A Deep Dive Into The 2024 Cleveland Browns | 2024 NFL Power Rankings (7)

Introduction welcome back to the channel everybody and today it's my number seven team in my 2024 NFL Deep dive series it's the Cleveland Browns do that YouTube thing like comment subscribe all that crap uh one of the themes of this video is going to be a couple of things it's going to be number one uh the color red the amount of guys on the pup list the amount of guys with injury questions on this team it's very significant and it's not even just guys who are sort of underneath it's very significant players that are going to be key contr rors will start Nick chub obviously with that brutal brutal knee injury that he suffered last year he's going to go on 12 months off by the time the season starts by the time week one happens just about just about give or take give or take a week one week just short 51 weeks 51 weeks how he's recovered He's listed as a starter right now but on the physically unable to perform list two other guys on the pop jedric Wills Jack Conlan the two starting tackles now they do have some good depth there and Dewan Jones will'll get to that uh but that's still a concern you don't want to lose both those guys either it does drastically drive down the overall grade of the offensive line which will in turn hurt what they got going on at the quarterback position in particular with the inconsistent massage Enthusiast deshun Watson we'll get to his grades as well on the defensive side of the ball they're putting out one of the best defenses in the entire league that does have some small character issues I would say with one or two guys uh in in particular on the defensive line uh we will get to that I don't understand what it is with Cleveland Browns players and refusing to keep their hands to themselves when it comes to females but we'll get to the defensive version of DeShaun Watson kind of at some point as well huge disappointment there because these are good players theoretically uh that should be tremendous contributors and way less of a distraction what they actually are now what's not a distraction is how great that coaching staff is coaching staff is so good we'll get to that a coaching staff that I was not high on last year that Browns fans let me have it and boy was I wrong and boy do I own it and we're going to get to that how that coaching staff interacts with some of the roster bubble veteran types that they have particularly Amari Cooper and Denzel Ward who if you believe the rumor mill are both sort of on their last legs with this team it seems you know they just went out and got Jerry Judy which is very redundant to Amari Cooper we'll get to that and they've invested a lot of Assets in the quarterback room in particular over the last couple of years that sort of leads me to believe that maybe Denzel Ward is also out with Greg Nome and Martin Emerson there there whoa whoa ignore that ignore that I'm leaving it in though I'm leaving that in though what was that what was that I need more water everyone says I should drink more water I'm going to but let's before I do any of that let's go talk about this coaching staff that I couldn't have been more wrong about last year that I hope that now I'm not completely wrong about going the opposite way so overall this is my sixth ranked coaching staff I said it last Coaching Staff year and I said it throughout the season I'm like if the Browns do something big Kevin stefansky will actually raise up in my rankings I think he was like n even top 20 for me last year and if he was he was barely and I see people still ranking him that way and I I understand why but what he did last year with Joe Flaco with all those injuries with the Player Development he got specifically on the offensive side of the ball I said I'm like Browns fans your coach needs to be a top five head coach at that point he that was the resume that he needed especially in this town with this team it was just a tremendous performance performance by stefansky uh his best you know he was Coach of the Year welld deserved you know he he really I think established himself as that you know you hear the term like cheek code coach and that type of terminology to be able to revive the career of a 39-year-old quarterback the way that he did without the team's best player Nick chub for 16 G games out of the Season makes the playoffs it's just a phen it's just what else can you say now big mistake was hiring Ken dorsy as his offensive coordinator Ken dorsy just absolutely tanked tanked in Buffalo last year maybe he needed a change of like a change of pace Maybe but I he just he helped get Josh Allen to a certain level working with uh Brian dble and he just it seems like it ran its course almost like he got Josh Allen to the level Josh Allen was going to get to anyway and couldn't Elevate that offense in general to the next level now is that because he was working with a more defensive minded head coach and sha McDermot perhaps that could be it that could very well be the reason why and now with Kevin stefansky maybe stefans is going to give him a different perspective on offense he's going to be you know this allows tansy to maybe step back a little bit because dorsy does have experience he does have a history of some success but to put in that style of offense mixing it in with with Ken dorsy that could yield some pretty good results now there is the risk always when you have an offensive-minded head coach and you bring in an offensive coordinator who's used to running things that you could have a bit of a I don't know like an ego Clash perhaps uh some issues in philosophy K dorsy relinquishing control that he used to have could be could become an issue and it could become you know a feud of sorts uh that does happen it happens behind the scenes and sometimes doesn't necessarily become public until years later but then you can look back at some of the issues that a team had throughout That season you can sort of see okay that's where that's where that came from is from those issues uh they got Bill Musgrave as the senior offensive assistant I really like that higher and then they got du Staley as the running back coach du Staley had a pretty good run uh for a while there things got kind of out of hand in Carolina for that little bit uh in that alleged Avengers uh unite coaching staff that I was told was so uh was so fantastic in 2023 and he lasted yeah 11 games so yeah he was he was a big part of one of the one of the most bust coaching staffs uh so to come in here and uh as you know I think it's a good role for him to have uh he's getting a great room to work with and they're going to have to really develop