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What can we expect from Cleveland Browns this season? How about less dumb football?

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2020/05...b-football.html

By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer


WILL WE LIKE THESE GUYS?

A year ago, the Browns were supposed to be a playoff team... at the very least.

Off-season trades for Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon created sizzle for a team that went 5-3 in the last half of the 2018 season.

Baker Mayfield, Myles Garrett and Beckham were national sports media stars.

Fans know what happened. The team finished 6-10. Rookie head coach Freddie Kitchens was overwhelmed. Veteran GM John Dorsey was fired, partly because he picked Kitchens as head coach.

The Browns came across as cocky and undisciplined.

Watching all of this was Browns Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta, who was against the hiring of Kitchens. Also paying attention from a distance were Andrew Berry (assistant GM in Philadelphia) and Kevin Stefanski (offensive coordinator in Minnesota).

None of these men will say it, but the 2019 Browns were exactly the kind of team they don’t want this year.

That’s why they seem serious about their “tough, smart, accountable” motto for the players. The guys they have drafted and signed as free agents fit that character profile.

There were several individual exceptions on the 2019 Browns, but as a team they didn’t come close to the “tough, smart, accountable" goal.

They opened the season by committing 18 penalties in a 43-12 loss to the Tennessee Titans. They led the NFL in penalties for much of the season, and ended up ranking No. 4 in that category.

They were No. 2 in false starts, a major indication of a team not paying attention to details such as snap counts or how to line up.

Perhaps their biggest victory was a 21-7 verdict over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 14. But it ended with the Myles Garrett brawl. That led to a six-game suspension for the Browns star. The Browns were 2-4 with Garrett out.

Too often, the team was a sideshow, with players firing off at coaches on the sidelines and discussions about Odell Beckham Jr. not seeing the ball often enough. As for trying to score a TD from inside the 5-yard line, you’d have thought the Browns were attempting to scale Mount Everest in their bare feet and a swim suit.

The 2018 Browns (in the final eight games) were one of the favorite teams to watch since the franchise returned in 1999. That team had discipline, played with heart and a sense of purpose.

They went from committing nearly nine penalties a game under former coach Hue Jackson to slightly over six when Gregg Williams took over as interim head coach. Those stats matter.

In 2019, the Browns were the least enjoyable team to watch since the 1999 return because of all the penalties, agendas and painfully poor coaching. I get a headache thinking about them.

SOME BASIC EXPECTATIONS

Cleveland.com recently ran a story about three ESPN “experts” not buying the 2020 Browns as a playoff team.

Fine with me.

I also believe the front office and coaching staff prefer it that way... keep the hype down.

For much of the 2019 season, Kitchens said the Browns were a “group” and not “a team.”

That’s one thing Kitchens had right.

And it’s one of the major goals for Stefanski and his coaching staff.

CUT OUT THE GARBAGE!

They may not say it quite in those words, but Browns fans know the difference between solid and sloppy football. What they had to endure last season (even in some victories) was agonizing to watch because of some of the mindless football on the field.

We’ll see if Stefanski can change it. He is a rookie head coach. No matter how many savvy virtual mini-camp practices he holds, they don’t come close to having actual players on the field to learn the new offense and defense.

Will the 37-year-old Stefanski have the respect of the players to turn them into a more disciplined team. We have no track record of him as a head coach, but that is the goal.

The credibility of Kitchens was hurt last season because there was a feeling on the team and elsewhere that he got the job because of his relationship with Baker Mayfield. That made it seem as if a QB in his second pro season had far too much influence on the organization.

Stefanski has a different role. He doesn’t owe his job to Mayfield. Rather, it’s his job to fix the QB in terms of throwing techniques, footwork and the mental approach to the game.

Mayfield should have been humbled by what happened last season, when he was among the NFL’s lowest-ranked QBs in nearly every important category.

So what should we look for? More discipline and organization from the team, and improvement from Mayfield.

