More on the coaches... Browns are currently sitting 6th in penalties (107), fifth in penalty yards (989), and only 26th (with 26) first downs by penalty on offense. Defensively, they're 17th in penalties (94), 14th in penalty yards (850), and 12th in first downs allowed by penalty (34). Undisciplined players coached by undisciplined coaches. Offensively... Browns are 20th in scoring offense (20.5 PPG). They scored 14 or fewer points in nine of their last 13 games. They averaged 28.4 PPG before Baker's second (and compounding) injury to his shoulder in the Arizona game. They've averaged 16.2 PPG in games since, a swing of two scores per game. And it's really quite simple: if Baker was too broken to throw, he shouldn't have been in there (that's on coaches). If Baker was well enough to throw and struggling, they needed to adjust the offensive gameplans to give him more help/support (again, that's on coaches).
To wit: Moved down in R1 (13 to 27) with Dallas for their 2023 first round selection. Still grabbed a R1-caliber receiver in Treylon Burks who has very few weaknesses in his game. At 6'3" and 225 pounds, he's a big body with sure hands who could be a legit WR1 for this team. Paired with Donovan Peoples-Jones, this would be a very nice perimeter combo, regardless of who's in the slot (ideally, Landry returns on a re-worked extension). Moved out of R2 completely in order to pick up a few later round selections in (2022) and Indianapolis' 2023 R1. This gives us the ammo if Baker flops, or, if he has success multiple shots at missing pieces and/or the trade ammunition get JSN out of OSU. The rest of the guys are basically high-athlete backups to fill spots we'll likely lose in free agency (Takk McKinley, EDGE; Ronnie Harrison, SAF; Malcolm Smith/Anthony Walker, LB; Chris Hubbard, OT; Malik Jackson/McDowell, DT; Austin Hooper, TE).
Woah woah woah... Throw shade anywhere and everywhere, but don't you dare hurt Bill Callahan's feelings! He's had 14 different offensive lines in this year and they have looked every bit the part nearly every effort out there. He is the best non-player part of this team.
My vote is still for Stump Mitchell, but your point is valid. Speaking there more out of frustration at watching Hance, Forbes, and Hudson try. Callahan was given a raw deal with injuries and the team/coaching staff did a poor job managing those. I don't think anyone realized what a blow losing Jack Conklin was going to be. In addition, we lost our best swing-lineman in Chris Hubbard as well. Then you had Jed Wills (who played like trash this year) trying to gut it out through ankle injury when he probably should have been shut down as well. Hudson, a rookie, was never intended to see the field this season and was forced into the lineup for reasons outside of his - and Callahan's - control.
For those that are secretly, or not so secretly, hoping there is a huge rift between Baker and Stefanski which will oust one or the other:
Officially the offseason now, finishing with an extremely disappointing 8-9 record. Not going to get into all the reasons why because this is the a look at 2022. So here's the short-list of things this franchsie needs to immediately do: 1. Extend Denzel Ward. $100 mill over 5 years ($20/year avg.) seems like the market. It's Jalen Ramsey money but when he's healthy and Joe Woods is playing him correctly, he's a Top 2 cornerback in the league. I have, and will continue to, apologize for my Denzel slander this season as it was clearly due to him being played (1) too early from injury, and (2) out of position by a clueless coordinator. 2. Retain Jadeveon Clowney. $72 mill over 4 years ($18/year avg.). We may have to come up a bit in salary but he's worth every penny. He's finally found a home that suits him and he just had the best season of his eight year career. At 28, turning 29. he's got one longer contract left at least and I would love to see him retire in Cleveland after the impact he had this year. It wasn't just finding a sack running mate to Myles... Clowney's impact in the run defense was massive. He played his heart out in a meaningless game yesterday which shows me he finally cares about the team he's playing for (we did not see that same guy in Houston, Seattle, or Tennessee). 3. Retain David Njoku. $42 mill over 4 year ($10.5/year avg.). This is the same contract the Browns were hoodwinked, bamboozled, and manipulated into signing Austin Hooper to. Unlike Hooper, Njkou is actually a good tight end. He was the best blocking TE on the team, the best receiving TE on the team, and the second-best receiving option behind DPJ the team could muster (on a per-target basis, he was #1 with a bullet). The way he was utilized on his rookie deal was a disservice to both himself and the franchise. Make it right now and make him TE1 moving forward. 4-a. Figure out Jarvis Landry's future. Listening to the broadcast of Sunday's game, while it was Doug Dieken's last time in the booth, they made it sound like it was also Jarvis' last game with the Browns. He's entering the final year of his original deal and due a bloated $14.3 million (with a $15.1 million cap savings if cut). On top of the fact he missed multiple games this year with injuries for the first time, saw his best friend force his way out, experienced the same ultra-disappointing seasons we all did... it stands to reason whether he -- and the team -- wants to run it back in 2022. I feel confident in saying this F/O won't want to at that $15.1 cap hit number, so a restucture and extension would make sense from a team standpoint but there's no indication of Jarvis feels mutual. If he wants out, I certainly wouldn't begrude him that. If he wants to stay (and re-structure/extend) I would love it for him and the team. He's another guy I hope to retire as a Brown. 