DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Browns's Defensive Grades

More PFF grades. This time for the defense. Informative.

Thanks for posting that. Interesting, to say the least.

I felt the defense, overall laid a huge egg this year. Yeah, I know... stuff happens (injuries, etc), and that's definitely the case with us with our secondary getting decimated early in the year and get healthy just to watch the Dline fall apart, availability-wise.

I still feel we had waaay too much talent to do as poorly as we did. Just an opinion of mine.

Yeah, that 2nd Pittsburgh game made me sick. I get that there were plenty of nobodies, but even Denzel Ward was getting beaten by like the 4th Steelers receiver.

It was a huge game and they laid a big egg. After that, it's like the defense gave up (except for the Ravens game, in which they played well for the 1st half)

The defense was bad for the following reasons -

1. Believed their hype.

2. Culture of losing. This is a real thing. The woe is me is a real thing. Pitt is the exact opposite. They could be on their 10th string QB and the defense will believe they can win the game for them. If the Browns lose their starting QB or the starting QB plays poorly, especially putting the D in bad spots, the D hangs their head and internally says "here we go again" and roll over. The culture of losing is very strong in Cleveland. It's a weight around everyone's neck.

3. Myles losing his mind.

4. Not sure about the coaching, but it seemed like we played a system and not to guy's strengths. Or we didn't attack the weaknesses of other teams … how many crappy QBs did we play and how many torched us?

And brace yourselves folks. It's going to be worse next year unless they get an impact player in the draft.

I thought our DC did a phenomenal job at time, and when he wasn't he was doing terrible. There really wasn't any middle ground. Not blitzing the Denver QB that was taking his first NFL snaps is crazy. We just sat back and gave him time.

Then he was able to conjure up a defense when almost our entire starting secondary was out (Rams game, and I think the next one?).

Depending on the rest of FA, I think we will see how culpable the defensive coaching was when the new staff gets up and running and we see how the defense does.

This just shows me the absolute revolving door that was defense last season.

Takitaki - situational run stuffer, grade is incomplete. I was at the last game of the season in Cinci and like clock work, I was telling the girl I was with - "Here come 44, they are going to throw at him" and they did.

Mack Wilson the opposite, on the field too often, teams identifying him in the run game and going at him all day long.

I thought Justin Burros played well at the end of the year.

Denzel Ward has been mismanaged, he has ELITE athletic skills on the edge.....such a shame we have wasted 2 years.

Larry O had a really poor season .. then Myles is an idiot and our DL goes from a supposed strength to a sieve.

The CBS having injuries also didn’t help

I think what a lot of our signings on defense have been are depth signings (they all also have been one year deals). Last year if/when a guy went down we were relying on sub replacement level players to fill in. In 2020 we should have more depth at safety, interior line, and cornerback (if we keep Terrence Mitchell).

I'll be interested to see how we fill out the defense. We definitely need an off ball linebacker who can cover and at least one more edge defender. I'd expect we address both of those positions before the draft.

Another thing I'm looking forward to seeing is how much Andrew Billings plays. I believe he will take snaps away from Larry Ogunjobi and Ogunjobi will be used as a situational type player.

I think the Ogunjobi/Billings situation will be interesting.

Ogunjobi does it w/quickness and a nice burst out of his stance. Billings does his thing w/strength.

However, they are similar players in that both:

--can be disruptive w/penetration, and

--struggle to get off blocks and make tackles.

I was wondering if someone who has access to PFF could post the stats of the players we have signed? All I can find is overall numbers.

Good post.

Because I’m a lazy, lazy boy, I hope someone is motivated enough to do an apples to apples comparison of PFF grades for the guys we lost/let go versus who was added.

I don't have the Edge or Elite either. I have thought about getting it because I like to be accurate when making my claims. Thus far, I have usually been forced to using the "overall" grades.

I did like how the cleveland.com articles broke the positional grades down in regards to pass blocking, run blocking, tackling, etc.

Beat me to the punch.

Biggest takeaways:

--We should keep Myles and Vernon together. I think they could be dynamite if they both played a ton together.

--Run defense was awful in many areas.

--Greedy had a better run grade than pass defense grade. I would have never thunk that.

--Letting Burris go was a mistake.