OLD-TIME FOOTBALL APPROACH

While the Andrew Berry front office is analytics driven in some respects, the moves they made show an appreciation for what has always won games.

I’m talking about the offensive line.

Profootballfocus.com (PFF) has rated the Browns as having the NFL’s “most improved offensive line.” PFF said the combination of 2019 tackles Greg Robinson and Chris Hubbard ranked 30th out of 32 teams for those positions.

You can argue some of PFF’s data, but common sense and watching the games revealed the major problems the Browns had at tackle.

Robinson was suspended for a game when he kicked an opposing player in the head. After the season, he was arrested in Texas with 157 pounds of marijuana in his SUV. One bag had 23 Mason jars sealed with marijuana.

The Browns are counting on rookie Jedrick Wills from Alabama to take over at left tackle. They signed Jack Conklin to a three-year, $42-million deal to play right tackle. They hired veteran offensive line coach Bill Callahan to put the line in order.

We’ll see if it works, but those are the moves a team makes when it’s serious about repairing the offensive line.



ABOUT THE BROWNS

1. I hear the Browns believe Wyatt Teller has a chance to be a respectable right guard. That’s especially true because he’ll be playing between veteran center JC Tretter and right tackle Conklin.

2. Another candidate is Drew Forbes, the 2019 sixth-round pick from Southeast Missouri State. He was moving up the depth chart when he suffered a knee injury in the final preseason game. He played briefly on special teams near the end of the season. Between Forbes and Teller, the Browns should be able to plug the right guard spot with a player who can grow into the position.

3. I was intrigued with the two undrafted running backs signed by the Browns. The first is Brian Herrien from Georgia. The Bulldogs keep sending running backs to the NFL. Herrien was mostly a backup, but played behind terrific starters.

4. The other is Benny LeMay, a 5-foot-8, 220-pounder from UNC-Charlotte. That’s Larry Ogunjobi’s school. LeMay has the low center of gravity and strong legs and balance that I like. The backups to starters Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt are D’Ernest Johnson and Dontrell Hilliard. Either (or both) could lose their job to a promising newcomer.

5. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein on LeMay: “Short but stout with a frame and demeanor to handle the physicality of the position. LeMay has a tendency to get bogged down when a clear point of entry isn’t right in front of him, but as a runner, he possesses the acceleration, contact balance and toughness teams desire.... seventh round or priority free agent."

6. The Browns have been blessed because they haven’t had many injuries to running backs in the last few years. But backs do get hurt. Because running backs can be found low in the draft (or undrafted), it’s fun to look a someone such as LeMay and think, “He’s interesting.”

7. In the last two seasons, LeMay averaged 5.2 yards per carry, gaining 2,325 yards and rushing for 20 TDs. He also caught 40 passes in that span.

8. Undrafted free agents don’t receive much guaranteed money. For example, Princeton QB Kevin Davidson received $17,500 from the Browns. Herrien is guaranteed $40,000 while LeMay received $30,000. These numbers come from overthecap.com.

9. Oklahoma State defensive back A.J. Green received the largest guarantee from the Browns: $145,000. No. 2 at $65,000 is receiver Ja’Marcus Bradley, a 6-foot-1, 195-pounder from Louisiana-Lafayette. He caught 60 passes (10 TDs), averaging 15.1 yards per catch. He wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine.

10. This from The Athletic’s Dane Brugler: “Overall, Bradley has only average size, speed and strength and might have trouble uncovering vs. NFL-level cornerbacks, but his dependable ball skills and concentration give him a legitimate chance to make a pro roster.”

That's true. Part of that was Freddie. And part of that was Baker. Freddie is gone. The question is if Baker has changed or not?

I like Benny LaMay. He is my Darkhorse player.

Oh geez. In what way do you think Baker is at fault?

It seems impossible that he will be as bad as Freddie, but once again, we have a HC w/no previous experience at the job.