something continue to develop things well behind Nick chub because as we'll get to there's huge question marks around his health and moving on to the defensive side now you got Jim Schwarz who is my best ranked defensive coordinator I think what he did last year was just it was just epically great work and the huge Advantage i' I heard this was said and it's it's really true there is no risk of them losing him no one is going to be hiring Jim Schwarz to be a head coach no matter how great he does here he's had opportunities to be a head coach his age doesn't really dictate him getting that chance if they're going to go with a defense of minded head coach they're going to go with the youth with a youth movement they're going to go with somebody like Jonathan Ganon they're going to go with somebody like demo Ryan they're not going to go with Jim Schwarz so Cleveland has created a chance to have real continuity here between Kevin stefansky and Jim Schwarz where now the offense and the defense is going to be the same every year they're going to be able to properly scel players they're going be able to properly uh build a roster on both sides of the ball they're going to be able to properly build depth get in role players develop these role players put people in the system through like uh the practice squad and whatnot to make sure they always have the best players available and that strategy is only going to help improve an already really great defense it's going to help with the coaching staff and building the position coaches uh on here on the defense side of the ball which you know no one in particular jumps out as this big name you know I recognize Zack Dunn the defensive assistant I recognize Jordan Thomas the assistant defensive line coach but other than that it's it's going to give people an opportunity to grow under Jim Schwarz in so many different ways and there's nobody better at least there was nobody better last year either uh to to do that with does miles Garrett take an extra step up with Jim Schwarz now establishing himself they bring in more players they get all that depth Miles Garrett already won defensive player of the year he really cemented himself as probably the best defensive end in the league under the Jim Schwarz system now does Jim Schwarz turn around and somehow make him better what could he put in how does he allow miles Garrett to repeat that performance I think is going to be the real task for Jim Schwarz moving forward here is not necessarily is taking all these players that are really great already on his roster and allowing them to sustain or even somehow Elevate themselves there's also the situation with the cornerback room where there is some really good talent there he's you're going to be looking to want to elevate people because Denzel Ward who will get to may not necessarily financially be sustainable on this team so you got Greg Nome you got Martin Emerson you got a couple other guys there behind the scenes that Jim Schwarz is going to have a chance to work with here how does he divvy up those responsibilities throughout the season to get the Reps for these guys who need to develop so then that way financially you may be able to move on from a veteran player the way you know teams always love to do get some type of asset to then build upon for the future uh and maybe take a small step back knowing that you're going to take a giant lead forward perhaps because of the way that you handled this season and how you position guys uh in that secondary in particular uh but overall this is the sixth ranked coaching staff it is a tremendous staff I think that at the end of the day the only question mark is how does a offensive head coach relinquish enough control to a guy who's used to having all that control in Ken dorsy and how does that affect the team's performance how does that affect game to game planning how does that affect play calling during a game that's something that stefansky and dorsy are going to have to work out uh hopefully obviously they've been doing that work here in training camp and in the preseason how they can continue to do that uh will be a real dictation of how well the offense in particular is going to do which will have to complement this defense that you know is going to be giving out top five performances almost every week so going on to the quarterback here deshun Watson is my Quarterbacks 17th ranked quarterback uh I thought I was low on him again until I saw other people being even lower um but the the concerns have seemed to be all the same is that DeShaun Watson hasn't gotten back to that level that we saw him in his last year playing in Houston he's looked he's only played like 12 13 14 games I think for Cleveland this since he's gotten there with that giant contract he just hasn't looked consistently good he's had he's had those moments where you go there's deshun Watson the one that they traded for that's the one that made that that makes that trade worth it that's the one that makes that contract worth it that's that guy that's what's in there it's only been like one two maybe three times in those 12 games the other times he's been incredibly inconsistent uh making really poor decisions not being accurate downfield with the ball not making the adjustments at the line uh pre- snap adjustments that he was making under Bill O'Brien not situation [Music] acting the way that he was in Houston you know just just bone just boneheaded plays and and not not processing the defense the way that you would hope and he has many times in games with the Browns looked like one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the league very few times has he looked like one of the best which is a complete departure from basically day one in Houston day one in Houston he came in as a rookie he was quick he was athletic he was processing the defense as well he was making good decisions he was getting pre- snap reads perfect he was making adjustments and then killing and making more adjust like he was so locked in and it makes you wonder you know people talk about Bill O'Brien not being a great head coach and that's probably true but just solely as an offensive Guru solely as somebody who can design an offens strategy coach up a quarterback get him ready for each and every single week maybe that is the separation here you know it it could be the fact that Shawn Watson just hasn't gotten enough live reps you know I I I pressed that in so many of these videos in the series is about live reps get the Reps get the Reps some guys just need the Reps Watson was off for a year and hasn't really been able to settle in either uh in a consistent role in a you know hasn't