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Cleveland Browns: Predicting the starting offense in 2017

7 hours ago

The Cleveland Browns added a lot of talent to the roster in the 2017 NFL Draft. Here are some early predictions for the starting offense.

The Cleveland Browns may not have made the playoffs in 15 years, but they always seem to be at the forefront of the teams being talked about and the teams making moves in the offseason. After this year’s draft, many Browns fans and writers are filled with a combination of excitement and concern after seeing the selections.

The front office may be done with its heavy lifting for now, but the work for the coaching staff and players has just begun.

From rookie minicamp to OTAs, training camp to the preseason, a lot will happen between now and the final decisions to trim the team down to the 53-man roster. Along the way, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams will shape his side of the ball into something resembling an NFL defense, while players – both old and new – will need to take on new roles and fill different positions to fit into the team.

What is very exciting is predicting the starters and what the team really could look like to start the season.

With all that, let’s start with the offense.

Quarterback: Cody Kessler

Let’s take a step back and relax a little when talking about second-round pick DeShone Kizer. Even Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has said he wished Kizer had come back for another college season and that he was not ready yet for the NFL.

However you feel about the selection, the general consensus is that Kizer is not ready. The good news is that Cleveland has a reliable starter in second-year quarterback Cody Kessler, who last season posted a 65.6 completion percentage and a 92.3 passer rating. This next season will belong to Kessler as the starter going in.

Running back: Isaiah Crowell

Isaiah Crowell had a quietly solid season in 2016, posting 952 yards and seven touchdowns plus 40 receptions for 319 yards. Some believed that the Browns would spend a premium pick on a running back with the likes of Dalvin Cook or Joe Mixon available. However, the only pick the Browns used on the position was Matthew Dayes from North Carolina State in the seventh round.

This is a huge vote of confidence for Crowell – now he just needs to sign his second-round tender offer.

Expect Duke Johnson to get his fair share of rushes and catches out of the backfield to mix it up, but Crowell’s starting job is 100 percent secure.

Tight end: David Njoku; Seth DeValve

One of the more celebrated picks in the first round was Cleveland trading their way back into the first round for a third pick and selecting Miami’s David Njoku, a serious receiving threat at the tight end position.

To complement him is second-year receiver turned tight end Seth DeValve who, like Njoku, gives the Browns another athlete at the tight end position, along with the opportunity to run a deadly two-tight-end system similar to what New England runs. Look out AFC!

Wide receiver: Corey Coleman; Kenny Britt

With Terrelle Pryor leaving for Washington in free agency, Corey Coleman, last year’s first-round selection, needs to step up this season. Last year Coleman missed time with an injury, finishing with 33 receptions 413 yards and three touchdowns. He’s going into the season as the team’s No. 1 receiver and needs to play like it.

Luckily, he’ll have some help.

Kenny Britt came over from the Los Angeles Rams in free agency on a four-year, $32.5 million contract to fill the hole left by Pryor. In 2016, Britt became the first Rams receiver since Torry Holt in 2007 to post a 1,000-yard season, posting 68 catches, 1,002 yards and five touchdowns.

Hopefully Britt can continue his success and Corey Coleman can live up to where he was drafted.

Offensive Tackle: Joe Thomas; Shon Coleman

Joe Thomas is a future Hall of Famer and continues to be an elite left tackle. Sorry Roderick Johnson, you’ll have to wait a while before you get your chance.

The real competition is at right tackle between former first-round pick Cameron Erving and Shon Coleman. The knock on Erving is that he has played both center and guard and was awful at both. It wasn’t until he was switched to right tackle for the season finale that he finally looked decent.

Erving will get his shot in training camp, but Coleman was projected to be a late-first or early-second-round pick out of Auburn, so he is talented. He’s got a chip on his shoulder and looks more natural at the position than Erving. It’ll be close, but Coleman should earn the starting nod.

Related: Is Roderick Johnson the left tackle of the future

Guard: Joel Bitonio; Kevin Zeitler

Both players got a nice pay day this offseason. Bitonio got a six-year extension worth more than $51 million, and Zeitler moved from the Cincinnati Bengals for five-year, $60 million deal. Not only are these guys being paid like starters, they very much earned it.

