Cleveland Browns: Proven Problem
By Peter Smith
Proven talent, especially at the quarterback position, is something the Cleveland Browns have struggled to compile for years and they actually took a step backwards in this area.
The most intriguing part about the 2016 Cleveland Browns also happens to be their biggest liability. The Browns have a substantial amount of potential, but almost nothing proven. There are a number of players on the Browns that can be good in the NFL, but only a handful that are.
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It’s sobering to look at the Browns when only Joe Thomas, Joel Bitonio, Gary Barnidge, Paul Kruger, Joe Haden and K’Waun Williams are proven position players. That fact is more concerning when Barnidge is a one-year wonder, Haden is coming off of the worst season of his career (granted, much of it because of injury) and Kruger was so poorly utilized under former Defensive Coordinator, Jim O’Neil, that he was virtually unrecognizable in 2015.
Williams has been effective regardless of the defensive coordinator as a slot corner, but he’s dealt with concussions that have caused him to miss time. The hope is that by being cautious, it’s preventing long term ramifications, but predicting his long term future is impossible. He could be great for years or decide to retire out of fear for his mental health.
Kruger and Haden should be vastly improved from this past season, and even if Barnidge continues to play at a Pro Bowl level and Williams stays healthy, that’s six proven position players. This highlights just how much they lost in the offseason via free agency and the cuts they opted to make.
Outside of a few veterans that can make some worthwhile contributions, the rest of the roster is a relative mystery. Young, talented and exciting, maybe, but definitely unproven.
Much of this is due to the vacuum created by the team’s drafting dating back to 2013. Barkevious Mingo and Armonty Bryant are the only holdovers from the 2013 class and Mingo might be as emblematic as anything about the Browns as a team. A few great plays and loads of untapped potential, but not enough for a team, but nothing reliable enough in which to build a foundation.
2014’s class is basically Joel Bitonio. They still have Justin Gilbert, Chris Kirksey and Pierre Desir who will have every chance to validate their selections and become proven assets but right now, it’s just Bitonio.
Combine that with the fact that 2015‘s class didn’t exactly come out and set the world on fire and the Browns are coming into 2016 with a great left guard and a lot of players the team hopes can prove themselves.
It creates a somewhat unique situation for Hue Jackson. Between 2013 and 2016, this coaching staff gets a total of 25 players just from the draft to evaluate for themselves. That number jumps up to around 40 when adding in undrafted free agents like the aforementioned K’Waun Williams, Jamie Meder and Isaiah Crowell the team has added in that time.
All in, the 90-man roster has just 27 players that have been in the league over three years. Only 17 have been more than four.
When the Browns are done with their final cuts, the team will be down to around 15 real veteran players. A group that includes Andy Lee, the team’s punter, Josh McCown, a backup quarterback, and Marlon Moore, a career special teams contributor.
The group also includes Robert Griffin III, the team’s starting quarterback in everything but name, Demario Davis, the team’s middle linebacker, and Rahim Moore, competing for the starting free safety spot. All three were free agent additions and are just as unproven as anyone else on this team, which is why they signed the Browns. They wanted an opportunity to start and establish themselves; something the Browns currently have in ample supply.
The combination of turning so much of the roster over and the four years of drafts with so much unknown has created almost a time warp for the Browns. Not since the first few years when the team came back in 1999 have the Browns have had so much that was just unknowable heading into training camp.
Those first three years especially, the team was largely thrown together. Draft picks, the awful expansion draft and any free agent they could get comprised a team. There is a far more logical plan this time around and more talent but the team has largely the same feel.
So much of the 2016 season will be trying to add to their list of proven players. They have a ton of avenues to find them on the current roster, but beyond wins and losses, that is how this team has to be judged as it relates to meaningful improvement. That, more than anything else, is going to determine how far this team can go in the future and whether it can win more games and potentially vie for a playoff spot.
This path was chosen deliberately, opting to let legitimate NFL talent go in the offseason. Age, money and stylistic differences will be cited as the reasons why, but the youth they brought in has to produce or the strategy will be criticized and rightfully so.
It would not be a surprise to see the Browns win six games or fewer this season, but they cannot go into another season with just six proven position players. With so much inexperience and unproven talent, expecting major improvement in the wins column is a romantic notion and fun discussion, but unrealistic. Growth on an individual player to player basis, on the other hand, is not only possible but imperative.
Jackson is saying a lot of the right things while also being part of an organization-wide message of emphasizing the long view. The message is an extremely positive one while also laying the foundation for what is likely to be a poor year in the standings.
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The Browns loaded up on raw, athletic players that need to be coached and developed. Jackson is betting on himself and his staff to get them where they need to go. Now, the challenge is to turn that potential into proven talent. And if they’re successful with this approach, the emphasis can go from finding talent in 2016 to utilizing and growing that talent in 2017 and beyond.