Browns Round 1 Analysis

Well, tonight is like Christmas night (or Rosh Hashanah for my Jewish friends) for many NFL fans and especially those of us Browns fans. The Browns had two first round picks in the NFL draft and a huge opportunity to improve the team which has struggled since coming back to Cleveland in 1999. So, with the picks of RB Trent Richardson from Alabama and QB Brandon Weeden from Oklahoma State how did the Browns do improving their team?

First, let’s discuss the Browns trading up to take Trent Richardson at #3 instead of #4. When I first heard about the trade the first thing I heard was that they gave up three picks to move up one spot. When I heard that I squirmed for a minute but said “As long as it isn’t a 2nd or 3rd round pick I’m ok with it.” It ended up being the second of two 4th round picks, a 5th and a 7th. When I found that out I was ok because we were getting our guy for sure and weren’t going to let Tampa or St. Louis move up to snatch him away from us. Also, the next thing I looked at was what “value” did we give up to move up one spot. Using the Trade Value Chart moving from three to four should cost 400  additional points. The value of the picks we gave was only about 115 points so in theory we got a bargain! Plus, the Browns still have 10 picks in the draft – plenty of picks to improve the team.

Next, Richardson fills a HUGE hole on the Browns. Do Brandon Jackson, Montario Hardesty or Chris Ogbonnaya scare any defenses? Hell no. Does Richardson – absolutely. He’s going to be an immediate starter for the Browns and a top five or ten RB in his first season.

Now on to the much more controversial pick of Brandon Weeden at #22. First, let me say I like Weeden as a potential NFL QB. As a Minor League pitcher he threw in the upper 90’s so he has a great arm. He made tons of throws at Oklahoma State so has plenty of passes under his belt.  However, think about this…

Brandon Weeden is 28 and will be 29 during this season so any NFL team who would want to maximize his value would want him to play right away in the hopes of getting 8-10 years out of the guy. If you look at every team before the draft started how many teams fit the criteria of needing a starting QB for the 2012 season? The Dolphins could have been one of them but they took Ryan Tannehill at #8. The other team who was considered to be looking for a QB was Kansas City but they have a starter and wouldn’t have chosen until after the Browns in the 2nd round. Any other teams come to mind? No. So why would the Browns think they’d need to take him at #22? I’d almost argue that Weeden may have slipped to the 3rd round if the Browns didn’t take him in the 2nd round!!! Again, I like Weeden and will be rooting for him to be a success…sooner rather than later.

Had the Browns passed on Weeden they could have taken the second best tackle in the draft, Riley Reiff, the best guard in the draft, David DeCastro, or the best WR left on their board (who knows who this is but maybe Stephen Hill, Ruben Randle or even Alshon Jeffery). If the Browns can get Hill, Randle or Jeffery in Round 2 then I think the pick if Weeden looks a lot better. The other direction the Browns may look in the 2nd round may be RT with both Cordy Glenn and Jonathan Martin still on the board.

Overall, I’m happy with the 1st round of the draft for the Browns and am almost as excited for the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the draft tomorrow!

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Final 2012 NFL Mock Draft

I’ve tried to keep my posts topical and have really tried to stay away from just discussing current events in sports. This is an exception…as many of you know, I’m a huge NFL fan and my favorite part of the season is the NFL Draft. This season’s draft will be upon us this Thursday and I’ve made my final mock draft of the year. You can check out my full two-round mock draft with insight on potential first round picks at www.neilstein.com or if you just want to see my first round projection I’ve listed it below. Enjoy and feel free to give me your feedback and tell me where I’m wrong in the comments section at the bottom of this post.