Zeitler is a player Browns fans should get excited about as he is an immediate upgrade on the right side and a valuable use of the team’s enormous cap space. The one caution is Bitonio’s health, having been placed on season-ending injured reserve each of the past two seasons. If he can stay healthy, there’s no doubt he’s a great player who will help improve the line from a year ago.

Center: J.C. Tretter

J.C. Tretter signed a three-year, $16.75 million contract to leave Green Bay, and while he may not be Alex Mack, he is certainly a step up from Cam Erving.

However, like Bitonio, Tretter too has been on injured reserve more than once in his career and will be closely monitored throughout the season. Also like Bitonio, his skills and talent warrant the money he received and Tretter should give Browns fans optimism that he’s a great upgrade at the position from last year.

This offensive line should be very good.

The Browns improved dramatically on the offensive line this offseason through free agency and the draft. They also have solid depth behind the starters. Clearly the only spot open for competition is the right tackle but the rest is secure.

Tight end also got noticeably better. I made the argument on a few occasions that the Browns should stay put at No. 12 overall and select O.J. Howard to improve the position, realizing Gary Barnidge was getting older. Somehow, they still managed to still get arguably the second-best player at the position who looks like the team’s new Jordan Reed. You’ll notice as the season goes along just how good these units are.

The biggest concern would have to quarterback.

Don’t get me wrong, I have faith in Cody Kessler as a competent starter, but the depth behind him is less than ideal and their second-round draft pick, DeShone Kizer, doesn’t appear to be ready. He’ll need time to develop, so don’t get too excited just yet.

I thought that after they avoided a quarterback in the first round that they would go and see what they have in Kessler in 2017 and focus on the 2018 draft for a quarterback, which looks like a better draft for the position, if Kessler didn’t show improvement.

This just leaves Kevin Hogan and Brock Osweiler as the only other QB options on the roster, and anyone who saw Osweiler play in Houston doesn’t want anything to do with that.

If Gordon doesn't return, which is what we're anticipating ... I'm still wary of our WRs. Coleman better really improve and stay healhty

I think the biggest question marks going into this season will be whether the gamble on the health of Bitonio and Tretter pays off.

We still have big question marks on the QB position and RT but I believe we were all aware of that. I also believe that Britt has peaked. I believe he has already reached his ceiling and all we can expect is the same or worse than his last seasons production.

I wouldn't call it last season's production though. His production can go up based on QB play (which would include offensive line too). If our offensive line is better, and our QB play is better than that of the Rams last year, theoretically, he should be even more productive

I think the week 1 offense will be different then......week 4 but I think week 1 will be:
only listing spots in doubt:
QB-Osweiler
RT-Coleman
Wr3-Louis
TE1-Telfar (TE2 Njoku)

Why Osweiler? I still haven't seen anyone say why he is better than Kessler?

(I don't think Kessler is good.)

I'm basing my opinion on the fact that he's been in the league since 2009. That means he's played the position for eight years in the NFL. At that juncture you don't see WR's improving. Would it be impossible? No. But I believe that history dictates that once you've been a WR for eight years, the odds of improvement go down quite significantly.

Gotcha, you just used the word production, and i wanted to say that improvement and production are different

Is this an actual question or another one of your rhetorical question?

For me it's not complicated. Brockweiler is more experienced. Has a bigger arm. More durable.

What does that experience get him though? He was worse the more he played. Also, he may have a bigger arm, but he refused to throw it downfield even more so than Kessler (with better weapons).

I wish Osweiler was redeemable, I just don't think being as bad as he was last year is a fixable thing.

More rhetorical questions?

Let's not sit here and pretend that Brock has been all bad. I watched him play some very good games 2 years ago w/ Denver. I'm not into ignoring a players complete body of work.

But if you like Kessler over Brock that's fine. Its not an argument I care much about.

Well, at least with Brock the D will have to respect that he can throw it downfield. Whether he can hit our receivers is another matter. I have no preference at this time who plays QB for us. Whomever it is I will be rooting hard for. Try and develop DK and give him time. Right now that is our best bet for the future or at least until the 2018 draft.

Except that Brock was awful at throwing down the field last year.