My three biggest questions w/this team are the same as they were last year. I can find the links, if needed.

1. Quarterback
2. Coaching
3. Chemistry

Not sure how any of them will work out. I am not making positive or negative predictions. I just think all three are huge for this football team and all three are unanswered. I do think that #3 is going to be directly influenced by #s 1 and 2----for better or worse.

Im curious to see how Stefanski deals with adversity when we start losing. You have all these offensive weapons. Landry and Odell get cranky when we are losing. Getting everyone on the team to buy into what Stefanski is selling is the biggest thing for me. If that happens we can be unstoppable.

This is the biggest challenge, not Baker. And it won't just be internal from the organization either. It will be Mary Kay and Grossi and some of the Cleveland media idiots.

If a team allows the media to distract them from doing their job and staying focused, that is a weakness of the team.

I know yours is a popular black and white opinion. And I don't necessarily disagree with it on the surface. But I believe in Cleveland all of the dysfunction counts at all levels and leads to more dysfunction. The Cleveland Browns are psychologically broken on many levels, and I include the media in that. It's hard to listen to a presser without shaking your head. It's hard to listen to Mary Kay and wonder if she is the Browns fan she says she is. She takes great joy in the failures of the team. I don't think the media should be coddling the team, but I think this creates a grating effect on the players and organization all the way up to the owners. It subconsciously gets factored into other decisions that have lasting effects on the organization. I'm not asking anyone to agree. This is a subject I don't really expect anyone to agree with me on. But I am fascinated by the psychological effects of things, and I think this plays a role.

Much like yourself I don't feel everyone will agree with either of our opinions. I'm sure people are divided on this particular aspect of things.

I was simply raised and taught not to us excuses or rationalize my own behavior on the actions or words of others. To me that allows for a built in excuse to fail.... "Well if the media had of gotten behind us and supported us".

As far as the psychological effects of negative press, it's a funny thing how that works. The mind can focus on the negative aspect of it and allow it to cause a negative impact. Or it can be used as fuel and use it in an, "I'll show them" kind of way.

So often times we hear about teams using negative things said about them as "fuel in the locker room". How you use something like that is up to each of us. When you are in a business that is open to public comment and media coverage, you need to be able to use that to your advantage and it can be.

So it's all about what you do with it. That's why I feel if you allow it to be a negative, it's a weakness. There is another option.

Jc

Let’s hope Pluto is right ... we were outright dumb, undisciplined, and cocky last year ... the Titans game showed us all we needed to know. I’m still dumbfounded at that performance.

FK had a lot to do with it of course .. but our QB needs to refocus himself and be committed to his craft ... that will do wonders. It’s not about commercials and swag ... it’s about accountability, leadership, and hard work

I actually agree with all of that. I just think the Browns are too far broken for those factors to be true in Cleveland. The Browns may be the worst professional sports organization in the entire nation over the last 20 years. That's severe outlier stuff. I'm not sure traditional ways of thinking apply to this team.

In hindsight the worst thing the Browns could have done last year is hire Freddie Kitchens. I was behind the hire. But inexperience to think he could change what was successful the year before and his ill fated notion that he was protected by Dorsey and there was no way Dorsey would be fired, ultimately lead to another notch in the dysfunction belt. The only way to rise from the ashes here is to win. And it's doubly worse when you lose when everyone thinks you are going to win. It sets a program that is already one hundred steps back another hundred steps back.

The Browns have to win this year. The schedule is easy. They have an "organized" coach which hopefully is enough against such an easy schedule. Win and some of the dysfunction starts to melt away. Win and the psychological effect of things can be minimized.

Just win. They have to find a way to just win. There's no other way out of this.

"part of that was Baker?" I don't think Baker can influence the other 11-26-53 players on his own, if they were disciplined, to make them cocky plus undisciplined, and is only responsible for his own scope of influence and actions.