sustained a full season injuries and all that maybe what he just needs is a full season I think that could be a real possibility too we saw it last year with Russell Wilson where he can he was coming off of a Bad season confidence was probably low started slow but then just because he kept getting the Reps getting the Reps getting the Reps he by the end of the year actually didn't look all that bad he actually looked like a middle of the- pack quarterback in the NFL maybe that's what's missing here for deshun Watson maybe it's just getting back into the rhythm of being a professional quarterback every single week not worrying about you know legal issues which we're not I'm not going to play judge jury and executioner in this video you can come to your own conclusions maybe it's trusting that he's healthy enough to play the style that made him arguably a top five quarterback in the league during his time in Houston maybe that's all he needs and this year you know with that contract that he has if it doesn't come this year there's going to be a situation where this organization in the offseason is probably going to be looking at creating a long-term replacement and figuring out how much of this how much can they actually eat in this contract you know maybe they bring in aook uh quarterback and they just deal with the fact that Shawn Watson's got this big contract and they create a quarterback competition I think that he he needs to show what made that trade worth it to them he's the no real threat of losing his job this season even though they brought in jamus Winston who's got starters experience he hasn't been all that great in his career uh sort of frankly the same issues that DeShaun Watson has been showing since his time in Cleveland so it's just a worse version of Deshawn Watson so that's questionable decision but it also because the skill sets can be comparable to a degree it does create some some continuity in the event that DeShaun Watson does go down or he you know for whatever reason Tyler Hunley is sort of like a complete departure so if they ever just want to flick a switch and say screw it we're going to become a a read option Baltimore Ravens style offense then Tyler Huntley ends up making the team and Tyler Hunley ends up on the field and it's a completely complete change of pace uh Dorian Thompson Robinson he was the uh last year's preseason darling where people were like oh they might have found a stud and just yeah everyone calmed down you know wow he looked great against third stringers good job uh but overall this this is going to live and die by DeShaun Watson here especially because of the concerns of the running back room and the health of the running back room and is Nick chub going to be able to come back as the same player that he used to be so as of Backfield right now you look at the depth chart Nick chub is listed as a starter just currently on the physically unable to perform the pup list that tells me that some point very early in the season they're playing on him being around and I still have him been R because if he's healthy I anticipate this running back room being tied for six the entire league with him actually still being able to perform in a top five top six top seven level at least in the top 10 running backs they did a great job of getting guys behind him though in the event that he's not the same player with dant Foreman maintaining Jerome Ford who played great in chub's replacement last year so you create that combination of backs they also brought in nem Hines who's also on the pup list who would fill in as that like running true running back by committee that would exist in the event Nick chub can't go I think it was a really smart decision to do that uh you know there's just a lot of faith that I have in Nick chub who was I'd say inarguably a top two running back going into that injury that if he loses five like a five or six ranking spots from the injury I think that's reasonable um I don't I don't expect him to fall off a cliff I think we're in a we're in a world where you he's also been off since week two of last year so that's a lot of recovery time even though that was brutal and disgusting to see it it does create a lot of space like it's almost like 12 months a full Year's worth of surgery rehab and getting yourself back on track which is more than you see from a lot of other guys usually and usually they get back on the field earlier than that and it takes them a little bit to get back up to speed now they've created a running back room where Nick chub may not need to be back week one he may not need to be back week two maybe he misses the first three weeks of the season and they got this running back by committee going on here specifically with foran and Ford maybe Hines isn't ready or Hines ends up getting put on IR or something but they still have Foreman they still have Jerome Ford where they can for two three weeks out of the Season early four at the worst I think they can definitely create an offensive scheme for those couple of weeks where they have a really effective running game and then Nick chub can come back at 100% after 13 months off more than just 12 he would also be tied for 18th in terms of being a receiving back now this is where they don't really have a whole lot going on there people talk about nem Hines I think nahem Hines has regressed in a lot of Senses in his abilities uh that made him special I think he sort of dropped down to that you know he's a good back to be a backup receiving back uh Jerome Ford actually played quite well as as one last year his opportunities on to for and did the same so between those three guys I think you can find a good third down receiving back for again a couple of weeks in in replacement of Nick chub now even when you bring Nick chub back you're probably not going to want to run him into the ground which is where I think in these situations here these early down situations where you have a Dante foran who is a really great backup he could have been a starter in many ways for a couple of teams out there this year Jerome Ford showed that he can carry the load to a large degree now this to me is where you would take Nick chub off the field you wouldn't want to grind him maybe you want to put him in these situations here as a receiving back maybe you want to get him out in space maybe you want to get him out of those crowds where you know you could end up with more injuries maybe or even if it's not that maybe it's putting him out there where he's got maybe a little bit more confidence maybe put him out there put him in space let him make some moves and follow some blocks and then step out of bounds and not