1. Colts – Andrew Luck – QB – Stanford
2. Redskins – Robert Griffin III – QB – Baylor
3. Minnesota – Matt Kalil – T – USC
4. Cleveland – Trent Richardson – RB – Alabama
5. Tampa Bay –  Morris Claiborne – CB – LSU
6. St. Louis – Justin Blackmon – WR – Oklahoma State
7. Jacksonville – Mark Barron – S – Alabama
8. Miami – Michael Floyd – WR – Notre Dame
9. Carolina – Fletcher Cox – DT – Mississippi State
10. Buffalo – Riley Reiff – T – Iowa
11. Kansas City – Ryan Tannehill – QB – Texas A&M
12. Seattle – Chandler Jones – DE – Syracuse
13. Arizona – Luke Kuechly – LB – Boston College
14. Dallas – David DeCastro – G – Stanford
15. Philadelphia – Dontari Poe – DT – Memphis
16. NY Jets – Michael Brockers – DT – LSU
17. Cincinnati – Stephon Gilmore – CB – South Carolina
18. San Diego – Melvin Ingram – DE/LB – South Carolina
19. Chicago – Quinton Coples – DE – North Carolina
20. Tennessee – Dont’a Hightower – LB – Alabama
21. Cincinnati – Kendall Reyes – DT – Connecticut
22. Cleveland – Stephen Hill – WR – Georgia Tech
23. Detroit – Dre Kirkpatrick – CB – Alabama
24. Pittsburgh – Courtney Upshaw – DE/LB – Alabama
25. Denver – Jerel Worthy – DT – Michigan State
26. Houston – Kendall Wright – WR – Baylor
27. New England – Harrison Smith – S – Notre Dame
28. Green Bay – Doug Martin – RB – Boise State
29. Baltimore – Shea McClellin – LB – Boise State
30. San Francisco – Janoris Jenkins – CB – N. Alabama
31. New England – Alameda Ta’amu – DT – Washington
32. NY Giants – David Wilson – RB – Virginia Tech

Click here to go to my second round… 

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Cleveland Browns – Plan B

The Cleveland Browns have missed out on the chance to draft Robert Griffin III due to a blockbuster trade between the Redskins and Rams late last week. My personal opinion, after seeing what the Redskins had to give up in order to move up in the draft (three first round picks and a second round pick), is that I’m glad the Browns didn’t pull the trigger on a similar deal and mortgage their future on a player who’s never thrown a pass in the NFL. The Browns and their fans would have loved to get RGIII, but that’s in the past so today we look ahead at the Browns Plan B for the off-season.

Free agency begins today, Tuesday, at 4:00 PM and the Browns can begin improving their team with a handful of free agents. While Browns fans would love to get Peyton Manning, Vincent Jackson, and Mario Williams it’s simply not going to happen. However, here are a handful of guys I would target if I were spending their $19 million.

#1 – RT Eric Winston – Texans – Winston was cut on Monday but has been a starter for the Texans for five straight years and hasn’t missed a game. The Browns right tackles have not only missed a ton of games due to injury, but they’ve also seemed to forget to show up for the actual games when they step on the field on Sundays too.
#2 – LB David Hawthorne – Seahawks – Hawthorne is young (26) and has averaged over 100 tackles per season for the Seahawks for each of the past three seasons. He can come in and play strong side linebacker next to D’Qwell Jackson with Chris Gocong on the other side. Scott Fujita is a great locker room guy, but has lost a couple steps.
#3 – WR – Hines Ward – Steelers – Settle down and hear me out…Ward may only have one or two years left but if you look at the receivers on the Browns roster as of today Hines Ward would be the #2 receiver for the team from day one and he’ll be a bargain. The only receiver on the roster who’s better than Ward is Greg Little and Ward would be a great mentor for the young, inexperienced receivers already on the team and for those who may join the team six weeks from now (Justin Blackmon?).
#4 – RB – Peyton Hillis – Hillis had his fair share of issues during the 2011 campaign, but the media tends to blow things out of proportion. The Browns will let him test the market in the hopes that he can determine his market value, bring that proposal back to the Browns and hope the Browns can make a slightly better offer. The Ravens are known for doing this and it’s painful to say, but the Browns could learn something from Ozzie Newsome and the Ravens.
#5 – DE – Jeremy Mincey – Jaguars – Never heard of him? He doesn’t put up gaudy stats like some DE’s, but on a terrible Jaguars defense it’s easy to focus on the few good players that they do have. Mincey is relatively young, 28, is a workhorse who doesn’t miss many plays, and can see a big increase in his stats playing opposite Jabaal Sheard and next to Ahtyba Rubin and Phil Taylor in the middle.

