DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum How many players away are the Browns away from being a contender?

Didn't we literally go through this exact thing last year before giving the green dot to JJ3?

I am more worried about our "Cornerstone" players than the lack of talent at other positions - LT, CB, DE QB. The old saying that you can't have all-Pros at every position thang.

We have a LT who is uninspiring at best. He looks lazy and inconsistent on the field...I'd add disinterested. At best, he's out of position. Team has a big $$$ decision on taking his 5th yr. He is at a Cornerstone position without being a cornerstone player. With no 1st Rd picks for two more drafts we are likely stuck with the guy. If Callahan can't get it out of him, who can?

At CB we have a hundred-million-dollar man of glass. Small...not close to being tough and being paid like one of the best CBs in the league. We are S-T-U-C-K with his contract and his play for at least two more years before we have a cap-chance-in-hell of moving him.

At DE we have the most physically-gifted and yet overrated player in Browns history. He's the "face" of the franchise...yet for every Bengals game we get a few Dolphins games...he's the Browns poster-child for inconsistency when it comes to effectiveness...while being so predictable that the sunrise is his only comparison. Like Ward, we are S-T-U-C-K with him and his contract for years.

At QB we will soon have the most-controversial QB in Browns history - and that is saying one hell of a lot. It will have been 100 weeks since he took a real snap in an NFL game. He will make $230,000,000 over 5 years no matter how he plays or holds up physically...or mentally...let alone behaviorally. The last season he played he went 4-12 on a bad, dysfunctional football team. The pressure and scrutiny will be immense. Hopefully he will be a great player for us.

We don't have the draft capital to fix these spots ^ and the salary cap capital needs to find (2) DTs, (2) LBs, (2) S's. Here are the 2023 draft picks:

Round 2
Round 3 - It is unknown if this pick will be their default draft pick or a compensatory selection.
Round 4
Round 4 - via Minnesota Vikings
Round 5
Round 5 - via Los Angeles Rams
Round 6
Round 7

Free agent starters include:

Clowney
TakTaki
Bryan
Pocic
Conklin

Throw in these guys:

Hunt
D Johnson
Greedy
AJ Green (ERFA)
Dunn (RFA)

I'll leave out these guys, but Berry will probably sign them anyway:

A Walker
Hubbard
D Jones

The ship is rudder-less at all levels but for OL Coach & RB coach. What do you build this team around? Offensively...QB (we hope), RG, LG, (1) WR, TE, C (if we sign him) and ??? defensively. This team and it's leadership are as broken as are my orange-tinted sun glasses.

wills simply isn’t good enough IMO (at least in a consistent manner)

How many players away are the Browns from being contenders?

3 ...

Randy Moss, Lawrence Taylor, and Reggie White.

That was funny.

Sorry Willie. The only part of your take I agree with is on Hospital Ward. Not only is he frail. He is a me player and not a team player. Delpits fault or not, you don't point fingers at some other player to the press. It's not like talking to the police about knowing something about a murder. It was a punk move.

DE and QB, i don't have anything to say to you on that.

As for Wills, he is good enough and far from something to moan about.

Wake me IF
IFFFFFF Deshaun Watson starts his forty first game for the Cleveland Browns ... in HIs Lifetime IFFFF it ever happens, because I doubt it happens.

2020 showed you that getting all the playerz you would want doesn't guarantee winning.

Can you imagine how bad Andrew Berry, and or whomever in the Browns organization would have messed up those players' careers? If they had had the chance. WHEW.

They should have DW playing as well as Baker by the middle of next season. Take that any way you want, but this coaching staff does not impress me at all. Well, except for Bill Callahan.

Zero, or infinity. Two sides of the same coin really.

Call me when we get a new owner and then we'll talk "contender".

I’m beginning to think we’ll be looking for new OTs (at least one) this offseason. Unless we think Hudson can hold down a position and Hubbard is healthy (that never seems to be true)

Hubbard will be 32 and is a free agent after this season just like Conklin. Hudson has 2-years left on his deal and will only be 24 next season. Unless things change, replacing Conklin with either of these guys would be a downgrade at the position. Wills has yet to have a season with a PFF Grade above 70.0. The Browns must decide by May whether they are going to exercise the 5th year option on Wills for 2024 guaranteeing his salary of close to 20M. That's a whole lot of money for an OT who consistently PFF Ranks in the bottom 40% of the league. A side note, Center Nick Harris, age 25, will be back from his serious knee injury for the final year on his deal and replacement center Pocic, age 28, will be a free agent after this season. Being 25M over the 2023 cap already, will the OL be one of the areas that takes the hit on the cap adjustment? The OL could look much different in 2023.

16

1. Otto Graham
2. Jim Brown
3. Marion Motley
5. Joe Thomas
6. Ozzie Newsome
7. Paul Warfield
8. Clay Mathews
9. Jerry Sherk
10. Michael Dean Perry
11. Frank Minnifield
12. Hanford Dixon
13. Phil Dawson
14. Josh Cribbs
15 Bill Willis
16 Len Ford

And until you actually see it happen, it still is.

Nothing is guaranteed. Including signing watson. Are the odds better? Probably. And using an example of a good QB being drafted by bad team doesn't really apply does it? Unless of course you believe with our current roster the Browns are a bad team? I actually think Stefanski has the ability to get the best out of his QB's and the Browns have a pretty good roster on O.

