Browns Win First Preseason Game vs Rams, 27-19

Cleveland played better than the Rams overall, with Brandon Weeden leading a diversified passing attack.  Photo: www.Clevelandbrowns.com .  

Well, let's not go crazy over an exhibition game, in which the Browns beat an inconsistent Saint Louis Rams team, 27-19.  But a win is better than a loss! And the Browns regulars outplayed the Rams regulars overall, which is also a good sign.

Here are a few takeaways from the game.

1.  The Browns quarterback situation is very solid if not spectacular.  Brandon Weeden played well on a bad team last year, and he will probably play better for a better team this year.  All three Browns qbs played well, and I think both Jason Campbell and Brian Hoyer can win games as an NFL starter if Weeden should go down.

Jason Campbell was 6 for 7, with one dropped ball by Chris Ogbonnaya.  Not too shabby.  Photo: www.Clevelandbrowns.com .

2.  The Browns receiving corps is much deeper than last year.  Travis Benjamin, Greg Little and Jordan Norwood made some good plays, and they got some good mileage from tight ends Jordan Cameron and Gary Barnidge as well.  Benjamin also took a punt return to the house, blowing away the Rams coverage team.  

3.  The Browns have some depth at running back, which is a good thing since Trent Richardson and Montario Hardesty were both banged up.  Brandon Jackson and Dion Lewis were both great catching passes out of the backfield, and ran hard against a good Rams defense.  It makes me wonder why former Coach Shurmur would never play Jackson, who gained 700 yards for the Packers in 2010.  I'll bet Coach Chud and Norv Turner figure out ways to get him in the lineup. However, the Browns did not play a fullback much.  Chris Ogbonnaya lined up there sometimes, while incumbent Owen Marecic did not see much action and might be on his way out.  But without a big fullback, the Browns are not going to run the ball all that well.  Shurmur and former GM Tom Heckert thought Trent Richardson would be the next Adrian Peterson, but not without a blocking fullback, dudes.  I think the Browns are going to pass a lot more than they run in 2013, with Richardson, Jackson and Lewis catching a lot of passes out of the backfield.  Montario Hardesty, another back much loved by Heckert, ran well at times the past two years but struggled with blocking and pass catching.  With multiple knee surgeries, he may not even make the team, and it would not shock me if the Browns come up with a free agent fullback by the end of training camp.  



Dion Lewis ran well and caught the ball out of the backfield.  Photo:   www.ClevelandBrowns.com

4.  Barkevious Mingo and Billy Winn stood out among defensive linemen, though in general the Browns had trouble putting consistent pressure on Rams quarterback Sam Bradford, who had time to unload some major bombs against the Browns.  As Browns announcer Bernie Kosar noted, the Rams receivers had trouble catching the ball, otherwise they could have really shredded the Browns weak secondary.  Let's see, in order to have all of these fancy blitzes and stuff, don't you need some defensive backs who are good enough to play man-to-man with NFL receivers?  As it was, in his brief time in the game, Bradford completed 5 of 8 passes for 102 yards and a TD for a passer rating of 145.8 (are you kidding me?) and it could have been much worse.    

Barkevious Mingo was outstanding in his first pre-season game.   Photo:   www.ClevelandBrowns.com

Conventional thinking is that the Browns are going to play great defense, and will run the ball a lot with a struggling passing game.  However, the Village Elliot  is not so sure.   Based on early returns, the Browns defense is very thin, and they are going to get burned if they rush five and six guys a lot.  On offense, they may find it easier to pass the ball a lot while the running game may struggle without a quality fullback.   

Dude, where's my fullback?

All-Pro Fullback Vonta Leach has re-signed with the Baltimore Ravens, as the Cleveland Browns decided to stand pat with their "stud," Owen Marecic.  Is Marecic really so good that the Browns can afford to turn up their nose at all All-Pro at this position?

   In football, it really matters how good your 11th best man is.  The fans tend to look at their stars and blame them when things go bad, but football really is a team game, and if you have a weakness, the other team will exploit it.  This year, great attention was focused on Cleveland Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden.  They did added receiving talent, with the likes of Davone Bess and slot receiver David Nelson.  Plus they have promising second year player Travis Benjamin and  former starter Jordan Norwood is returning from an injured ACL.   These fellows will complement drug enthusiast Josh Gordon (assuming he gives up his addiction to cough syrup) and drop specialist Greg Little, who averages an astonishing 40 receiving yards per game for his career (which of course is sufficient to cement his reputation in Cleveland as an emerging star).    But all in all they should have competent players to fill three and perhaps even four wide receiver sets.  