get contact and use that to build his confidence up not do what the Giants did with saquon Barkley which is just start turning around hang the ball off 25 times a game between the tackles and just have him get killed and then have no opportunity to build back up that confidence have no opportunity to get back on track they have a very unique opportunity here to ease one of the best running backs in the league back into playing back into feeling confident back into feeling healthy and that in the long run will completely Elevate this entire offense to a level that they really need to get to because when your defense is as good as theirs that we'll get to eventually you need to have the ability to shorten games and if you can get this running back room going if you can shorten games the defense is going to give you so many opportunities to win games you're not going to have to score a lot of points to win a lot of games so you got to be efficient got to be smart got to stay ahead of schedule and you have to keep the clock ticking and you do that with a great running game and I really like the running back room it's just a matter of how healthy Nick chub can get how much he can get to that to max out his ability there max out his battery so to speak you know when you use a phone for too long sometimes it'll never get back to that 100% loading screen maybe you're only going to be able to get it to charge to that 90% how quickly can you get Nick chub to that full charge even if it's not 100% of what you're used to from Nick chub moving on to the weapons now and this is the wide receiver room and they're 24th for me uh let's start with Weapons Amari Cooper and Jerry Judy uh talk about redundant um I hated this move I hated it I thought that when Jerry Judy came into the league he was compared to Amari Cooper that was his player comp they're basically the exact same player so I don't understand how you're going to put them both on the field at the same time I don't understand how they're both going to see success while existing together it makes no sense to me it and the fact that they paid Judy it I don't know I don't know maybe maybe the plan is to trade Amari Cooper at the deadline and just get cheaper at that position because Amari Cooper has earned at least some sort of contract extension from the Browns or for them to let him go and make money somewhere else both are great route Runners both are sneaky quick it's just Jerry Judy's never lived up to the hype and the comparison of a first round pick the way Amari Cooper has now Amari Cooper has created a reputation of disappearing in games sure but Jerry Judy has created a reputation of just completely never showing up ever so when you find yourself in those games where Cooper has disappeared which you know will happen the guy that would fill in his role is Jerry Judy who has built up zero confidence in the NFL of being able to perform at a high level consistently at all he's had what like one two like a handful of good games in his career everything else has just been a giant disappointment I really like Elijah Mo when he came out I think he's a really good slot receiver in here I think that there's the potential he could be the leading receiver on this team come the end of the year now that would require Amari Cooper to maybe not be on the team but but again when you have the two guys ahead of more on the depth chart being the exact same player somebody's going to be the square peg in the round hole on every given play if they're both out there and if they're not if you're trying to plate to their to that singular skill set teams are going to be able to adjust to it it's not like you have Tyreek Hill and jayen Wadd who are just the Speed Demon where you can create pre- snap motions and all that where the speed will just overcome everything and that's really hard to adjust to even though they're both the same when you have these like methodical route Runners you can create a defense where you sort of expect what's happening here and you can you can design a good little zone defense play some bump coverage on the outside and it will shut down two receivers playing the exact same way you go with the exact same strategy of how you shut down just a a pure route Runner type with two guys and it doesn't really open up the opportunities that it would otherwise for that Speed Demon the only one who would really benefit is Elijah Moore that's why I point out he could be the one who ends up being the leading receiver now you look at some of the depth here cedrick Tilman who was drafted last year he could be somebody who could step in and also have some success David Bell is another one who could have some success Jamari threat like some of these dep pieces could be very surprising in terms of their production based upon their current position on the depth chart just because again of the skillet differences I can't fathom both these guys being on the team next year I can't fathom them finishing the season with Cooper still on the roster unless Jerry Judy goes down with an injury or he's so horrifically bad which is a possibility that he just Falls completely out of favor on the dep chart immediately it there's just no world where these guys coexist and that that really hurts the ranking of this wide receiver room because it cancels out all the variety that you could possibly have and variety unless you have like a super high-end player like Tyreek Hill and Jaylen waddle again unless you have those super high-end players which Amari Cooper just isn't anymore I think he can play in certain weeks like a top 10 wide receiver but I think sustaining that consistently is just not in the cards the older he gets the the redundancy hurts and then you get to the tight end room and David and joku who you paid who's coming off of a who came off of a great year he's my 17th ranked tight end going into this season uh I think there's a lot of tight ends who have slowly grabed gradually surpassed him just a little bit here you saw Jake Ferguson have a real breakout and I again he's and he's also he's had weeks where he's produced really well but he hasn't been that tight end outside of that one year I think it was two years ago it probably was where you saw this consistency that you get out of Mark Andrews that you get out of Dallas G that you get out of George KD that you get out of Travis Kelce He's Just Not That guy as much as they wanted him to be that guy and as much as he had that moment where people like oh he figured it out he is that guy he's just not he is somebody who does create mismatch issues because he's got an athleticism to him he's got a size advantage over you know smaller