Whether Baker has changed or not, your apparent disdain for him has not, I doubt any change he could make would change that.

Always a welcome read with Pluto. Solid insight and some disdain for ESPN. Aces in my book. Seems that BSPN's extent of "expertise" is almost exclusively hindsight. Wrong with the volume turned up, as in "Louder equals righter" and "Louder means truer."

Pluto is one I will always read and always consider. Thanks for this post, Grateful!

I mostly agree, but I do think the media can have some negative impact. I was raised as you. The thing is we didn't have media members in print, radio, and TV hammering on us. We didn't have to deal with cyber attacks....so it can have impact.

After a while it has to wear on a player or coach.

I am not saying that as an excuse, but I do think it could be one of the reasons for a players decline. Heck, look at what it does to various posters in here.

Pluto is GREATER than Grossi.

no doubt

Disagree.

To answer that question, I'd have to take us back to the second half of the 2018 campaign.

During that stretch, #6's performance was disciplined, efficient, and at times, inspired. The moments when Mayfield improvised a play to success were the icing on a cake that was baked with good OL passpro, consistent positive yardage runs from the backfield, and sound game planning. In other words, Baker Mayfield was an efficient role-player in a well-run, disciplined team under Gregg Williams.

2019 was the end result of a team being run by a man who had been 'Peter Principled' to a stratum 2 levels higher than his talents/abilities/experience qualified him for.

Even though 5-3 isn't exactly eye-popping, the games we lost were still entertaining, and competently executed.

I guess my point is this:
Baker Mayfield is a "Tale of Two Quarterbacks."

He was the best of QB's when he functioned under a strong Head Coach who ran an established system.

He was the worst of QB's when he functioned under a Head Coach who ran a team that had no system whatsoever, and tried to run the offense himself.

__________________


My guess is this: Baker Mayfield will be the kind of QB he's set up to be. He will be as good (or as abysmal) as the setup around him.

If Kevin Stefanski/Admin2020 can establish something- anything that even remotely resembles what Gregg Williams gave us last half of 2018, we will most likely see the Baker Mayfield who set the rookie record for TD.

IMHO, it's always been less about Baker the person as it's been The System that employs Baker.



.02

Good post, Clem. I agree.

We haven’t heard the same immaturity out of Baker during this offseason like we did last year. I’m hoping that he learned his lesson. I’ll never forget Freddie telling Baker to get away from football for a little bit. That left me scratching my head thinking about guys like Brady and Manning who eat, breathe, and sleep football 24/7. I’m hoping that he took his serving of humble pie and continues to mature. I hope he internalized the remarks about him and uses that to fuel his desire to prove everyone wrong again next year. We’ll see.

One thing I think that remains important is to put him in a scheme that works best for him. When I go back and rewatch some film on him, I’m actually surprised that he reads coverages better than I thought he did, especially on play-action (which I know is designed to relieve complication of coverage). Where I thought he struggled most was footwork. I’m no QB expert, but his footwork was just plain bad. His follow through and weight distribution on his throws was off as well. Lots of passes sailed.

Anyhow, I digress. I hope things look up in 2020.

I too am upbeat on some of the Browns signings but apprehensive too due to their long time record of poor choices.

This article lists 25 Infamous NFL Draft Busts that Cleveland landed 4 players on the list with attachment to 1 other.

https://thesportsdrop.com/25-infamous-nf...Desktop_Taboola

Not good odds across numerous years and the Browns land 4 on the list. 32 teams worth of top draft choices in the first round and our Browns get 4 on a list of 25 (16%).

Just a trip down memory lane and the high risks involved with can't miss 1st round draft picks.

My question is did this group select any of those players?

That is the factoid you need to cling to in all of this. Berry, Stefanski, and Depodesta are making the calls now.