At tight end, the Browns figured they were so loaded with talent that they needed to clear salary cap space by getting rid of Ben Watson, who had only 500 receiving yards from tight end, plus backup Alex Smith who also played fullback last year.   Instead, they are banking on the incredible Jordan Cameron to take over the position, but initial training camp reports are not positive, as Browns safeties are pretty much having their way with him.  Well, perhaps that says more about the quality of the Browns' safeties, but I doubt it.  The Browns did trade for a backup tight end in Gary Barnidge, and a good blocking tight end in Kellen Davis.  Davis really struggled to catch the ball in Chicago, though, so in order to make the team he is going to have block for Trent Richardson and the Browns running game.    

     Ok, back to the fullback position.  The guy who is going to help propel Richardson to the 1500 yard mark is....Owen Marecic??  How can the team pass up a chance to sign a PRO BOWLER at fullback (yes I understand the Browns prefer younger players at this point, but do you really want Marecic over a PRO BOWLER just because he is younger?  And especially since they are way, way under the salary cap??).  To be fair, Owen has the reputation of being a hard worker and was very good in college (Stanford), but with the Browns he has struggled with blocking, receiving and running to the point where they were using backup tight end Alex Smith in the fullback position last year.  Now Smith is gone, as well as the aforementioned Watson, and thus Marecic has once again landed on top of the depth chart.  

Owen Marecic needs to work on blocking, running and receiving.  Everything else seems to be going great, though.

     Now, perhaps this is paranoid of me, but do you suppose there is a connection between the Browns recent behavior and the financial problems at Pilot Flying J?  This year the Browns cleared quite a bit of salary cap room by getting rid of Pro Bowlers Josh Cribbs and Phil Dawson, while also axing Ben Watson, Sheldon Brown, Usama Young, Frostee Rucker, Juqua Parker, Kaluka Maiva, Chris Gokong and Mohamad "Gluefingers" Massaquoi.  Granted some of these players deserved to be cut, but the point is that the Browns were way under the salary cap, but they only signed a few high priced replacements (linebacker Paul Kruger and DL Des Bryant), and much of the roster is still depleted.  How can the Browns cut all of those players and not replace them?  They cut nine guys that were first string at some point, and they signed about three that will start in 2013.  
     Once again, as they have done every year since 1999, they have approached the offseason as if they are a team loaded with talent, and the main task is to get rid of players they find fault with, rather than accumulate them. 

     I think that their operating capital is short, and this may partially explain why they stopped rebuilding.  Financial woes have hit Pilot Flying J and its CEO Jimmy ("it's under control") Haslam, who also owns the Browns.  With the company having to pay back millions in fraudulently withheld rebates and no doubt losing market share in the process, suddenly there is a cash squeeze, especially after they just shelled out a billion to buy out rival Flying J, and another billion to buy the Browns.  If they are short of cash, the banks will not lend them money with a federal indictment hanging over them.  I'll bet the Browns are slow to pay their bills, and they are just not in the position to offer a player like Vonta Leach a decent contract.  That's it, Browns fans.  No shopping spree for players this year after all.  Uncle Jimmy still has a lot of assets on paper, but right now he needs cash.  

    No Pro Bowl fullback, no top drawer tight end, no star cornerback and no starting safety this year, even though there is plenty of cap room to have picked up these players and more.  That's just the cruel reality.  

    Looks like we may have to wait until the next ownership group comes to town.  

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Breaking Down the Browns 2013 Draft

     Before breaking down what the Browns got in the 2013 draft, let's talk about what they didn't do.  They didn't make the classic mistake of drafting a quarterback with the top pick, or signing a glamour free agent.  This offseason they have been picking up quality players, some blue collar types.  I generally agree with that.  I'm glad we didn't package two or four guys to move up a few positions in the draft for no reason as we have done in past years.  

     This year the Browns managed to come away with six players--five actual draftees and one guy (wr Davone Bess) who they acquired in a trade.  They wound up trading two picks in the 2013 draft for higher picks in the 2014 draft, which may not be a bad idea if the new front office believes that scouting will be improved in the next year.  Bess was available because Miami had salary cap problems after creating a megadeal for Mike Wallace, hence they practically gave him away to the Browns, who were wise to take a proven NFL starter.  