defensive backs he's going to outrun linebackers but kind of the story of this entire offense outside of Nick chub pre-injury is the consistency issue you can't have a team where you got guys your top weapons habitually disappear in the middle of games get small disappear are nowhere to be found can't get open can't separate and joku and Amari Cooper are sort of the antithesis of that and you got them both and you don't have any depth behind en joku to really make up for that you don't have like that guy you can send out there and be like this ultimate receiver who can just be who you know who would be a good comparison like somebody who's got that Evan Ingram you know archetype or like a Darren wall or archetype where they're like such pure receivers that at least open something up here you know even really have like a true great like traditional like quote six offensive line running uh tight end either so you need David and joku to come out and be consistent now maybe Ken dorsy brings something to the offensive scheme that helps that out but Dawson Knox Dalton King Cade yeah they're good talents they had good years but and joku had good years when is the great year coming when is the greatness going to sustain itself when is the greatness going to be consistent Cooper's probably aged out of that but I think I fear I genu genuinely fear that when this team is going to lose it's going to be because they just cannot push the ball down the field because they're going to have this these issues with lack of separation and I don't know I don't even know if it's lack of effort but like the the lack of mental toughness to be in a to be in a situation where you're not getting your way with every route that you're running where you're not being targeted maybe as much as you think maybe a team is you know blanketing you a little bit more than they did the week before like they do with Cooper and Cooper just gets small and disappears this is a real genuine concern for what separates this team from being a great team which I think they are and being a true Super Bowl Contender which of all the teams I have in the top 10 they may be the least likely to win a Super Bowl despite not being the 10th ranked team and maybe maybe I can be surprised here but if you play Fantasy Football out there maybe look at Elijah more more so than these other three uh to be like this sneaky uh League winner for you O-Line now one of the concerns they won't have is this offensive line they've done a great job building this offensive line to start with the pass blocking they're tied for e in the league Ethan poic has established himself as one of the best centers in the entire league and if he can repeat what he did last year he could be like in that Creed hump free conversation for centers bonio he obviously he's on the bit of a downturn he's not as great as he was at his Peak but he's still a really great interior offensive lineman especially in pass blocking Wyatt tell is sort of the opposite of him you'll see him perform tremendously in run blocking but he's also still very serviceable very good you know quality starter uh for pass blocking the tackles are the real concern here because of the injury concerns now both wills and Conlin are currently on the pup list I would would say by the beginning of the year they're probably both going to be off of it but jedric Wills has never really lived up to the hype that first round pick hype he settled in as okay you know he's like a low he's been like a more often than not like a low-end starter quality Jack Conlin's been solid he's been the solid right tackle he's he's in that category with like a Braden Smith or like a Brian O'Neal and in terms of just being really solid really reliable just needs to stay healthy and stay on the field now they had a tremendous breakout starring Dewan Jones who is maybe the best depth offensive lineman in the entire league this year and if he really shined when he had to come in to replace the injuries that they had last year probably should have been drafted way higher than he was but I really like how he's settled in to being everything that his traits projected him to be by this time next year he's going to be a starter on this team I think that jedric Wills is probably the odd man out um unless they end up losing both then I would say Dean Jones will end up playing probably right tackle if they lose both and if they just lose jri Wills I think he just goes to left tackle I think they're perfectly fine there you know Gera fet is an interesting death be Zach zinter and Javon Cohen as interior guys are pretty good Luke weer is another injury concern I really liked him coming out of Ohio State um doesn't doesn't look like he's going to be in necessarily in a position to make it happen for Cleveland unfortunately I think his career sort of settled him being a fourth interior offensive lineman at best uh especially with the I mean with them bringing in Zach ziner that sort of puts wiler's position and wher's role into real Jeopardy I would say and same thing with bringing in jvon Cohen it it it does feel like this is direct competition to Luke white Blair and if he can't get healthy then he can't perform and then he's just going to continuously fall out of favor uh Gera fet is like this hybrid you know can play inside outside he's a he's a good veteran presence to have even though if his skill set isn't necessarily top end he gets is the Run blocking their 15th in the league this is where you really lose jedric wills and Joel bonio in particular uh he bonio is just not the same you know he's not the same run blocker he used to be for uh especially last year I think he showed that uh Jed Wills just never has become a great run blocker pretty pretty slow off the line uh in the Run blocking doesn't necessarily attack as well as you would hope he would his hand placement kind of gets all wony in comparison to his pass protection uh poic is just as good as a run blocker as a pass blocker Wyatt teller takes that step up uh in run blocking and Jack Concklin sort of hovers again around that you know quality starter level overall uh which is why I feel like if he can stay healthy he'd be a smart guy to keep and just have Dean Jones play left tackle long term now Dewan Jones could very well beat out jedric Wills this season for that role uh but in run blocking dwan Jones is also just not good so you kind of run into the same issues here I think as a pass blocker he's much better than jedric Wills comparable run blockers and I think that the contract in particular for jedric wills and the upside for jedric Wills is what is sort of keeping him in that starting lineup at least