The problem w/simplifying the offense is that teams catch on. Teams sometimes do have their young qbs read just half the field on a particular play. It might be either side, but it's half the field. Teams do use mass pass pro. Teams can have their qb make a quick, one-read throw. Those things help a young qb. The issue is that you have to expand or teams can game plan to stifle your limited opportunities. Almost everyone puts the blame on Freddie, yet Baker flourished under Freddie in his rookie year. Baker was struggling under Haley when they were running a true offense.

I do agree w/you that Freddie should have never said that Baker should take some time away from football, but do you ever wonder if that was what Baker wanted to hear? Do you ever wonder if Baker was the a huge part of the reason Dorsey hired Freddie? Anyway, I said after Baker's rookie season that he needed to clean-up his footwork. I said it again after this past season. He has scoffed at working w/a qb coach. Maybe he can do it on his own? We'll see.

I am not writing Baker off. I think there is a chance that he can be good. Again, I think this is a very important year for his career. I don't agree w/the Gregg Williams thing, but that's just my opinion. I think Baker worked closely w/Freddie and not w/GW. I think GW let the offensive guys do their thing and he managed and helped w/the D.

This is another opinion. I think we can have some success if we limit the playbook again. I hope we don't do that, though. It might work for awhile, but I do not believe that that is sustainable.

I'm intentionally focusing on the first paragraph of your post, because I have a sincere question I want to ask. I think it's clear that over last offseason we ended up going through a pretty massive scheme change on the offensive side of the ball. Baker was coming off a successful season, but one where he was at least somewhat schemed to success (offense was simplified as one would expect for a rookie QB coming from a non-pro college offense).

How much of the scheme change (just the changing of the scheme, I want to ignore the Freddie aspect of Baker's regression for a moment) can impact a QB's development into being a legit NFL starting-caliber QB? Few, if any, QBs come into the league with a fully developed NFL starter skillset. Baker is no different. There are right and wrong ways to encourage that skill development, and I think it's safe to assume which way a scheme change can affect development. But how much is that effect, is what I'm wondering.

Before I reply to your question, I want to say it is Max pass pro, not mass pass pro...LOL, not sure how I typed that in my earlier post?

Hmmmm..........It's a good question, butI really don't know the answer. I want to answer, but I'm not going to make things up.

Here are a few things to ponder if you continue to ponder that line of thinking:

--Putting too much responsibility on a qb who is not ready for it can certainly hurt him. By responsibility, I am not talking about starting, leadership, etc. I'm talking about asking him to be able to run a pro-style offense w/multiple reads, progressions, anticipatory throws, etc when the kid is still wondering how to call out his blocking protection and other simple parts of the game.

--We all complained about Freddie's personnel packages last year. However, if you go back and look at the beginning of the Offensive Scheme thread that I started, you will see that teams ran more 11 personnel than any other package. By far. The reason is that it is the most explosive offense and the hardest for a D to cover all those receivers.

--Some qbs can get away w/out running a true pro offense that demands you read coverages and go through progressions quickly. Lamar is the best example. Vick is another. But, teams generally catch-up. Kaep, RGIII, Trubisky, Vince Young, Timid, etc come to mind.

I would also say check his release. Until the feet and some other corrections get made (or until the NFL logs interceptions as completions LOL), accuracy will not be a legitimate strength IMO. I think this will be a better year to measure BM with a more competent line and some different offensive priority set up.

This is some good stuff going on here, but I want to point this out



You refuse to try and fit in, don't you?

It depends on what you mean by simplifying in my opinion.

Having 50 million "looks" (splits, groupings, motions, etc) doesn't necessarily make it harder for teams to predict what you are going to do out of them.

On the other hand you can run different plays out of the same limited set of presnap looks.

I think it is often harder to defend the latter. Plays that start out looking the same but need to be defended differently.

Freddie seemed to try so hard to confuse defenses with a multitude of looks that he ended up confusing our players.

Stefanski has mentioned tying the run and pass games together which indicates the "simplified" approach to me.

