Cleveland Browns 2017 Senior Bowl Notes: Offense

What all have the Cleveland Browns seen throughout the 2017 Senior Bowl on the offensive side of the ball.

The Cleveland Browns continued to evaluate players during the Senior Bowl in the padded practices, while being a source of criticism for how they ran their practices. The second and third days of practice are padded and more instructive than Day 1. Guys are back in the flow of football and they start making adjustments, making the competition better.

One of the topics that has come up a lot and been divided in terms of opinions both here has been how the teams ran practices. The Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears ran noticeably different styles of practice and it caused people to pick sides.

The Bears ran a more traditional practice. It tended to be one group at a time so people knew where to have their eyes at all times. They went a little faster in tempo, but had guys standing around too.

Contrarily, the Browns ran two groups in early team drills before stretches, which maximizes the number of reps guys can get and minimizes the amount of standing around.

The extremely fair criticism of the Browns is the amount of individual time they had with their players on both Wednesday and Thursday. This is selfish if it’s anything. They basically spent time teaching what they wanted to teach, trying to expose weaknesses and some drills and throw a lot of information at players.

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For the other 31 teams and anyone looking on, this was probably not terribly interesting to watch. Hue Jackson and his staff seemed to be entirely focused on getting what they wanted out of this week rather than trying to help everyone else out, which is selfish, but not disorganized or chaotic or any of the other words out there to describe these practices.

Both practices had of the standard drills—offensive and defensive linemen in 1-on-1’s, 7-on-7, receivers going against defensive backs, tight ends and running backs against linebackers and safeties, and team drills. So for all of the criticism in either direction, everyone got the stuff they needed to see.

Who ran the better practices? It’s entirely a matter of personal preference. With that out of the way, let’s discuss the actual players that were participating.

The two best quarterbacks this week were both former Tennessee Volunteers. Nathan Peterman, a Tennessee transfer to Pittsburgh, was the most polished quarterback this week. He had the best footwork, showed the ability to slide in the pocket to avoid pressure and was extremely accurate, having the most success in the wind.

Jan 24, 2017; Mobile, AL, USA; South squad quarterback Josh Dobbs of Tennessee (11) throws a pass during practice at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Glenn Andrews-USA TODAY Sports /

Josh Dobbs is easy to like. He’s tall, has pretty good feet, mobility, and he throws a great ball. The ball seems to explode out of his hand when he throws it and he showed good anticipation at times. He also appears to have the most upside of any quarterback here, which is likely why the Vols stayed with him over Peterman.

The issue for the Browns is that while these are two talented quarterbacks and Jackson seemed very impressed with Dobbs, they are unlikely to solve the quarterback issue for the Browns in the immediate future. They both have talent, but might be somewhat redundant with Cody Kessler and having either Robert Griffin III or Josh McCown back in 2017. Could it happen? Sure, but it’s more likely they will opt to get a quarterback earlier than either of these two come off the board.

Davis Webb has a good arm. He has an easy throwing motion that never looks like he’s trying too hard, but generates a ton of power. He has small hands, which should be a disqualifying point for the Browns given the AFC North, but they really liked Jared Goff last year, who not only had small hands, but had a terrible history of fumbles in college that carried over to his rookie season.

Antonio Pipkin of Tiffin has a long throwing motion. It looks like he’s throwing a javelin with how he takes a long step and really uses his lower body to generate power. He was a bit of a rhythm passer that would go on a run of nice throws at times.

In team drills, when Pipkin didn’t see what he wanted, he was quick to try to run, which isn’t ideal, but he’s a good athlete. He showed he belonged in this group of quarterbacks, but that’s not exactly high praise given the overall talent level in Mobile.

C.J. Beathard and Sefo Liufau struggled for the most part. Beathard would make a nice throw here and there. But when he needed to throw quickly, he often missed high and had spotty accuracy. Liufau had issues just throwing spirals when pressed to throw quickly and all of his best throws seemed to be checkdowns.

Kareem Hunt was the best running back throughout the week. He was decisive with his cuts and where he wanted to go, showing good burst. His hands are excellent as a receiver, but at times, he rounds off some routes making it difficult to gain separation.

Jamaal Williams of BYU looked big, played with power while still showing some explosion. Williams was the best blocking back in Mobile as well and showed enough as a receiver to be functional in that role.

Donnell Pumphrey has incredible agility and burst, but his size is going to haunt him. Weighing in at 169 pounds, he only had eight pounds on the Cuppie, the mascot they sent up there as a gag. He looks as small as he sounds. To his credit, he’s never had a problem running between the tackles throughout college, but that concern will linger.

Zay Jones of East Carolina and Cooper Kupp consistently showed how much of an advantage being a good route runner and how invaluable it is at the college level and in this type of format. Both were able to create separation and while Jones appears to be the better athlete, Kupp is no slouch and was able to go up and get the ball in traffic. Testing will be important for both, but they certainly looked good this week.