early on in this season know but Zach zinter I think is a tremendous he's Zack zinter I think is positioned right now as the fourth interior offensive lineman uh really creating opportunities for them to develop and I think that he's somebody who longterm is probably going to be the bonio replacement so I would look for that I think between Dean Jones and Zack Zer they've sort of created a smooth transition like you see the Eagles do this a lot where they they will draft and they'll get guys ahead they'll put guys in the system like on the offensive defensive line in particular with the with the designation that you know not going to start year one unless they necessarily have to probably AR going to start year two unless they necessarily have to it's year three year four when they've got that experience under their belt they got the coaching up under their belt and they can be a nice smooth transition and I think Dean Jones you still want to develop him as a run blocker his giant frame should be more of an asset but sometimes you get into that situations where you could just be too big and you lose leverage a lot you just don't have the get off that you need to Be an Effective run blocker and I think dwan Jones that's what he really needs to work on Again Luke weer he's this is where where he's pretty good but I just don't know if the opportunities are going to be there uh for him with the type of drafting that they've done and the type of free free agency pickups that they've been doing uh but overall you you can see where this really helps out the floor of this offense uh especially with the pass blocking it's going to give Deshawn Watson some time so maybe he can this is going to help him get back again to what I talked about with him is that Houston Texans DeShaun Watson where he's comfortable he's patient he's able to process the defense he's going to have the time to do that if this line can stay healthy uh even if jedric Wills comes out Dewan Jones goes in you might actually get better at at pass blocking overall I think Dean Jones overall is a better player uh but it's just not the cards right now still really qual Quality Group and I think that that's going to help the overall production of the pass offense in particular which is going to give opportunities to that weapons group that I have very little faith in in the grand scheme of the long term of the season so maybe that does help them out as well overall this is my tied for 15th offense Offensive Totals so they're right smack dab in the middle of the league 18th in pass offense tied for 13th in run offense just a straight up middle of the pack offense that does have the upside to be better than this does have the upside to be better than this but unfortunately it does have a downside aspect too where it could be worse than this so finding that balance in there for this offense is going to be a real important characteristic of this season now let's move on to the D-Line defensive side of the ball we'll start with the edge room and I want you to pay attention real quick these are two different Graphics yes they are the best Edge room in both aspects for me it's just a great group you know miles Garrett and Zid Smith are the best onew punch in football right now miles Garrett coming off that Defensive Player of the Year season I think he's in perfect position to repeat it and then you got sedarius Smith who is a tremendous number two now there is the concern of how he wants to play on early Downs as less of a true pass rusher and more of like a edge setting against the Run he's still really good at that he's still like a quality starter at that but there is the concerns about effort that's why he only played I think what was it 60% of the snaps for Cleveland last year when he like of healthy snaps 60% of healthy snaps um has injury concerns that come up week to week he's almost always somebody you'll see as listed as questionable almost every week on the injury report um I think that puts urano in position where he's going to see a lot of the early down work and then you'll just see zidus Smith come in in true passing situations U miles Garrett's going to get a lot of snaps um they do need to find somebody though to play on early Downs for Miles Garrett even though he's one of the best run defending defensive ends in the entire league they do need to find some way the way to get him off the field where they don't lose such high quality and outside of o barano they don't really have that guy so that's something that they need to perhaps look into maybe you get like more of an undersized uh interior guy to play on the outside sometimes uh the way you see Chris Jones do it in Kansas City maybe that's something they can look into but when Jim Schwarz is such a quality defensive coordinator the best in the entire league he's going to figure out ways to mix and match these guys to make sure miles Garrett is at his optimal performances late in games and that sedarius Smith isn't around you know grabbing his shoulder because it's first down or it's second and two and he's wants to come off the field he's also somebody that you could put anywhere across the defensive line you saw him particularly in Green Bay he played a lot of like three and like one Tech on passing Downs because he has like this weird combination of speed and power that he can get around some of these interior offensive lineman and it does create opportunities where you could have miles Garrett sarus Smith and then any combination of okaron Alex Wright or Isaiah Maguire on the field at the same time and you're just going to continuously boost up and optimize the different types of pass rushes that you can put the different types of formation packages you can put together and it really does give Jim Schwarz a lot to work with here it gives him a real opportunity to be super creative ative uh in any given situation which does help the players cuz you see the coach getting excited you see all these different things coming up and these players are going to want these really unique packages to work so they're going to that enthusiasm that frankly you don't see a lot in professional athletes anymore because they're getting paid so much a lot of it's about the money to give them that like okay we're going to have like the schoolyard formation where it's going to be Garrett Smith Oak unle and Alex R all on the field at the same time and we're going to have miles Garrett playing three Tech we're going to have zidus Smith playing like a nine and they're the offensive coordinator and the quarterback are going to be losing their minds trying to identify where everybody is and trying to figure out