DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2019 NFL Season NFL Post Season 2019 Super Bowl thread

8 Former Cleveland Browns Who Will Be In Super Bowl LIV

brownsnation.com

Eight former Browns are on the rosters of either the San Francisco 49ers or the Kansas City Chiefs. Six are expected to see some field time. Two are on the injured reserved list. Some of the names might be more familiar than others.


1. Raheem Mostert, RB- San Francisco

Raheem Mostert took over the offense and led the San Francisco 49ers to the NFL Championship Sunday.
Cleveland was one of six teams who saw Mostert solely as a kick returner.
They were the third team to sign him off waivers after Philadelphia drafted him in 2015.
Cleveland signed him to a 2016 tender, but he was waived after final cut day in favor of new additions.
He ran back 12 kickoffs for 309 yards in three games as a Brown.
After stops with the Jets and Bears, Mostert finally signed with the 49ers late in 2016.
Injuries gave him a chance to join the team’s committee of running backs.
He performed too well for Kyle Shanahan to ignore him as the season went on.
His 220 rushing yards are the third most in a championship game ever.


2. Emmanuel Ogbah, DE- Kansas City

Emmanuel Ogbah was a second-round draft pick of the Browns in 2016.
He started 26 straight games, including all 16 games as a rookie.
He fractured his foot in Week 11 of the 2017 season.
After starting 14 games the following season, Ogbah was surprised to be traded to Kansas City.
John Dorsey shipped him out for safety Eric Murray.
Kansas City was getting the better of the deal before a torn pectoral ended Ogbah’s season in Week 10.
He already tied a career-high with 5.5 sacks and was on track for career bests in several other categories.
Ogbah is a free agent this season likely to seek more money that fits under the Chiefs’ cap.


3. K’waun Williams, DB- San Francisco

Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2014, K’waun Williams started the season as the backup nickel behind Buster Skrines.
When Skrines was moved outside in a lineup shuffle, Williams became the starting nickel back.
He remained a solid performer in that role throughout Mike Pettine’s tenure.
But he kicked off his time with Hue Jackson on a bad note.
Williams opted out of the team’s first preseason game due to an ankle injury.
The Browns medical staff did not think his injury was serious.
The team suspended him for two games, prompting Williams to get a second opinion.
To make a long story short, he needed surgery, the team cut him, he had the surgery.
When he was cleared to play in 2017, San Francisco won out over six teams competing for his services.
Williams now provides solid nickel play for the NFC champions.


4. Mitchell Schwartz, RT- Kansas City

Mitchell Schwartz was a second-round draft pick for Cleveland in 2012.
He played every snap at right tackle for the Browns his rookie season.
In fact, he played every snap in his first four seasons.
For three of those seasons, Schwartz was a first- or second-team Pro Bowler.
Cleveland inexplicably let him walk in free agency after his rookie deal expired.
Late this season, he missed the first snaps of his career.
An ankle twist took three snaps to tape up.
He is now at 122 consecutive starts, the third-highest active streak among all positions in the NFL.
If he was not in the Super Bowl, he would play in his seventh Pro Bowl this week.


5. Shon Coleman, OT- San Francisco

Scouts tabbed Shon Coleman as a potential late-first or second-round draft pick in 2016.
Cleveland picked him up in the third round after a knee injury prevented him from attending the combines.
As a rookie, Williams backed up Austin Pasztor.
But he started all 16 games in 2017.
His performance didn’t impress John Dorsey enough to keep him from trading Williams to San Francisco.
With all the draft picks and players traded that offseason, it is hard to keep track.
But the 7th rounder Dorsey received from the 49ers is either one-third of Greedy Williams or one-half of Mack Wilson.
Coleman was inactive for all 16 games in 2018.
He was expected to make the 49ers roster as a backup again before a gruesome preseason ankle injury put him on injured reserve.


6. Austin Reiter, C- Kansas City

Austin Reiter was Washington’s seventh-round pick in the 2015 draft.
Cleveland signed him off the Redskins’ practice squad the following season.
Reiter made his first NFL start with the Browns in October of that season.
In that game, Reiter tore an ACL, ending his season.
He was largely limited to special teams in 2017, seeing only 8 offensive snaps.
When the Browns released him, Reiter signed with the Chiefs.
He is the only offensive lineman besides Schwartz to play in every game this season for Kansas City.


7. Anthony Zettel, DE- San Francisco

Anthony Zettel might be the most fortunate player on this list.
Zettel was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the sixth round of the 2016 draft.
He served as a backup and practice squad played for two seasons.
Cleveland signed him off waivers early in the 2018 season.
He played in parts of 13 games for the Browns.
He was the final cut in 2019 and was quickly signed by the Bengals. On December 12, the Bengals cut Zettel.
Looking for some depth at defensive end, the San Francisco 49ers signed Zettel the day before Christmas Eve.
After making one tackle in his limited role Sunday, Zettel is packing for Miami and the Super Bowl.


