garret, or Mayfield.
The Cleveland Browns - WE KNOW QUARTERBACKS ( Look at how many we've had ... )
Ideally any rookie picked beyond the third round should not see significant first year playing time. If they do, it is a bonus hit, or you are in deep trouble.
The biggest jump is between year 1 and 2. That is when a player has an opportunity to develop in the off season as a full time job. People forget that some players were actually students during college. If they come out as a junior, it may take longer.
Example 1 is Higgins. He was not anywhere near the player he is now when he was drafted. The second year was a bit better, and he made a real jump last year. Good for him. He took the opportunity and made the most of it.
There will be no playoffs. Can’t play with who we have out there and compounding it with garbage playcalling and worse execution. We don’t have good skill players on offense period. Browns 20 - Bears 17.
Kirkseys cap# shoots to 21M in 2020 & 2021 total with only 3 mil in penalties over those two years. I'm sorry but he isnt proving to be close to worth it. Joe is likely to command about the same commitment. Which would you all rather have? Kirko declining for 2 years or Joe in his prime for 4? With Wilson showing promise it only makes sense that he be in line to replace a cut Kirko(or at least renegotiated) as we keep Joe. Wilson is a more traditional Will in todays NFL anyway. Joe may not be elite but he's the glue of our D and hardly a hole worth creating as he makes everyone better. He really is our D's QB.
That leaves Taki for competition, Sam and heavy packages as Will. Which would also mean Avery could replace Vernon. I think he would make a fine full time LE and we'd likely draft more competition there anyways.
So you essentially cut 15M from the roster from Vernon and still keep the same level talent if not potentially better by swapping Kirko and Vernon for Wilson and Avery+ rooks. That 15M will get eaten by Myles soon...and then some. Seems too obvious to me.
This might depend on how the other LBs perform as well ... and if we deem Kirksey expendable as well. I don’t expect Kirko and Scho both here next year
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
Agreed Baron ... I don’t think keeping both is a possibility, which is why having Wilson turn out would be a big bonus
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
Was that for the two seasons? Not for one season right??? Definitely a player to be let go for some cap room Dorsey has a good history in LB drafting. Wilson is a 5th rounder imagine when we spend a pick at a 1st or 2nd for a LB...
jmho
Defense wins championships. Watson play your butt off! Go Browns! CHRIST HAS RISEN! GM Strong! & Stay safe everyone!
Middle linebacker Joe Schobert played in the Pro Bowl in 2017, when he tied for the league lead with 144 tackles, and was off to another strong start last season before pulling his hamstring.
“I was playing even better than the year before,” Schobert told The Chronicle-Telegram recently.
He’s been hit with adversity after adversity since.
He missed three games because of the hamstring — all losses — and wasn’t the same when he returned from the first pulled muscle of his life. Pro Football Focus, an analytics site, dubbed Schobert the league leader last year with 24 missed tackles in 110 attempts.
General manager John Dorsey then drafted the man expected to take his job, BYU’s Sione Takitaki, in the third round and added Mack Wilson from Alabama in the fifth round.
Schobert has been a willing mentor to his competition.
“That’s just the way you need to do it,” he said.
If that weren’t enough, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and linebackers coach Blake Williams — Schobert’s biggest supporters — weren’t retained. New coordinator Steve Wilks tweaked the 4-3 scheme Schobert had mastered and changed the language.
“All the terminology is completely different,” Schobert said.
Takitaki’s missed the last two weeks with a hamstring injury and Schobert remains the unquestioned starter and a respected member of the team. But many fans are eager for him to be replaced, and his future in Cleveland is uncertain as he enters the final year of his rookie contract. Dorsey will have to make some difficult decisions on who gets big-money extensions, with much of the salary cap space earmarked for bigger names.
“Obviously for me and my family’s future, you think about stuff like that,” Schobert said. “We’re talking about maybe going on vacation next offseason, just planning ahead. Well, we don’t know where we’re going to be. We don’t know if we’re going to be in Cleveland, we don’t know if we’ll have to go visit some teams all over the place. So in terms of thinking about your family and the future, you think about it all the time.