One other player to keep an eye one, who’s not a free agent – yet, is QB Kevin Kolb from Arizona. Kolb may get cut this week as he is due a $7 million bonus. If he gets cut I think the Browns would be foolish if they don’t consider bringing him to Cleveland. I’d rather take Kolb over Matt Flynn as Flynn is going to demand a huge contract after only playing two regular season games. Kolb has a bigger body of work and while he’s been a little up and down, he has a history with Tom Heckert and Andy Reid and the Eagles liked him enough to be the QB of the future until he went down and in came Michael Vick.

The next area where the Browns can improve this off-season is the draft, and despite not getting RGIII the Browns will get an outstanding player with the #4 overall pick. For those of you who don’t know, I follow the draft religiously. I think at #4 the Browns must take either the convention pick, WR Justin Blackmon from Oklahoma St. or my sleeper for this pick, DE/OLB Melvin Ingram from South Carolina. Some people may call me crazy for putting Ingram in this spot but I see him as this year’s Von Miller. His motor doesn’t stop, he’s slightly undersized for a “typical defensive end” and he dominated the Senior Bowl. Also, the most important position in a 4-3 defense is right defensive end and last year the Browns trotted out Jayme Mitchell and Emmanuel Stephens at RDE in 2011. Then, we move on to picks #22 and #37 for the Browns. I think with the first three picks the Browns need to get a WR and DE for sure. At #22 I would look at receivers Stephen Hill from Georgia Tech or Alshon Jeffrey from South Carolina. Jeffrey had a down senior season but his QB’s were terrible. Hill has huge upside but not big stats coming from a run-first offense at GT. If the Browns go WR at #4 then at #22 they can look at defensive ends Whitney Mercilus from Illinois, Courtney Upshaw from Alabama or Nick Perry from USC. Of these guys, I like Upshaw the most but he may be gone.

At #37 it’s difficult to imagine who’ll be there at that pick right now but some names to consider: QB Brandon Weeden from Oklahoma State, RB Doug Martin from Boise State (I love this guy – he’s a taller Maurice Jones Drew), Safety Harrison Smith from Notre Dame, or OT Bobbie Massie from Ole Miss. 

So there you have it…the medicine to fix the Browns once and for all. I’ll settle for just one of Mike Holmgren’s paychecks as my payment for this advice to him and Tom Heckert. Time will tell what happens, but until then, we can all be excited for the start of free agency and the continued pursuit of Peyton Manning.

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The Race for RGIII

Here in Cleveland you can’t go 15 minutes without hearing about Robert Griffin III on the radio, TV or from the NFL fans in your office. I’d say about 75% of the people here in NE Ohio would love to see RGIII in Brown and Orange next season…but fans in Washington D.C., Miami, Seattle and even some in Buffalo, Kansas City and Denver want him in their city too. The question of the off-season so far is where will RGIII call home two months from now?

People tend to forget that something called Free Agency is going to take place starting about two weeks from now (March 13) and there are a handful of starting-caliber QB’s on the market this off-season.  Here are the QB’s who I could see a team looking at as a starter for 2012:

Peyton Manning – no explanation needed
Matt Flynn – two big games in Green Bay are going to earn Flynn two extra zeroes on his paycheck for 2012
Jason Campbell – played very well in Oakland until he got hurt
Kyle Orton – had two solid seasons in Denver on a team with a terrible defense – throws more TD than INT
Chad Henne – still young and has potential and upside still

Consider this RGIII suitors…what if two of the top four teams who are considered to be the front runners to pursue RGIII (Browns, Redskins, Dolphins and Seahawks) end up signing Manning and Flynn at the beginning of Free Agency? Immediately St. Louis loses a ton of leverage. That’s likely the reason you are hearing so much from St. Louis about their willingness to trade the pick. The value of that pick won’t be higher than it is right now when, in theory, there are four teams who are likely in the market for Mr. Griffin.