8. Cameron Erving, OL- Kansas City

Cam Erving was the 19th overall pick of the 2015 NFL draft.
He never got on track in his two years with the Browns.
It didn’t help that the team changed his position a few times.
Before the 2017 season, Cleveland traded Erving for Kansas City’s 2018 fifth-round draft pick.
He became a rotational backup.
Kansas City declined his fifth-year option but re-signed him to a two-year deal.
He played a key part in covering injuries in 2019, including eight starts for LT Eric Fisher.
He’ll see some snaps against the 49ers in Miami.


At Least Browns Fans Aren’t Alone

In this day of free agency and salary caps, few players make it to the Super Bowl with the team that drafted them. Mostert is on his seventh team. Dolphins fans are watching Damien Williams be exactly who they thought they drafted. There are dozens of others.

Browns fans need to keep the faith. Someday, other writers will talk about their former players playing in the big one for Cleveland.

I feel like the 9ers have it. They're too well-rounded and balanced of a team. They'll go up early and then their D will eat Mahommes alive when he's trying to throw them back into the game.

Player attitudes make it easier for Kyle Shanahan to keep the team accountable
Posted by Mike Florio on January 24, 2020, 11:48 PM EST

For as complicated as football can be, at its core it’s very simple. Blocking, hitting, tackling. And in an age of limited blocking, hitting, and tackling during practice, there’s a premium to be placed on players who can and will embrace blocking, hitting, and tackling during games.

The 49ers have players who can and will do the dirty work in games, without complaint. On Friday, coach Kyle Shanahan singled out both tight end George Kittle and cornerback Richard Sherman for praise in this regard.

“It starts, any time one of your best players, who everyone, I mean, he had more yards in the pass game as a tight end in the history of the NFL last year,” Shanahan said when asked about Kittle’s influence on the team’s run-heavy-of-late offense. “So, any time you have a guy like that who’s one of the best players on your team who’s always just talking about running the ball and playing the physicality in the game and giving everything you can, it helps you hold everyone else a lot more accountable, and rarely do you have to. When people are watching guys like that do that type of stuff, when they watch guys like Sherm play the run and things like that, it makes your job a lot more easier. When your best guys are doing it, everyone else really doesn’t have much of a choice.”

The dynamic underscores the value of not collecting players but building a team. Every NFL team needs high-quality players who will do what is expected without being told it’s expected. It then becomes expected that other players will do the same. In Kittle, the 49ers particularly found a guy who has a love for the nitty-gritty details of the sport.

“It’s more just the beat of my own drum,” Kittle told reporters on Friday. “If you put in the dirty work and do what you’re asked on every single play whether it’s pass or run, the rest takes care of itself. Whether it’s yards, catches, touchdowns, whatever it is, if you just do what you’re supposed to do, you’re eventually going to get the ball and it will take care of itself.”

Sherman has added value, thanks to his experience on championship teams.

“He’s helped us the most by how he’s played,” Shanahan said of Sherman, “but also having a guy that’s been there and done that, especially having a young team, and when you have a guy who guys have grown up watching a little bit, especially over these last seven years, and being in big games like this and even starting out the year 8-0, going through that and having guys who have been through that and kind of been at the top of the league halfway through and being able to rely on some players who can help echo how tough it’s going to be to keep that going. Any time you have guys with experience who have been through it who are also one of your better players, it helps a ton.”

Kittle and Sherman are two of the reasons why the 49ers are back in the Super Bowl, and as long as they’re on the team they’ll influence teammates to behave the same way, inspiring more leaders and creating a culture of self-starters who allow Shanahan and the coaching staff to focus on things other than getting the players in the right frame of mind to do their jobs.

And if a franchise can pull that off over a long enough period of time, it becomes the Patriots.

J/C

San Fran has probably the toughest Dline we have seen in a long time. Just mean, nasty, unrelenting bunch.

KC has Cam Irving on the offense line.

Game goes to San Fran

Your basing your prediction on one offensive lineman???

Are you kidding me???????????????????????????????????

I just think back to the way the Niners just brutalized the Pack. It was almost abusive.

Garoppolo threw for 77 yards. 77! In the entire game! The Niners run game just demolished the Pack's defense, and the Packers couldn't run or pass effectively until the game was over.

The only way I see for the Chiefs to win this thing is to somehow negate the Niners defensive speed, and to not turn the ball over.

I think the key is going to wind up being the strength of the Niners' OL and DL.

I think the Niners win by 13 or more.