22

It's truly baffling in a league that is built upon parody and franchises
Being able to from pretender to contender , the Browns best
Showing is a 2nd RD playoff loss 2 years ago.
That's the best showing since 1999. Unprecedented in any sports league
The Browns Panthers and Jags and Texans are the poster children
For ineptitude. Yet you go media Homer's like Mary Kay Cabot
Trick themselves Into think " this year is the year"

I don't think the Browns are that many players away. Talent gaps aren't that big in the NFL. It's all about having the right FO, head coach, and quarterback. If you have those three ingredients you have a shot. They will elevate the rest of the talent.

We have one of the three, QB. We have a maybe on GM. We need a head coach.

This is why the Browns have five players in the top 100 and are 3-6. The most important positions are unsettled.

Moving on from Baker might well be the correct team decision - most especially based on 2022 performances.

Trading for Watson at this point has an uncertain outcome. Because a move on from Baker was the right move, doesn't automatically mean Watson is the right move. We gave up enough draft capital to acquire him that we could move up for 'just about' any rookie QB over the following 2 years or in last years draft if there had been a viable target. Watson hasn't played for 2 years. This year might be a wash - but it's still a pretty big ask for any athlete to miss 2 years of playing, step back and then be at the same elite level he was at before his absence. Putting aside his sexual predatory activities - we all want the Browns to win and DW to be the answer at QB ... but there is uncertainty if that is in fact the case. this time next year we should be a long way to having the answer.

And could very well be in that mode for years to come. Watson hasn't played a down in 2-years, so we don't know what we have. We have a HC whose teams have regressed every year since he's been here. We have a defense with way more questions than answers and an o-line that will certainly look different in 2023. We also have the worst receiving group that Watson has every played with as a pro QB. Add in too those facts that Watson has a career record of only 28-25 even with making the playoffs 2 of the 4 years he has played, and uncertainty raises its big ugly head. If you don't believe roster changes or uncertainty matters, you need look no further than what's happening to Brady, Rodgers, Wilson, Carr, and Stafford this year alone. Top play at QB does not overcome weakness and uncertainty at the other positions. To rebuttal the Berry effect, how'd he do with the defensive upgrade for this year? I know many here don't like Haslam but if it was my team, I'd be pissed the direction this team has taken the last 2-years.

Decent points have been made by the last 2 posters, but I have an observation about our current team. If we had a couple of good DTs along with the ones, we currently have for rotation purposes I honestly feel our record would be reversed even with all the other personnel we have right now. Even our secondary and JB. Thoughts? JMO

Agreed Bone. The team needs a little re-tooling not a rebuild but the right moves have to be made and we can't afford to swing and miss on the personnel upgrades.

Uhhhh, the Panthers started play in 1995. Since that start date, the Panthers have been to the playoffs 8 times in 27 years or 30% of their seasons and 2 Super Bowls (2003, 2015). I think it's just wishful thinking to try to bunch the Browns in the same category as the Panthers the last 23 years. We can only dream of having the success the Panthers have had.

Duh, I do look at it half full - we have Garrett, Chubb, the best guards in football and surprisingly a topflight center. We have a former Pro Bowl QB under contract who's a sexual predator but that's a different issue. We have the best DE in football and some positive looks from some young CB's. That's half full in anyone's book. However, that half full glass is also half empty and that's ignored more often than not in this forum. Add to that fact that the HC has regressed every year and has a better chance than not of sporting a 3-year losing record at season's end. You don't make it to the Super Bowl with a half full glass and you sure don't make it to a Super Bowl with a HC that has gotten worse every year while the roster has been improved or by making excuses for his fall in wins. Hoping that the part of the glass that needs filled will be all Watson is a just an unrealistic dream to fill that glass, but QB is far from the only issue. The Browns are not winning and have regressed every year that Stefanski's has been here. Once people realize that there's many more issues, the Browns might have a chance, but they certainly need better decisions from the FO than they have been getting. Half full - you bet - near to full - not a chance!

Bone, you only read into things that you want to believe. You say the Browns were in it last year - did they have a winning record? I am shocked that you would even attempt to use injuries as an excuse for Stefanski's record last year while in the same voice attempt to hold an injured QB that the HC should have benched due to his play and injuries totally responsible for 2021. No acceptable excuse for the player and a bucket full of excuses for the coach. The coaches mentioned are suffering just this year. If that continues into and through next year of course I'd expect them to be on the hot seat. This is not year 1 for Stefanski. He's went from 11 wins in '20 to 8 wins in '21 to about 5 to 6 wins in '22. That's not painting anything "black," those are facts that cannot be denied. Likewise, your assessment of the team is your own. We do disagree and that's fine with me too.

If you pay enough money and give away your largest future assets to boot, you can buy anything. At that point all you can do is pray that it pays off. That's exactly where the browns are now. And if Karma is a real thing, it won't.

Sure it is. Now if after two years off and all the turmoil which will only continue when he comes back, if he'll ever be the same again. Do you believe in Karma?

Let me guess. Not when it comes to the Browns, right?

I think Berry has done a porous job of drafting and acquiring
Players that put the team 1st. It takes more than talent
To build a contending roster. You have to bring in players
That have a willingness to prepare to win , not just the desire
To win. I don't get the feeling that are alot players on this
Roster that want to invest the extra time to get better.

When Berry was brought on, he used every cliche about building
A football team worthy of being legit contenders
" we want accountable smart players......"
Blah blah blah every new GM hire says that at the podium
It's nothing new. He should feel some heat from the owners.
He not for one second should think his job is safe.
Berry has accomplished very little as GM.
His biggest accomplishment was acquiring a QB that set a league
Precedent regarding actions and suspension.

Now Berry is banking on this guy to be the leader of a team
Where leadership has been non existent since 1999.

I think Stefanski is good Xs and Os guy. But as far as a HC goes
None of the players fear him and he is too analytical

We are 2 coaches away from being contenders.