The Cleveland Browns have officially drawn a road map for success. The current front office, feturing Sashi Brown, and head coach Hue Jackson, have had two drafts. With a full season under their belts, there is a lot of faith in them to turn around the Browns franchise. A key part to any reversal of fortune is to win with an effective offence scoring points. An entertaining offence!
Now, a lot of football fans love running plays that carve through the line of scrimmage. Some will even get giddy over the faintest hint of a low-scoring war between two defensive behemoths. However, what we all agree on is our love for when the ball spirals from the quarterback’s hand and into the outstretched hands of the receiver, 50-plus yards down the field. The now famous and ‘Internet breaking’ Odell Beckham catch from two seasons ago was found love, even those who do not follow the NFL.
Five Steps to Improving the Cleveland Browns Receiving Corps
The Cleveland defence has seen a significant overhaul, with key draft picks going to two key areas of need: the pass-rush and the secondary. Rookies Myles Garrett and Jabrill Peppers will team up with breakout players Ogbah, Kirksey and Shelton to bolster the defensive side of the ball. However, once Cleveland gets possession back, they need to use it, and use it well. The running game in Cleveland promises to improve with the emergence of Isaiah Crowell as a prominent threat in the backfield. However, the Browns quarterback and his Browns receiving corps will have to step up and balance the offence. This should give Cleveland a significant and effective ‘one-two’ punch.
1. Keep the Quarterback on the field
If there was ever a season to forget for the Browns quarterback room, it was 2016. Through five weeks, five different quarterbacks took snaps under centre. Four of them suffered a variety of injuries and the fifth was a wide receiver. Whether it was league veteran Josh McCown or rookie starter Cody Kessler, the Browns had a bad habit of “breaking” their quarterbacks.
The first line of defence for any quarterback is the guys up front. The Browns made great improvements this off-season and in free-agency, plugging the gaps of a very leaky offensive line. In 2016, analytics website Pro Football Focus ranked the Browns line as the 16th best unit in the league. But with the quarterback body count racking up that year, some would view them significantly lower than the league median.
The Browns, seeing a draft class low in offensive line talent, spent a sizeable chunk of their available cap space on players to work alongside Joe Thomas. New signings Zeitler and Tretter, along with re-signed Bitonio, are now part of a revamped front line that now grades as one of the best in the NFL. The Browns should now have enough power up front to keep the quarterback on his feet and out of the treatment room.
2. Backup Corey Coleman
The Browns selected Corey Coleman in the 2016 draft with the 15th overall pick. After the previous high-profile misses of Justin Gilbert and Johnny ‘Football’ Manziel, Cleveland was keen to not repeat the same mistakes. Coleman was quick to impress. He flashed his potential up-side last season in week two against the Ravens, scoring twice with a 105-yard, 5-catch performance.
Injury, however, hampered a large portion of his rookie season. A critical part of Coleman’s development within the offence became null before he even started. He has had to work to recover that lost time. However, this is not unfamiliar territory for the former Baylor wide-out. Coleman has battled hamstring issues, groin injuries, sports hernias and the broken hand that side-lined him for most of his 2016 season.
Browns receiver coach Al Saunders is all too aware of the health issues affecting his potential number one receiver, commenting in a recent interview by cleveland.com.
“I’m disappointed for him that he can’t continue to grow in the fundamentals and skills at his position,” receivers coach Al Saunders said at the end of minicamp. “He missed a significant amount of time last training camp [with a hamstring injury]. … He was having a terrific OTA session and then he got hurt.
“I’m sure that he’ll be back for training camp ready to go and he’s just got to get his hamstring stronger and get himself in shape.”
With Coleman treading a tightrope with his physical fragility, the Browns will need another player from the depth chart to be able to step up and produce. Second-year receiver Ricardo Louis made a more significant contribution to special teams last season than any other specials player. The coaches in Cleveland also see a significant improvement in Louis, from his rookie year to this off-season. He is also taking the opportunity to work out and learn from the experience of Brandon Marshall. With Coleman’s tendency to miss games due to injury, Ricardo Louis could see a much more significant year in the Browns offence.
3. Maximising the Impact Tight Ends
We are currently experiencing a ‘golden age’ at the Tight End position, at least according to positional coach of the Browns, Greg Seamon.
“…players out there that are in the 6-foot-4, 225-pound range coming out of high school that were maybe good basketball players and good track athletes, and they’re becoming the tight ends of our time.”
The Browns are tapping into that resource, of athletic ‘freaks’ emerging from the college game, with this year’s 29th pick David Njoku joining veterans Seth DeValve and Randall Telfer.
All three players have resumes that boast high school and college success in athletics and basketball, with the potential to offer up some interesting mismatches on the field. There is a great combination of size and speed at play here, which can only help move the ball for Cleveland and provide better options in the red zone.
4. Set the Right Example
Putting points on the board will certainly be integral to the success or failure of the rejuvenated Browns. However, there is also something else that Cleveland must keep in mind. They must surround their young roster with the ‘right type’ of veteran experience and professionalism. A few eyebrows were raised when the Browns refused to match the relatively low offer the Washington Redskins made to sign Terrelle Pryor. A few more joined in when Kenny Britt was signed to replace him.
While Britt may not be a direct substitute for Pryor’s production or potential as a number one receiver, that is not what Cleveland needs at this stage of the rebuilding process. If reports were to be believed, Pryor wasn’t exactly the best teammate in the world, and is more often than not, caught in public spats with opposing players.
Pryor, even with all his physical attributes and potential, operated as the massive fish in a very sparse and small pond. Without a genuine threat to his place at the top of the depth chart in Cleveland, he was shining brighter than anyone else. He became potentially a detriment to the development of the rookies around him.
It was too soon in the Browns rebuild to attract a top tier free agent such as Eric Decker and Jeremy Maclin. At this stage in their careers, they are looking for a potential title-challenging team that is also winning football games. Therefore, this is where the Britt acquisition works on two levels for Cleveland. Britt’s production on the field will be steady and dependable. Off it, he will be able to offer knowledge to first and second-year players around him.
5. Move on from Josh Gordon
We should reiterate that the Browns must not only build a winning culture in Cleveland, but also a professional one. The reoccurring Josh Gordon saga continues to rear its ugly head in the media whenever he applies to be reinstated by the NFL. It doesn’t matter what the Browns say about the situation, it continues to tug them back from the path they are trying to follow out of mediocrity.
The NFL holds all the cards, however. Until they finally remove Gordon from the suspension list, the Browns can’t make any formal decision on the matter. When that day arrives though, like Pryor, they should act decisively and cut him loose. The Browns must bite the bullet and stomach the possibility that he eventually works his way back onto an NFL field and goes for over 1500 yards with another franchise. The Browns must have faith in their talented rookies and young veterans and trust in their own process. Draft talent, and attract the right types of free agents to the team.
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