“But when you get in the building, on the football field, you can’t really think about that kind of stuff because it’s going to take away from putting your effort and all your focus into one thing, which is your teammates and the playbook and getting better every day. So for me this year I just play to the best of my abilities, gotta stay healthy and play like I have the last two years when healthy and all the chips will fall where they may and I’ll end up where I’m supposed to be.”
His agent has talked to Dorsey about an extension, but nothing seems imminent as the Browns are inclined to see how Schobert fits in Wilks’ scheme and how Takitaki and Wilson develop. Schobert would prefer to stay.
“Oh, of course,” he said. “Especially turning it around, if we go to the playoffs this year like we have the talent to do. Being remembered as one of the guys on the late 2000-and-teen Browns teams that turned the franchise around. Especially could be a part of it for four or five more years and become a perennial playoff team, I think that would be huge and it would be awesome.”
Schobert isn’t a regular reader of Pro Football Focus.
“I don’t pay for any subscription stuff, anything on the internet, except for Netflix,” he said.
But he has seen the missed tackle stat from Pro Football Focus.
“That happens every game because you’re playing against the best athletes in the world in open space in an offensive-minded league,” he said. “You’re going to get put in disadvantaged situations and you’ve just got to try to come and make the plays.
“The good players in the NFL make all those tackles, so not taking too much into it, but it’s something you try to shore up in the offseason, you try to focus on leading up to this season. Because it’s never good to be on a list like that. So don’t let it happen again.”
Schobert, who ranks among the league’s best in pass coverage, was credited with 103 tackles, three sacks, an interception, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and six passes defensed. He was tentative with the hamstring, especially with Christian Kirksey out for the year and no depth at the position.
“There’s always that little nagging thought in the back of your mind when you’re sprinting after a ball carrier, like I hope it doesn’t pop again,” he said. “It just took a little bit of time to kinda trust it again, but it’s been great since I’ve been back on the field and through the offseason, so I’m full go.”
Schobert has fans on the new coaching staff.
“He is a very conscientious guy who wants to do well,” coach Freddie Kitchens said. “He is an intense guy. A lot of his missed tackles falls on technique and you can get better at technique. He has put the effort in, and I think he will be a much better tackler this year.”
As others dismiss Schobert, he remains confident. He believes he’s proved he’s a Pro Bowl talent.
“Obviously the goal is to get there but not play in it because you want to go to the Super Bowl,” he said. “You want to be at the top of your game, you want to be remembered for being a great football player.”
Schobert got a feel last year for what Cleveland is like when the Browns win and wants more of it this season.
“Everybody can tell around the city that the attention, the excitement’s just rising day after day,” he said. “It’s cool to be a part of.”
I had planned to write a thread about Schobert. In the post game thread I stated he was the star of the game.
After rewatching the game I am convinced we have to resign this guy. He was all over the field. Made every play to be made. He was in coverage. He filled gaps. He tackled. He called the alignments. Clearly the defensive leader.
Smart player who knows the game.
Schobert is the type of guy you pay. You want players like him. You look for players like him. So when you get a guy like him; you have to keep him.
It is an example for the team that performance equals reward.
I didn't think Schobert looked great as a rookie, but the guy flourished when GW moved him inside. I feel he takes too much grief and that he is a very underrated player.
His pass defense is superb and that is huge in today's NFL. I think he is a very intelligent player who sniffs out plays and who can create turnovers. I really like the guy and hope we keep him.
I don't think he is a great tackler because he isn't the strongest guy, especially after losing all that weight. However, and I have mentioned this before, our DT's did not do a good job of keeping our linebackers clean last year. Having to shed a huge guard and then slide off to make a tackle on a ball carrier is a difficult task.
Joe Schobert is the leader of this Defense and therefore I hope he can stay healthy, anyone who thinks we would trade him is crazy, you don't trade leaders like Schobert ...
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