Looking Forward to the 2019 AFC North

I was thinkin the same thing...

 

Nice. Gotta love who he teamed up with for the record....

 

10th best odds. #ThanksBaker

 

From now on, we need to refer to him as "Former Browns QB and world record holder, Brady Quinn".

 

lol!

I'm pretty sure that was more accuracy than he showed his entire pro career...

 

A Super Bowl thread from Warren Sharp:

One of the key takeaways from the thread for me is his last (as of now) post:

For all the love that McVay gets - and the hunt for those new, young, innovative coaches... what Belichick is still doing and what we saw guys like DeFilippo (with Philadelphia) and Freddie do was adapt.

McVay's approach "out-execute playing to our strengths" is as old school a thought as it gets. The result was a pitiful performance in a joke of a Super Bowl. While the GOAT coach adapted and won his sixth.

 

Hurtful, but accurate. Again, unlike his pro career.

 

This is precisely what Freddie is going to have to do this coming season. The film is out there on Baker and the Browns. They're not taking anyone by surprise. They have the 10th best Super Bowl odds, are being predicted to win the AFC North by a lot of folks, and are expected to have a double-digit winning season. None of that happens if they come out every week and don't adapt in all facets of the game.

And on that point, I would argue, that's what happened to the defense last season, which fell off as the season wore on. The "capitalize on takeaways" is great, until it isn't. The Browns led the league in missed tackles, some of which is likely on the instruction to attack the ball first and not the ball carrier, pressing for those takeaways.

 

I am going to be "that guy".

I keep seeing articles on how great Joe Schobert is and how he makes so many tackles, and leads the defense, but he also is great at missing tackles. He doesn't exactly stuff the stat sheet the way D'Qwell Jackson did (hopping on guys backs 9 yds downfield), but he missed 2 DOZEN tackles and that's just not an acceptable number for me as a starter who is supposed to be great.

 

I expect we will see many differences under Steve Wilks. The constant gambling with blitz packages will likely be scaled back. Other than maybe Rob Ryan, I can't think of anyone that blitzes more than Gregg Williams. They were willing to sacrifice yards in going all out to force turnovers. Unfortunately, we caused most of those turnovers when it was still a shitshow on offense, and therefore didn't do much with them...If I remember right, we tied our own record in the opener as being one of the only teams in league history to win the turnover margin 5-0, yet still lose the game.

I think we will see a more balanced approach on defense this year that focuses more on making stops than causing turnovers....

I read an article somewhere that talked about key moves Dorsey should make this offseason. Two of them were to extend Damarious Randall and Joe Schobert, and I couldn't agree more with that. We need to keep our talented players in the fold, and no doubt that'll go a long way toward making Steve Wilks' job easier...

 

Only time will tell but I think it will be a less than that. I could see them easily carrying another 50M into 2020.

 

What Joe Schobert brings to the table isn't measured on the stat sheet. Its measured with an EEG.

 

Yes, we will see...but this is where we are starting most likely:

$80M

Minus Greg Robinson(1 year prove it) $8M
Minus Breshad Perriman (3 year) $5M average
Minus Rashard Higgins RFA tender $3.1M 2nd round tender
Minus Briean Boddy-Calhoun RFA $2,035,000 3rd round tender

So, right there you have already spent $18M just doing some housekeeping signings.

Randall extension will be somewhere in the $8-9M range..taking you to $26M

Rookie draft class will be $7.5M...taking you to $33.5M

and we still don't have a full "top 51" yet.

So, I guess what I am asking you...do you not expect them to sign ANY half way significant free agent, other than their own?

 

Hearts great and all, but you need to make tackles. We need to get the underdog mindset out of our system. We no longer are going to be the underdogs...we're not going to have to be scrappy just to have a chance. If the offense continues to grow and the defense learns to tackle the team will simply dominate. They wont try to dominate, or will themselves to win. They will simply destroy every man, woman, and child that comes into their path.

 

EEG not EKG. Schubert's contribution comes from what's between his ears. He's the guy that makes sure everyone is in the correct position to have a chance to make a play.

 

Not surprising;

 

Oh, he'll definitely get another chance. There are teams (like the Browns of the past) that are DESPERATE for a QB that is mediocre, which is what Tyrod is. To the end of Baker's career, I will still state that Tyrod would have been a God send in any year prior to us drafting Mayfield. I understand the need to upgrade a guy like Tyrod, but if you don't even have that, then he is good for your team...period.

 

This is just an excerpt from an article about landing spots for potential trade targets, but I thought it was interesting;

DT Vernon Butler to the Cleveland Browns
10 OF 10

1. 
   
   
   
   Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press
   Last year, Cleveland Browns general manager John Dorsey took two different approaches to supplement a roster that finished 0-16 in 2017.
   
   First, Dorsey exploited inefficiencies in the trade market by acquiring wide receiver Jarvis Landry, safety Damarious Randall and quarterback Tyrod Taylor.
   
   He also made minimal investments in former first-round busts with plenty of physical ability. Left tackle Greg Robinson and wide receiver Breshad Perriman became integral parts of the team's offense over the second half of the season.
   
   Dorsey can marry those two concepts over the coming months.
   
   The Browns aren't expected to be big spenders in free agency despite having the league's third-most salary-cap space, as they'll need to begin extension negotiations for multiple young contributors (Randall, Joe Schobert, Larry Ogunjobi, Myles Garrett, David Njoku and Jabrill Peppers) over the next two offseasons. Instead, Dorsey can trade for a disappointing-but-talented player to fill a team need.
   
   The Carolina Panthers haven't fully developed Vernon Butler after selecting him with a first-round pick in the 2016 draft, and Cleveland has a gaping hole at 3-technique. The 24-year-old defensive tackle is stuck behind Dontari Poe and Kawann Short as he enters the final year of his rookie deal.
   
   Butler played well in a rotational role under former Panthers and current Browns defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. He'd get an opportunity to start in Cleveland, while Carolina could recoup a draft asset.
   

 

Oh he's got some football left...I don't know about God send, but yes he would have been nice to have instead of Manziel, Weeden or Kizer, that's for damn sure...

Good athlete. Knows that he has to play it safe in the passing game....I consider him below average as a passer, but he's intelligent enough to keep it away from the defense. At $16M he was one of the most overpriced players in the NFL, but just like Brock the year before, that's just the nature of the position.

 

Depends on the price, but sign me up. It's worked pretty well so far.

The one thing I will say...now that many of our glaring needs are falling to a minimum, we may want to use that draft capital in different ways, like moving up and down the draft day board.

I would have to think Steve Wilks will be invaluable in deciding something like this. Knowing the player as well as he does, should give Dorsey a leg up on value interpretation. If they make a move, I will be confident that it will help the team. Although...I just remembered Wilks year with the Cardinals. I guess it would depend on the level of development they gave Butler in 2017. In 2016, he was the DBs coach and most likely had little to do with the evaluation of the player prior to drafting him and most likely NO interaction with his development in his rookie season. Being the DC in 2017, he would have been exposed to him, but he only used him on 29.52% of the snaps in 2017. Sounds more like a player he used to give a breather to Star Lotulelei and Kawann Short..Heck, even Kyle Love was used more with 37.85% of the snap counts. If we CAN read into this, would it be accurate to think Wilks didn't have a real big opinion of him. Being the 4th used player out of 4 players?

If they did decide to do it though, they would also have a 5th year option in their pocket to use being a first round player. So in essence, they could have him for 2 years, instead of one.