     However, in my view the Browns overreached a little in Round 1, taking defensive end Barkevious Mingo, with the intention to try him out at outside linebacker.  Thus he is in the same role as Jabal Sheards, who was a sack specialist for the Browns last year, but perhaps too small for defensive end in the 3-4 alignment. My gut reaction is that the sixth overall pick should actually be able to play the same position in the pros that he played in college. Mingo had 4.5 sacks at LSU last year.  So, is he better than Sheard, who had 7 sacks last year in the NFL?  

Picture:  www.cleveland.com

So is converting lineman Mingo to linebacker a better idea than converting lineman Sheard to linebacker?  

The Browns are going to start three defensive tackles on the d-line this year, while upgrading the linebacker corps.  Maybe the biggest question mark is whether they have linebackers that can drop back in coverage.  Does a converted defensive lineman in Mingo help?  Honestly, I give a slight edge to Sheard, though both will certainly get playing time.   Depth at linebacker is nothing to sneeze at, but it would be better if the first round pick was actually going to fill a positional need.  Or are they going to try one or the other in the middle? We'll see what happens in training camp.  

Picture:  www.washingtonpost.com

Well, Mingo has a linebacker's number.  Now, can he play linebacker?

The Browns traded away their 2013 second round pick last year, so their next pick was cornerback Leon McFadden in Round 3.  The Browns need another cornerback, so McFadden may start the season.

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/002/773/259/hi-res-5696042_crop_650.jpg?1353571028

Old friend Brian Sipe coached McFadden  at San Diego State. 

    Wide receiver Bess was a starter for the Fish, and may start for the Browns as well.    This was a coup, created by the Fish sabotaging their salary cap structure by signing Mike Wallace.  Wallace is a very good receiver, but the Fish have to cut a few starters now, and the Browns benefited from this.  The Browns now are at least five deep with Josh Gordon, David Nelson, Travis Benjamin, Jordan Norwood and Greg Little.  Josh Cooper may also challenge for a job.    

http://www.theclevelandfan.com/images/stories/Browns/2013_04_browns_bess.jpg

Davone Bess is a quality staring wide receiver.  Brandon Weeden ought to be licking his chops this year.  

  The Browns also took Jamoris Slaughter, a safety and possible special teams player trying to come back from career threatening Achilles surgery. This is an amazingly stupid pick. Slaughter may not be able to come back from Achilles surgery, and if he does come back he is still not thought of as a prime prospect.  Prior to his injury,  CBS Sports listed him as the 16th best Notre Dame prospect for the 2012 season. Well, he must have shown an awful lot in the 3 games he played in 2012. 

     In the NFL, each team generally has to find 3 or 4 starters every year from the draft.  The sixth round might be a place to take a chance on a guy that is injured, but he should otherwise be the equivalent of an earlier round pick.  It is very weird to take an injured player who was already a marginal NFL prospect.   So I give the Browns a big, fat, juicy, red  F for that pick.  

 In the sixth round they also picked Armonty Bryant, a defensive end who was busted for selling marijuana. As mentioned above, the Browns are planning to start converted tackles at end, so a guy who can really get after the passer might get some playing time. But is he ready to turn his life around?  You can rationalize the pick because in the sixth or seventh round it's probably time to take chances, so this not a horrible pick.  Guard Garrett Gilkey, a guard wtih good numbers from Chadron State rounds out the group.  The main knock on Gilkey is that he comes from a small program, but it is possible that he can really play.  What the heck.  

     It appears likely that the Browns have starters or at least major contributors at cornerback, wide receiver and outside linebacker.  They are taking a chance with their late round picks, but that is the nature of the later rounds.  We'll see how well they did their homework.

    The Browns did not address the fullback position or punter, although those positions are often filled by undrafted free agents, and the Browns are bringing in several candidates at each position.  

    In summary, I am not sure what position Mingo is going to play, which makes me question the value of that pick for the Browns.  They did come away with at least two starters in Bess and McFadden and were able to invest in the future by trading for two number 3's in 2014.  Then they are rolling the dice with their late round picks.  They still need a lot of help, and undrafted free agents could play a role with this team.