Artavis Scott of Clemson was another receiver who looked good in this regard. He always had a plan, playing the man rather than the route to get open and make plays.

Jalen Robinette missed the first day of practice due to his school requirements at the Air Force Academy. He’s a big, strong receiver with speed that plays with a lot of physicality. Robinette could go earlier than some might expect on his potential alone.

Amara Darboh of Michigan was extremely impressive. He is physical at the catch point, fights through traffic and shows good strength and speed. For teams that like Corey Davis of Western Michigan but can’t get him, Darboh a round—maybe two—later would be a good substitute.

Jan 25, 2017; Mobile, AL, USA; South squad tight end O.J. Howard of Alabama (88) is tackled by cornerback Cameron Sutton of Tennessee (33) as inside linebacker Ben Boulware of Clemson (10) closes in during Senior Bowl practice at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Glenn Andrews-USA TODAY Sports /

O.J. Howard was the star of the show this week. He looked the part and largely played it. He’s an excellent blocker, although late entry Damarius Travis from Minnesota beat him with little issue in pass pro on Thursday. Howard was the main weapon utilized by Jackson all week, which will spur speculation that the Browns will be in the market for Howard’s services at the 12th pick of the draft. It doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility that he could be the pick if he tests well.

Mike Roberts got better and better this week. Thursday, he was good in pass protection despite stiffness. He was able to shut down Dawuane Smoot the times he faced him in this area. Nevertheless, it’s not difficult to see that blocking from a 3-point stance is a work in progress and will take some time.

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Roberts still looked good as a receiver. His stiffness can make it difficult for him to make super quick cuts, but he uses his body well and he has good hands. Going against Lorenzo Jerome of St. Francis was one of the best matchups of the week.

The Browns could opt to take Howard with the 12th pick of the draft. It’s a compelling discussion whether they would be better off waiting and grabbing Roberts potentially two to four rounds later. Roberts is a work in progress, but the payoff could be a big one.

Jeremy Sprinkle was up and down this week. At times, he’d shut opponents down as a blocker. Then he’d turn around and get knocked into the backfield. His ability as a receiver is still somewhat up in the air, especially when it comes to his raw speed. Sprinkle did himself a big favor by addressing his shoplifting incident here, so it should largely be behind him.

Indiana’s Dan Feeney was the best offensive lineman from pole to pole. Thursday, they had him take a few snaps at center and it was a little awkward, but he wasn’t terrible. Feeney was outstanding as a guard with good feet and a low center of gravity, plus a killer instinct to finish.

Connor McDermott got better as a pass protector this week and pass rushers really tested his ability to anchor since he’s 6-8, 305 pounds. He passed that test and that frame will be attractive if they think he can add weight. McDermott struggled to get much push in the running game, having to operate as a positional blocker.

Jan 25, 2017; Mobile, AL, USA; North squad offensive tackle Adam Bisnowaty of Pittsburgh (69) battles offensive tackle Julien Davenport of Bucknell (70) in a drill during Senior Bowl practice at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Glenn Andrews-USA TODAY Sports /

Julie’n Davenport of Bucknell is the head of the class when it comes to having the body type and tools to develop. He’s enormous, light on his feet and wants to do it. Having played in the Patriot League, he hasn’t faced anyone near this level and at times it showed. He’s raw, but his upside is incredible. Taylor Moton is along the same lines of Davenport. Moton, also is huge, but is powerful too. However, needs to get better as a pass protector.

Justin Senior is another enormous body that played right tackle. He struggled in pass protection on Wednesday. He seemed to be guessing a lot. Thursday, he trusted his ability and reacted to opponents and the results were night and day.

Anthony Garcia had a little bit of hype coming into this week. It was clear why he was invited, but he didn’t really stand out. Garcia had some great reps but also got manhandled at times. As talented as Garcia may be, some of the other bodies on display may be more attractive.

Adam Bisnowaty wasn’t exciting, but he was effective. A player that had settled for some in terms of his draft stock, playing side by side with a number of these prospects, he seemed to help himself this week.

Zach Banner is a mammoth, but he plays with a narrow base. For the most part, if opponents went anywhere but right at him, they found some success.

Ethan Pocic showed the most when it came to getting beat initially, but reacting and taking control of the play. Where a lot of prospects made a mistake and would either just grab onto the opponent or simply get beat cleanly. Pocic always found a way to get in the play, even if he would ultimately still get beat.

Pocic occasionally gets beat because he’s too high, which is not terribly surprising at 6-6. That will undoubtedly concern some teams. He did a nice job in his reps at guard. Pocic facing off against Tanzel Smart was far and away the best pit matchup all week.

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Jon Toth of Kentucky is fundamentally sound and tough, the second best center here behind Pocic. He was a fish out of water when he was asked to play guard, however.

Kyle Kalis was a call up after a pretty good week at the Shrine Game. He seemed to handle himself here reasonably well as well and has likely helped himself from being viewed as a borderline draftable player.

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