where to shift to and everything it's going to be a disaster and boom sack all those things are going to come up in the film room uh with Jim Schwarz and I think that's going to be a true asset again they do need to sign somebody uh to be an early down Edge for them because when you get to the interior group here they start out tied for 15th in interior rush but with all the world of depth yes they do lack like a true High upside player but Maurice Hurst Shelby Harris Quinton Jefferson dvin Tomlinson who's on the pup list another guy on the pup list between those four guys man what a healthy rotation to have where you look when you look at the ratings you have you're not losing a whole lot when you're rotating them in and out and to have that a lot of pockets are going to be collapsing and that's only going to help out your defensive ends perform at an even higher level you got Michael Hall here who for all intents and purposes could have been that early down bigger defensive end but apparently he has an issue with keeping his hands to himself and we'll leave it at that he's still listed on the roster uh depending on how that legal situation works out he would be very likely cut which is a real shame because I believe the plan when they brought him in was to slowly integrate him situationally and have him be a part of this tremendous depth that they have with this interior group you even get to them against the run now they do take a step back in their depth but the highend guys Maurice Hurst tremendous against the Run Shelby Harris really good against the run as well well really good number two uh they do lose the depth you know dvin Thomson will need to come back because with tomenson out and Michael Hall likely out you're left with seak eeka Jaden Peavey and Quinton Jefferson not exactly super stud run stuffers now seaka can come in and you just be a giant space eater you know play play the that one Gap eat up two blocks and then let Maurice Hurst sort of do his work with his athleticism you know it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world because you're so high quality across this entire defensive line with your top end guys that you may just need somebody to eat up space that Shelby Harris just wouldn't be able to do because he doesn't have the size so maybe that does boost seaka and sort of artificially enhance his abilities that he just didn't show last year that could be a thing it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if he was on the field as your worst um defensive lineman because again of how high quality is you got an 85 Maurice Hurst an 88 in Garrett an 82 and zarius Smith 73 here and Shelby Harris Shelby Harris is somebody who I think you could look to to also be this early down bigger defensive end as part of the rotation but I think in turn you're that's when you have seak eeka and you want to get maybe a little bit bigger you have Hurst eeka Harris and then okona or miles Garrett playing the other defensive end position I think that would be an interesting front four that they could Institute here but you look at them against the Run they got the best Edge group tied for eighth here in run stuffers this could very well be the best overall defensive line in the entire league especially then when you mix tied for 15th on interior Rush with all that depth with all that depth plus what you get from your defensive ends in terms of just overall depth never mind the quality of the players they may have I think they undoubtedly have the best front four pass rush in the entire league just based upon that alone uh and that's going to really drive the quality of this defense and the performances and again help out this offense Linebackers let's move on to the linebackers now and they are tied for 11th in linebacker coverage with the Jeremiah auu coroa and Jordan Hicks as their top two linebackers for me here uh they brought in Devin Bush I don't see it I think he kind of had like one maybe two one and a half good years in Pittsburgh and just never never became the top 10 pick that Pittsburgh made him that year coming out of Michigan which is a real shame as a Michigan guy but Jordan Hicks has been like this really consistent veteran player in the league you're sort of expected him to fall off leaving Philly from Minnesota and then going to Arizona it's like okay Jordan hick is going to fall off he's going to fall off he's going to fall off now he's not the top level linebacker that he used to be when he was in Philadelphia and but as a number two he is a quality number two linebacker especially you get him here in these pass coverage situations it's a great spot for him to be in J always been a little undersized but has had has expressed great ability uh adjusting to the true linebacker position at the next level uh even when you get to them against the Run Jordan Hicks they are ti for 22nd Jordan Hicks is going to be somebody who might end up being the Green Dot linebacker because J I think would come off the field for mohhamed diabate in these situations as well if they want to run like a two linebacker Set uh on early downs but Jordan hicks's age also could play a factor in that but having diab body there uh if you want to run a more traditional 43 front you have a decent little three linebacker group there if you only want to run two linebackers you have a good substitution in diazi at least four against the Run um not so much against the pass they don't really have a death player in that uh situation maybe going out and looking for one could be part of that you want to look for maybe a defensive end against the run for some depth and then a linebacker to work in pass coverage for some depth as well uh but I I really like J he's he's in a prime position I think just because of the quality of the front four to have that true breakout season like get to that next level of linebacker in the league get to that top level top 10 linebacker uh position that he's that he's currently just short of I would say I would say if you ranked him anywhere between 20th and 15th best linebacker in the league that would be a fair ranking for him overall uh I think that with another year of Jim Schwarz another year of a great front four with all that depth that they have he's just not going to be the focus of a quarterback pre- snap he's not going to be the necessarily the focus of an offensive coordinator in preparation leading up to that game with all the other Talent they have around him so he sort of gets to play behind the scenes here and that is really going to open up opportunities for him because he is a great athlete he could very well he's like an undersized linebacker oversized