RT Jack Conklin

Overall grade 80.6
Pass blocking grade 74.0
Run blocking grade 83.7
was flagged for 9 penalties


TE Austin Hooper

Overall grade 78.3
Receiving grade 80.5
Pass blocking grade 65.0
Run blocking grade 56.2
was flagged for 3 penalties


DT Andrew Billings

Overall grade 69.3
Run defense grade 68.4
Pass rush grade 65.3
Tackling grade 27.4

19 pressures 2 sacks
28 tackles 9 misses 18 stops


CB Kevin Johnson

Overall grade 71.9
Coverage grade 73.6
Run defense grade 64.3
Tackling grade 53.2

33 tackles 7 misses 13 stops
allowed 24 passes out of 40 targets for 312 yds and 0 tds
0 ints 4 passes broken up
allowed a QBR of 84.6


S Karl Joseph

Overall grade 69.9
Run defense grade 78.2
Coverage grade 64.7
Tackling grade 67.1
Pass rush grade 71.3

36 tackles 6 misses 11 stops
allowed 11 passes out of 14 targets for 235 yds and 1 td
1 ints 2 passes broken up
allowed a QBR of 112.8


S Andrew Sendejo

Overall grade 71.3
Run defense grade 57.1
Coverage grade 74.9
Tackling grade 54.9

30 tackles 8 misses 9 stops
allowed 16 passes out of 23 targets for 199 tds and 2 tds
3 ints 2 passes broken up
allowed a QBR of 85.5


LB BJ Goodson

Overall grade 57.2
Run defense grade 59.4
Coverage grade 57.7
Tackling grade 71.4
Pass Rush grade 58.9

28 tackles 3 misses 15 stops
allowed 10 passes out of 11 targets for 98 yds and 1 td
0 ints 0 passes broken up
allowed a QBR of 134.1

Thanks for the info!

[quote=Versatile Dog]More PFF grades. This time for the defense. Informative.

[quote]How Browns defensive players graded for the 2019 season

Updated Dec 31, 2019; Posted Dec 31, 2019
102


By Scott Patsko, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Every team in the NFL uses Pro Football Focus data in some capacity, so it makes sense to see what PFF analysts have to say about how the Browns performed in 2019.

PFF explains its grading process on its website. Here are two key points: 1. PFF isn’t grading overall talent, just performance on the field; 2. PFF grades each player on each play, noting that “Even watching a game closely can result in something of a mental highlight reel on a player – remembering the few good and bad plays and making an overall judgment based on the balance of those – but it can be the other 40 snaps in the game that are being ignored that held the true key to his performance.”

As for what the numbers mean, PFF has explained its grades this way: 100-90 elite; 89-85 Pro Bowler; 84-70 starter; 69-60 backup; 59-0 replaceable.

Keep in mind that offensive and defensive grades take into account every aspect of a player’s responsibilities. For example, Denzel Ward’s defensive grade includes not only pass coverage, but also run defense, tackling, etc…


Here are PFF’s defensive grades for the Browns in 2019:

TEAM GRADES (with league rank)

Defense: 61.6 (28th)

Run defense: 56.0 (31st)

Tackling: 49.9 (20th)

Pass rush: 70.5 (16th)

Coverage: 61.0 (22nd)


DEFENSIVE LINE

Myles Garrett: 86.5

Led the Browns with 49 QB pressures, had the team’s top defense grade and the second-best pass-rush grade in the league (91.6).

Olivier Vernon: 80.4

Had 35 QB pressures (four sacks) in 10 games.

Sheldon Richardson: 73.9

Had top run defense grade (75.1) among Browns defensive linemen, finished second on team with 37 QB pressures.

Porter Gustin: 65.6

Had seven QB pressures in six games and the top tackling grade (77.4) among the linemen.

Bryan Cox Jr.: 60.0

Had 12 QB pressures (two sacks) in six games and was one of seven Browns with a tackling grade below 30 (29.9).

Brandin Bryant: 56.5

Played 42 snaps over four games and finished the season on the practice squad.

Larry Ogunjobi: 56.0

Had 36 QB pressures and finished second on the team with six sacks and seven QB hits.

Eli Ankou: 52.1

Played in nine games and had the second best tackling grade (71.9) among the linemen.

Daniel Ekuale: 50.4

Had one of the team’s worst tackling grades (29.5) in seven games before ending the season on IR.

Justin Zimmer: 49.5

Played 30 snaps over two games and had four tackles, two misses.

Chad Thomas: 47.8

Played in all 16 games with seven starts. Had 17 QB pressures, four sacks and the second-worst run defense grade (33.2).

Robert McCray: 40.8

Played 25 snaps in one game and had one QB pressure.


LINEBACKER

Sione Takitaki: 64.4

Played in eight games, had fourth-best run defense grade (75.1) and had 16 total tackles (one miss).

Tae Davis: 60.0

Played one defensive snap.

Joe Schobert: 59.1

Had a team-high 127 total tackles and a team-high 15 misses, with a run defense grade of 47.1. Also had 12 QB pressures and two sacks.

Christian Kirksey: 48.3

Played in two games and had five missed tackles.

Mack Wilson: 42.9

Second on the team with 79 total tackles and 13 misses. Had sub-50 grades in run defense (41.7) and coverage (46.2.).

Adarius Taylor: 41.7

Played 59 snaps over seven games.