4-b. Upgrade and stabilize the WR position. Obviously, the decision from 4-a is going to impact heavily on 4-b. If Jarvis is released by the team, we will need to bolster the receiving room heavily and this will involve digging into free agency for a veteran in the room. An Allen Robinson, Jamison Crowder, or Mike Williams all make sense, if available. If we can keep Landry around, I think this can be accomplished by spending our R1 pick (wherever it ultimately ends up landing) on the position. Baker simply cannot enter a make-or-break contract year with Donovan Peoples-Jones and Anthony Schwartz as WR1 and WR2, respectively. If we keep Jarvis, I still think the team will need to tap into free agency for a mid-tier option since it seems unlikely that Rashard Higgins (who faded and was disciplined by the team this year) is likely gone in free agency. A Zay Jones, Keelan Cole, or JuJu Smith-Schuster I think makes sense here talking about WR4 on the team. 5. Tie Up Loose FA Ends. The less-sexy side of the business, but we have a lot of key contributors on the team due to hit free agency that the needs needs to lock up on middle-tier deals (2-3 years at market). In no particular order: re-signing either Anthony Walker or Malcolm Smith at LB, re-signing Chris Hubbard at OT/OG, re-signing Malik McDowell or Malik Jackson (ideally both) at DT, re-signing M.J. Stewart who showed flexibility to play both CS and S spots well enough this season. We shouldn't be looking to drop so many pieces in 2022 only to replace with new bodies in free agency since they are primarily on the defensive side and lord knows how long it took for them to gel in 2021 (spoiler ahead: by the time they did it was too late).
I think there's a lot of people in that category. That draft wasn't very long ago. The thought of Josh Allen running and throwing and doing what he does behind the Browns O-line is a bit unsettling considering his steady climb into the elite category, while we've been the most disappointing team in the NFL in two of the last three seasons. Not saying it's all Baker's fault, but he hasn't ascended like Allen. Now as far as Mary Kay goes, she's probably still not over us passing on Ben....
Interesting that Miami fired Brian Flores, who routinely made chicken salad out of chicken shit. He had a Bottom 5 roster in the NFL and the 46th best quarterback (out of an eligible 32) and yet turned out consecutive winning seasons (and was repaid by a pink slip). I'd welcome him into the fold at defensive coordinator. He previously coached linebackers and safties for New England.
I certainly hope so!! I know the season ending was disappointing, but this team made some strides, especially on defense. I'm ready to say, I want to keep this regime intact for another year, get Baker healthy and see what they can do. Let's start getting ready for the draft! #13 pick there will be a nice addition to the squad available.
For certain I'm in the minority here, but I also don't think I'm wrong. Kevin Stefanski has to be on a way hotter seat than Baker Mayfield heading into 2022. The post-season snippets coming out from the players now underscores a complete lack of cohesion that starts at the top and bleeds all the way down. John Johnson's comments about friction with the training staff - in a season where the Browns saw more injuries and more lineup changes than any other team speaks volumes. Joe Woods didn't start calling decent games until about mid-way through the season. Stefanski called maybe 3-4 high-quality games (Kansas City, Los Angeles Chargers, and Cinncinnati (twice)) all season. Our special teams were once again one of the leagues' worst on top of the fact that our former punter cost us one game (Kansas City) and our inconsistent kicker cost us another two (Baltimore-1 and Las Vegas). That alone is a three-game swing --against AFC teams exclusively -- and the difference between 8-9 and 11-6 (winning the AFC North and earning the No. 4 seed in the Playoffs). I'm not calling for Stefanski to be fired, but if these problems aren't resolved by 2022 and we trot out another disappointing year I don't want to hear a word about moving on from Mayfield until we've first moved on from the head coach.
On the plus side... That should be 4-2 against the AFC North, 3-1 against the AFC East, 3-1 against the NFC South, and 2-1 against third-place match-ups (Houston, Washington, Los Angeles). 12-5? Inevitably, the refs will swing 4-5 games of those as they did this season... especially with teams like Tampa Bay (Brady) and Los Angeles (we saw what they did this past year) on the schedule. They will have zero room for error, despite fairly favorable match-ups.
Amazingly, Stefanksi did a phenomnal job of this in 2021 during the height of Covid shut-downs and with most meetings held virtually. Something got lost this year as those restrictions were eased and the team never gelled. Need to get back to that 2021 comradery.