As a Browns fan, here’s the scenario I’d love to see happen as I’m one of the many who want the Browns to get RGIII. Miami decides to throw cash at Manning and they sign him once he’s cut by the Colts. Next, the Redskins decide they don’t want to mortgage their future (like they did for several years in a row) and give up the draft picks to trade up in front of the Browns so they throw big money at Matt Flynn and sign him. Now, the Browns main competition for Griffin is the Seahawks who draft 12th overall. If I’m the Rams I don’t want to face RGIII twice a year by trading the pick to the Seahawks, plus, I don’t want to drop down 12 spots in this year’s draft because I know I can get an impact player in LT Matt Kalil or WR Justin Blackmon if I pick 4th. One other thought…what if Seattle signs Orton, Campbell or Henne as their starter…now the Browns may be able to stay put at #4 and get Griffin without making the trade. It’s risky, and St. Louis may pull a fast one and draft RGIII knowing someone will want to trade for him, so that’s why I think the trade ends up happening. Either way the Browns can make the trade for a reasonable price (both first-round picks this year, a third in 2013 and one of their two fourth round picks this year) and give all of us Clevelanders another reason to think “Maybe Next Year” is finally here.

PS – Remember the Browns’ trade with the Falcons in last season’s draft? Do you know where Les Snead, new GM for the Rams, came from? That’s right…the Falcons, the same team the Browns made their first round trade with last season. Hopefully that familiarity helps in getting a deal done this year too.

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One Character Flaw Which May Help in the NFL

Playing football isn’t for everyone. Whether you’re talking about 7-year olds or 37-year olds it takes a certain mentality to be a football player and it definitely isn’t for the feint of heart. For this reason I think there is one character “flaw” you’ll hear about players eligible for the NFL Draft which may be more of a positive than a negative when evaluating a young man strictly as a football player.

The flaw I’m talking about is anger management or aggression. First, to get this out of the way, I don’t condone violence and understand that it is a serious issue, however, if a football player has this trait there are likely ways to channel that aggression and anger in a positive way on the football field – especially on the defensive side of the ball.

Let’s just look at a handful of examples in recent history of how this has translated into success on the football field.

Ever hear of a guy named Ray Lewis? He’s has a decent little NFL career…13 Pro Bowls, 10 All-Pro selections and two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. When he finally hangs up his cleats he may be viewed as the best middle linebacker of all-time. He’s known for his intense play, big hits and trash-talking during games. It’s been a long time, but football fans may remember a run-in Lewis has with the law back in 2000 when he was involved in a fight outside of a bar in Atlanta which left two people dead. Lewis was only convicted of obstruction of justice in the incident, and didn’t have a hand in the death of the people, but was involved in the altercation. Before that incident, while in college at the University of Miami, he was twice accused of hitting women even though charges were never brought against him. This aggressive side may have caused him to slip in the draft finally being selected at #26 overall.

A much more recent example of this took place in last year’s draft. The Cleveland Browns’ top two picks in last season’s draft, DT Phil Taylor from Baylor and DE Jabaal Sheard from Pittsburgh, both had run-ins with violence in their past. Taylor started his college career at Penn State but was kicked off the team after his involvement in a fight at the student union as well as an similar incident at a pool party while in school. Sheard was involved in a major fight in Pittsburgh while in college where he ended up throwing a man through a glass door while resisting arrest from a police officer. What both of these young men did aren’t positive things you want to be known for, but they are lapses in judgement that thousands of teenagers and college-aged kids make every year. The big question then becomes, will the kid learn something from the incident so that it doesn’t happen in the future? So far with Taylor and Sheard, they appear to have put those issues in the rear-view mirror and are focusing that aggression on opposing quarterbacks and running backs in the NFL. Both Taylor and Sheard had above average seasons as rookies (on a bad team) and showed many flashes of brilliance throughout the season.

In looking at this year’s draft here is one player who has been pegged with the same character concerns – Arizona State LB Vontaze Burfict. A guy I love listening to and who has an unparalleled history of evaluating college players, Gil Brandt, has this to say about Burfict, “…was the most highly recruited player ever to land at ASU. However, his anger management issues often overshadowed his outstanding ability.” I haven’t gotten to see much or hear anything from Burfict yet prior to the draft but he’s one guy I’d keep my eye on if I’m a team looking for a LB. I’d much rather have LB’s on my team with a mean streak as opposed to finess guys!