I think that Kessler will win the job out of camp. By all reports he has worked on his arm, his body, and his skills with off-site skills coaching.

That's what the stats say. However, there was more to the story than just Brock. Their OL was bad in pass protection.

I'm not pimping the guy, but I think he can get the ball down the field much better than Kessler.

We'll see what happens.


Even in Denver, with all of the tools a QB could want, he was decidedly average at throwing down the field. He was money behind the LOS, and from 1010 yards down the field, but far less so over 11 yards int he air. (and he had great receivers to work with) Passes thrown 11-20 yards in the air were a dicey situation, as he completed only 46% of such. 21+ were completed only at a rate of 6-27 in Denver. He has 1 TD and 2 INT on such passes.

He had similar difficulties in Houston last year. The deep ball is not an effective part of his repartee. It wasn't in Denver, and it wasn't in Houston. I don't know that it will be in Cleveland either.

Osweiler is the best Qb we have on the roster right now.

Don't take last year performance in Houston as any kind of indicator of what he will do here. Osweiler did NOT fit in the Houston scheme down there.

Hue Jackson runs an offense very similiar to what Gary Kubiak ran in Denver back in 2015. John Elway wanted to keep Osweiler badly, they just didn't have the cap space to match Houstons stupidly high offer

John Elway knows QB...if he wanted to keep Osweiler as bad as he did, there is a good reason for that. Again, The only reason Denver didn't keep him is because they didn't have the money to mathc Houston's offer and Osweiler would have been foolish to pass up a 72 million dollar deal.

Call me crazy but i have reallyt good feelings about Osweiler....I think he is going to play really well in Cleveland this year, he has a chip on his shoulder, he has something to prove, and he is coming into a system that is very similiar to Kubiaks....He is going to play good enough to keep Kizer on the bench this year to learn and thats going to be a win, win, win for the Browns organiztion, what happens beyond that I wouldn't say....But I think Brock has another good year in him, and he is pretty young at 26 years old, he has time to grow.

I worry about a QB who is on his 3rd team in 3 yrs.
This is 2nd rejected QB project Hue will have to take on.
RR3 was a colassial failure last year

Brock didn't even throw for 300 yds once in a game last season
Lest no forget Brock played in favorable climates last season
He doesnt past the eye test
How many NFL teams could he start for now?

Now I'm not a Brock fan. I think Cody will start. But come on here.......

He left his rookie team to take a bigger deal set by the Texans. He didn't work out in Houston, didn't fit in with the system and had issues with the coach, and got traded by Houston to Cleveland.

When you say, 3rd team in 3 years, you make it out like he switches teams all the time. He played his whole rookie contract in Denver (with no issues). He signed with Houston as a Free Agent, and it was a mistake (clearly by him and Houston), and so he was traded to our team.

I think a lot of people are overestimating a third round, second year QB who has a weak arm. If Brock can't beat out Kessler... "Houston, we have your problem".

Cute !

Either start Kessler, or give the keys to Kizer. Brock shouldn't be starting.

37 million dollars? Definitely a mistake by Houston. Brock, not so much.

Its clear not many here have watched Osweiler play. Which is fine, but that man in no way resembles a starting QB. I especially take umbrage with "he has a big arm", yet it is so mediocre strength wise and while he is tall, he consistently gets the ball knocked down at the LOS.

Kizer clearly has the most talent. If he is to sit, however, go with Kessler. Maybe he will figure out a deep ball or something. Osweiler should not play over either QB. I actually would rather play Kevin Hogan if need be, at least we could run the option.

Browns play 4 qb's because of injuries during the season anyways.

Every skilled position offensive player not named Crowell, or Duke, has serious question marks, and needs to step up.

This year they should Finally find a way to put Both Crowell and Duke on the field in two back sets, the fullbacks are inconsistent.

I agree, fullback has been a problem.

While reading the article, I was thinking the same. I don't feel too bad about the other positions (except that elusive QB carousel). I believe the WR corps really depends on Coleman living up to his draft potential and remaining healthy. I really don't count on Gordon coming back.

Crazy that we could have had Taylor Gabriel helping out this crew, but the analytics said he was replaceable I guess...