CORNERBACK

Denzel Ward: 69.9

Had the top coverage grade (72.7) among Browns DBs, with nine pass breakups, two interceptions and one TD allowed.

Terrance Mitchell: 63.1

Played in eight games, with two pass breakups and one interception.

Eric Murray: 62.5

Played in nine games and had the third-best run defense grade (78.4).

Tavierre Thomas: 61.3

Played two defensive snaps.

T.J. Carrie: 56.4

Had the team’s top run defense grade (82.4) and the lowest coverage grade (47.7) among the DBs.

Greedy Williams: 54.6

Had the top tackling grade among CBs (70.9) and a coverage grade of 53.6.


SAFETY

J.T. Hassell: 73.4

Played 14 snaps in one game and earned the top tackling grade on the team (87.7).

Juston Burris: 69.5

Played in 13 games (eight starts) and had the sixth-best defense grade.

Damarious Randall: 69.3

Had the top tackling grade among those who played more than one game (79.8) and was fourth on the team with 60 total tackles.

Morgan Burnett: 67.7

Played in eight games and had the second-best run defense grade (80.8).

Sheldrick Redwine: 66.4

Had a coverage grade of 68.4 and eight missed tackles over eight games.

Robert Jackson: 60.7

Played one defensive snap.

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2019/12...019-season.html

DT Andrew Billings

Overall grade 69.3
Run defense grade 68.4
Pass rush grade 65.3
Tackling grade 27.4

19 pressures 2 sacks
28 tackles 9 misses 18 stops


CB Kevin Johnson

Overall grade 71.9
Coverage grade 73.6
Run defense grade 64.3
Tackling grade 53.2

33 tackles 7 misses 13 stops
allowed 24 passes out of 40 targets for 312 yds and 0 tds
0 ints 4 passes broken up
allowed a QBR of 84.6


S Karl Joseph

Overall grade 69.9
Run defense grade 78.2
Coverage grade 64.7
Tackling grade 67.1
Pass rush grade 71.3

36 tackles 6 misses 11 stops
allowed 11 passes out of 14 targets for 235 yds and 1 td
1 ints 2 passes broken up
allowed a QBR of 112.8


S Andrew Sendejo

Overall grade 71.3
Run defense grade 57.1
Coverage grade 74.9
Tackling grade 54.9

30 tackles 8 misses 9 stops
allowed 16 passes out of 23 targets for 199 tds and 2 tds
3 ints 2 passes broken up
allowed a QBR of 85.5


LB BJ Goodson

Overall grade 57.2
Run defense grade 59.4
Coverage grade 57.7
Tackling grade 71.4
Pass Rush grade 58.9

28 tackles 3 misses 15 stops
allowed 10 passes out of 11 targets for 98 yds and 1 td
0 ints 0 passes broken up
allowed a QBR of 134.1

I am worried about the safeties but our depth on defense is no longer horrible. A coverage linebacker (Nigel Bradham?) and another player on the edge would be nice.

Joseph is a good player he just hasn't had much luck at staying healthy and Sendejo is a pretty decent stop gap guy, if we can get a young guy with one of early picks to go with those two plus Redwine then I think we will be fine. I'm more worried about the LB position as right now it looks like Takitaki and Wilson will be our starters.

I hate to compare players based on their PFF grades since I’m not really sure they’re indicative of their true performance. That being said, I’ll try and compare using their grades.

D line -Since we added Billings and didn’t cut anyone I feel safe to say we improved. Shocker, I know.

Linebackers-We lost Schobert who had a dismal overall grade (59.1). I can only assume that his run grade was absolutely terrible because most feel he was good in pass coverage. We replaced him with a guy that ranks in the high 50s in everything. That to me is a net loss, then add in the loss of Kirksey and we take a big step backwards.

Corner-We lost Carrie and his team worst coverage grade (47.7) but team best run grade (82.4) for an overall grade of 56.4. We replaced him with an oft injured K Johnson who is much better in pass coverage (73.6) with a run grade of 64.3 and an overall grade 71.9. I think we upgraded this area. Carrie was so bad in coverage I don’t think he is hard to replace.

Safety-We lost Burris, Murray, Burnett and Randall. All four were in the 60s. 69.5,62.5,67.7 and 69.7 respectively. The loss of Burnett isn’t a big deal because of injury and Randall because he is a head case. Burris and Murray hurt. We replaced them with only two players Joesph and Sendejo. We actually improved our starters with these two. Joesph graded 69.9 overall and Sendejo with a 71.3. My opinion is that our new starters are slightly better overall we have no depth which for now is a worse condition.

I would like to see us pick up Mathews on a one or two year deal, then draft a couple Linebackers.

He would be a good mentor to our young LB's. If we can get him on a reasonable deal I would do it in a second.