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Improving the NFL Combine

In a couple short weeks NFL fans will have forgotten about the Super Bowl, pundits will have stopped the Eli vs. Peyton Manning comparisons (here’s my take on that subject in case you missed it a few weeks ago) and everyone will turn their focus to the NFL Draft. The event that gets the most attention, and is the most overrated in my opinion, is the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. It’s overrated because it’s more about track and field and weightlifting than football. It does have a place in the scouting process, but it can be improved.

NFL teams scout college players throughout the college football season and throughout the Bowl Season as well. Once all of the bowl games are over there are two “All-Star Games” for college seniors, the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl. If you aren’t familiar with the Senior Bowl (draft eligible juniors are not able to participate) the interesting fact about it is that NFL scouts and player personnel folks focus on the week of practice leading up to the game and many don’t even stick around to watch the game itself. The reason for this is because the practices feature many one-on-one drills  and practices take place in pads, not shorts and helmets. In one-on-one drills you can get a feel for these players when they compete against some of the best competition in the country. You can see how an offensive tackles moves against a quick defensive end. You can watch a center or guard and see how they hold up against a bull-rushing 315 pound defensive tackle. Wide receivers and defensive backs compete and you can see who has a knack for getting open or breaking on a ball. Linebackers have a chance to read and react to plays and make tackles on running backs running to the boundary. At the combine you don’t get any of this.

With that as a backdrop, here is what I’d propose for the NFL Combine. Over the first couple days players can still be measured and tested in all of the same drills such as 40-yard dash, short shuttle, etc. One change to those tests would be that all players are required to wear a helmet and shoulder pads for all of the speed and agility tests. They can be tested without the helmets and pads too to compare them to previous players, but over time this would become the standard. Then when those are over come up with several “football” drills for each position where players compete against a player(s) on the opposite side of the ball. These wouldn’t be full-pad practices but helmets and shoulder pads would be required. There would be no tackling to reduce the potential for injuries which is always a concern throughout the draft process. Much like the Senior Bowl, this would give scouts a much more accurate way to evaluate players than seeing them run around in spandex. Additionally, the combine is open to everyone eligible for the draft so both juniors and seniors could compete in the event.

Is this a perfect solution, probably not yet, but I’d guess scouts would come away with a much more accurate evaluation of players under this scenario than the current setup. When you tune in to the NFL Network to watch the combine this year, keep these ideas in the back of your mind and tell me if you agree.

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How the NFL Draft and Political Primaries are Alike

Happy New Year! With 2012 being an election year I thought I’d mix in a tiny bit of politics with sports. You may be wondering how those two topics go together and in most cases they don’t! For example the Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens steroid/perjury trials cost taxpayers huge dollar amounts all for what? To find out what we all already knew…they both used performance enhancing drugs and lied about it. Is finding that out worth your tax dollars?

One example of politics mirroring sports is taking place right now with the Republican primaries and the NFL Draft. If you think I’m crazy just keep reading before you tell me I’m nuts.

Tuesday was the first official primary as Iowa held their caucuses with no clear-cut winner. The results…Mitt Romney 25%, Rick Santorum 25%, Ron Paul 21%, Newt Gingrich 13%, Rick Perry 10% and Michele Bachmann 5%. If you would have looked at the USA Today/Gallup national poll on December 7th here’s what you would have seen: Gingrich 37%, Romney 22%, Paul 8%, Perry 7%, Bachmann 6% and Santorum 3%. A month before that on November 7, 2011 here’s what it looked like: Herman Cain 21%, Romney 21%, Gingrich 12%, Perry 11%, Paul 8%, Bachmann 3%, and Santorum 2%. That’s a lot of numbers but there are several things that stick out.

First, what happened to Herman Cain? If you follow politics you know his character came into question and he dropped out of the race due to numerous allegations against him. I compare Cain to former Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett prior to last year’s NFL Draft. Mallett looked and sounded like an NFL quarterback and had all the skills to be a successful QB but his off-field character issues caused him to drop to the third round of the draft and he never saw the field this season behind Tom Brady.