Not necessarily "simple," but not the giant, chaotic mess we had last year. I expect a much more systematic approach. Things being connected more logically than a bunch of crazy backyard doodles haphazardly thrown into a gameplan that put the defense on notice that something different was coming.

You can still sprinkle those plays in, but it seemed our playbook was more of those than normal staples last season.

When Freddie had had success the second half of the season before, he leaned on the established offense more and had more of that sprinkling of his new plays as I recall it.

I think that not-enough is said about the impact that Zampese had on Baker his rookie year. Preparation, footwork, etc.

I also don't think enough can be said about Lindley and his failures at pretty-much everything Zampese was good about...for Baker.

Lindley is Freddie's buddy...so there's that.

$.02

I to like Pluto. I especially appreciate that he admits when he doesn’t know or understand something but I do often think... isn’t your job to understand and communicate these things?

Anyway, I like a lot of what’s happening this year a whole lot more than at this time last year. Our single biggest killer this year is going to be lack of reps and cohesion. I tell my kids, getting good at handling adversity and bearing up under blows is a built strength like anything else. But you have to be intentional about it, you have to choose to not let it define you, to learn and grow. The Cleveland Browns have precious little of fortitude and grit. With all the losing and crumbling and blowing things up you’d think the team would be expert but we just haven’t kept a group long enough to learn and grow. Not that we should have kept the recent groups but you know what I mean. The point is, I hope a slow, clumsy start that comes with a new regime having too little install time and reps doesn’t sabotage us so badly that we crumble and the worst traditions of Cleveland football become once again inescapable. We need a decent season as measured against basic expectations. Just at water level or a little better. That’s all I dare to hope for. I’m not allowing myself to entertain any expectations better than middle of the pack this year.

J/C JUST WIN WEEK 1!! That will change culture, that will help SET THE TONE about being a smart, tough and accountable team. Everything else being discussed(with all due respect) doesn't mean Jack Squat. Win week 1 period. JMHO

Win week 1 is solid. Winning, not just saying we sure battled our way to that loss, would be swell. Not a year for we practiced great. Winning sorts a lot of junk and doubts out, and is its own special focus and its own special reward.

Just win, baby!

They won week 4, got back to 2-2 last year, then subsequently fell apart.

This team needs to learn how to lose and move on. I'd love to win week 1 but also wouldn't be opposed to losing week 1 then ripping off 4 or 5 in a row. That's what the good teams do.

They won week 4, got back to 2-2 last year, then subsequently fell apart.

This team needs to learn how to lose and move on. I'd love to win week 1 but also wouldn't be opposed to losing week 1 then ripping off 4 or 5 in a row. That's what the good teams do.


Sorry I am very opposed to losing week 1. We have done that! Thats the losing culture that says its OK to lose week 1 and we will Rally! Lets just whoop ass week 1 for once and see what happens. I know it wont be easy going to Baltimore but THAT is what good teams do. JMHO

Damarious Randall, and Joe Schobert, are gone, who is responsible.

Winning week 1 has happened like once in my life lol .. it would be nice to have it happen

I think you over rate them.

Placing blame on Baker is absolute lunacy. We could have made that trade for Wilson and there's no way we would have won anything with the bozos we've had running this team.

Everyone thinking Lamar was the pick to be had out of the 2018 draft... You swap Lamar and Baker, and Baker lands with Baltimore, that organization, and Baker is league MVP. Lamar would have been a train wreck in Cleveland.

Baker is on his 4th HC entering his 3rd season. Think about that.

Anyone who is placing blame on Baker for the losses and dysfunction within the Browns organization is totally clueless and driving an agenda.

Perhaps we win a game or two more with a Wilson-type at QB, but there isn't a quarterback in the world who can overcome the same things Baker's had to deal with the past 2 years.

Thank god we have posters like u and Memph around to keep it real ... ...

Your so unbiased when it comes to Bake and u only speak the truth ...