The next question…who is Rick Santorum and how did he jump from 2% to 25% in two months?  Santorum visited every single county in Iowa and spent tons of time promoting family values and has run a positive campaign. It has culminated with a solid showing in the caucuses on Tuesday. This is similar to the recent rise in the draft stock of Baylor QB Robert Griffin III. Griffin had a very good season and peaked at the very end with outstanding games in his final few games of the season including winning the Heisman Trophy and leading Baylor to 67 points in their bowl game. A month ago Griffin was mentioned as the third of fourth best QB behind Stanford’s Andrew Luck, USC’s Matt Barkley and Landry Jones from Oklahoma. Time will tell where Griffin is drafted but his stock has never been higher.

On to Newt Gingrich. How does he go from 12% to 37% and back down to 13%? He didn’t really do anything different to gain support but he was the flavor of the month during December. I look at him like former Missouri QB and current Jacksonville Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert. Last year Gabbert was an afterthought because everyone thought Andrew Luck was going pro and Luck was the talk of the NFL. When Luck went back to college many people elevated Gabbert to “best QB in the draft” status and didn’t do anything different for his stock to rise but it did. Gabbert eventually faded getting picked after QB’s Cam Newton and Jake Locker.

The next candidate is Ron Paul. He has risen from 8% support in the first two polls to 21% in the Iowa caucuses. Paul’s support has come from voters’ support of his strong belief in the Constitution and long history of consistently voting conservatively…two rather boring, yet important, topics. He doesn’t get much media coverage as he isn’t as flashy or controversial as other candidates. When you look at someone like that in the NFL Draft you look at an offensive lineman like Joe Thomas of the Cleveland Browns or Jake Long of the Miami Dolphins. For the 2012 draft the offensive tackle at the top of most lists is Matt Kalil of USC. A majority of the conversation in the media about the draft centers around “skill position” players like QBs, RBs, and WRs because that’s exciting for fans. But when draft day comes, NFL general managers know the importance of a solid, consistent player on the offensive line to protect their franchise quarterback.

Finally, take a look at Mitt Romney. He’s been at the top or near the top of every poll you see about the primaries. I wouldn’t quite compare him to Andrew Luck who many scouts say is a “can’t miss” prospect, but more so like Reggie Bush from the 2006 NFL Draft. Romney has had a very successful career in the private sector similar to Reggie Bush’s college career. He also made quite a bit of money in the private sector similar to the money Bush received while at USC! (Sorry – I couldn’t help myself). Romney ran for president in 2008 but eventually came in second to John McCain. Similarly, nearly EVERYONE thought Reggie Bush would be the #1 overall pick of the Houston Texans in 2006 and on the night before the draft Houston pulled a stunner by announcing they’d be picking Mario Williams and not Reggie Bush with the first pick.

Will we have a similar scenario again this year with Andrew Luck having been pegged as the no-doubt #1 overall pick for almost two years? Will the Colts throw a curveball and draft someone else with the first pick? We’ll find out in late April and we all know a lot will change between now and then.

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Cleveland Browns State of the Season Address – Offense

Another NFL season is winding down and the Cleveland Browns have managed to deliver another lackluster 4-win effort this year with only three games to go. As a Browns fan, now is one of the hardest times of the season because on one hand you want to cheer for your team and on the other hand you are ok with a loss knowing that the NFL draft is only about 4 months away!

I’ve watched nearly every single play of the season and here are my thoughts related to this season and also looking ahead to next year (we’re good at that here in Cleveland!). First, let’s look at the most important position on the field…Quarterback. Colt McCoy has been absolutely average all year. People here in Cleveland are mostly “haters” but here are a couple things to look at with McCoy. Outside of Cleveland can anyone name two receivers on the Browns? The Browns don’t have a #1 receiver and while Greg Little has shown flashes this year he’s not a #1 yet. Also, I saw a disturbing stat during the Steelers game last week. About 75% of his passes have been thrown within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. Every defense the Browns play knows this and their corners and safeties can camp out between 8-12 yards and the Browns are screwed. If they had a deep threat they wouldn’t be able to do this for fear of getting beaten on a deep ball, but that’s not the case and this is killing McCoy and the offense. All that being said, here are some things I really like about McCoy. First, he makes good decisions a majority of the time whether it is throwing a ball away when no one is open, tucking it and running for a first down, or even taking a sack rather than trying to force a throw. Secondly, he seems to be a leader on the field and has good command of the team and offense. Do I think he’s Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers? No, but he’s serviceable and can’t be kicked to the curb yet. Give him another year.

The next area to look at are the skill positions on offense. I’ve touched on the WR’s a little bit, but I think Little has potential to be a decent #1 or a really good #2 receiver but people forget he didn’t even play football last year. Massaquoi is decent but he’s had numerous concussions, isn’t dominant and is a #3 receiver on most teams. Josh Cribbs has shown flashes but he can’t seem to get open other than on the deep ball. Jordan Norwood has come out of nowhere and I really think he could be a good slot receiver next year.

The TE’s are good as a group, but since the O-Line can’t be trusted the TE’s have been used for blocking a lot more this season. Ben Watson is older but still can get the job done. Evan Moore has potential but hasn’t gotten much playing time. Every time he gets in he makes a play, but no one seems to know why he isn’t getting more chances. Alex Smith may as well be an O-Lineman as his main role is as a blocker. Jury is still out on Jordan Cameron from USC as he hasn’t gotten many reps all year other than on special teams.

To wrap up the skill positions we look at the RB’s. You have to start with Peyton Hillis who has been banged up and killed by the media all year. What bothers me are old, fat, out-of-shape, non-athletic media folks trying to downplay a muscle strain or pull. Anyone who’s pulled a muscle knows how painful and frustrating it can be. Give Hillis a damn break! In the Steelers game you could see his frustration when he was getting hit two yards deep in the backfield every time he touched the ball. How is that his fault? I seriously think the Browns will Franchise Tag him going into 2012 and we’ll see the old Hillis again. The Franchise Tag for RB’s in 2012 will be around $7.7 million which is a lot but the Browns have tons of cap space. Montario Hardesty runs hard and I really like him, but he can’t stay healthy. Lastly, Chris Ogbonnaya has been a nice find from the Texans and I think he starts the 2012 season as the third-down back. Oh, and don’t forget, the Browns get Brandon Jackson back in 2012 who was lost for the season during the pre-season.

To wrap up the offense we move on to the O-Line. Going into the season the O-Line had the potential to be pretty good. Joe Thomas and Alex Mack were Pro-Bowlers and Eric Steinbach is a very good LG. On the right side it was going to be a battle between Shaun Luavao, Jason Pinkston and John Greco for the RG job and Tony Pashos would start at RT. Then, Steinbach went down for the season and Pashos hurt his ankle. Pinkston, a rookie 5th round pick, moves into the starting lineup at LG and RT turns into a revolving door between Artis Hicks and Oniel Cousins. Neither of those two guys should be in the NFL and they nearly got McCoy killed at the beginning of the season. When Pashos came back he wasn’t much better and that’s who is stuck there now. Looking at 2012 I think between Luavao and Pinkston one of them can be a solid RG and if Steinbach comes back that leaves one hole at RT. Not terrible compared to a lot of teams.

Looking forward to 2012 here are the areas which will need to be addressed on offense. First and foremost…find a #1 WR. If the Browns can keep losing they will be right in the thick of the Justin Blackmon (WR – Oklahoma State) sweepstakes in the draft. If he’s gone the next best WR may be Michael Floyd from Notre Dame. In free agency they could look at DeSean Jackson but he doesn’t quite fit their philosophy of actually playing hard. How about Wes Welker, Marques Colston, Vincent Jackson, or Dwayne Bowe? Next I think the focus HAS to be on finding a long-term answer at RT. They may try Pinkston there, but they can’t go another year without trying someone else at RT. Wrapping up the offense, I can see the Browns looking at a QB with a second or third round pick in 2012, but I really don’t think they’re ready to give up on McCoy.

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