safety so he can play a different number of positions out there put him in different number of matchups depending on what your opponent is and what their uh roster looks like and how they design their offense is and you could be a sneaky even though it's basically an edge rusher award he's like a sneaky breakout Player of the Year candidate at least not so much a defensive player of the year candidate because again that's an edge rusher award at this point but man I would really want to highlight him if I'm a Browns fan to be that guy who elevates this defense to yet another level uh with his growth in performance moving on to the corner Defensive Backs corers now the uh and I might be a little bit I'm lower on the cornerback room as a whole than most people are most people have this quarterback room as top five in the league now I think the potential of it is great I think they can play like a top five group but I think they can play like a top five group because of how quality the front four is again they got the they're working with probably the best front four in the league so here on the back end quarterbacks are going to have to be quick with the ball it allows them to play a lot lot more instinctually allows them to play maybe some more tight coverage on the outside and I I do like Greg Nome to continue to develop I do think like I said in talking about Jim Schwarz how he helps Elevate Newsome and Emerson in particular really is going to determine the future of Denzel Ward because it does there has been this feel the last year or two that Denzel ward has sort of lost his spot thought as like a top five top eight cornerback in the league and that maybe they need to move on from him because of you know contract and the money stuff maybe this is like the second wind for Denzel ward he can get back to that level and they can justify it you know maybe they feel like they're underpaying him at that point but they've also invested so much in this cornerback room uh even you know miles Harden's another rookie they brought in they have Justin Hardy who's basically a special teams guy khif Hal halasi who I think is coming over from Kansas City he's worked his way into being like a fourth corner almost on this team so maybe they might be shifting a little bit away from a Denzel Ward even though Denzel Ward comes in with that 87 grade I still think he's a really good number one there's just concern about his play on this team you know maybe I'm just giving a little too much Ownage to the rumor Mills maybe I'm just looking too deeply into the day one day two Investments they've made into this defensive back room in particular maybe I am looking a little too much into that but I know I'm not the only one in that event who would be looking too much into it I know that seems to be a concern across the board uh Denzel Ward's long-term future him and Amari Cooper seem to fall into that same category with this team uh now I think a lot of that has to do with DeShaun Watson's contract uh that high level investment is kind sort of screwing up who they can pay otherwise you know the miles Garrett is going to be at some point soon very soon probably making $40 million a year I don't think that's too far out of the question uh so there's just not enough money to go around here um and with an aging corner wide receiver that could that's really a a thing but I still think Denzel Ward can go to a team even even on this team he's still going to elevate this group obviously because Greg Newsome to me is not ready to be a number one corner how Jim Schwarz develops him this year if he does start looking like a number one corner that I do think Denzel Ward is gone if he doesn't that also puts Denzel ward in a position where he's got some leverage here you go to the safety group they're 15th here in safety coverage Grant delpit Juan Thornhill delpit's starting to come along man he starting to look like the guy who had all that hype coming out of LSU where the draft Community had him as like a top 10 pick for a while there sort of fell out of favor but he's getting back he's starting to show that he's that guy uh Juan Thornhill is a great compliment to him there on the back end uh again you're looking for depth pieces here Rodney McLoud just fell off a cliff and I think he's going to continue to fall off a cliff unfortunately age caught up with him Ronnie Hickman is sort of like this low ceiling High floor type depth piece I think could continue uh his development and I think become a reasonable third option at safety long term for this team uh you get into DB against the Run they are 29th they do lose a lot there on the back end now they're they have such good quality uh in again in that front four and then the linebackers are going to get opportunities that this may not be a factor all that much at all for this defense uh but again you do want to be better at this you want delpit and Thornhill in particular to get want to get their their hands dirty a little bit more in run support um not the worst there are starters in this league that are worse than them but I think just again not the highest ceiling for DB run support here I do think that this safety coverage I think this is where the ceiling gets a lot higher uh again especially with how good that pass rush is going to be it's going to give these guys opportunities to jump deep routes to be a little bit more instinctual to commit maybe a little bit earlier in a play to open up more opportunities for themselves I think you can say the same thing about these quarterbacks um you know Denzel Ward's going to be falling around the number one receiver so Greg new and Martin Emerson are going to need to step up they're going to need to be the ones to make plays and create turnovers because the balls are going to be thrown their way more often than it's going to be thrown Denzel Wards way I think by a large margin um teams are going to identify where Miles Garrett is they're going to identify which side of the field Denzel Awards on and then they're going to try to exploit everywhere else so overall this is my seventh Defensive Totals ranked defense in the league the fifth rank pass defense with tremendous potential to even be number one by the end of the year and a tied for 10th run defense just it's the upside of this group is just so above and beyond what you would expect and it happened so quickly they did such a great job building this roster on the defensive side of the ball committing to prospects and getting a defensive coach in there that elevates everybody so they are the Overall Grade seventh ranked team in this series they have the sixth best coaching staff seventh best defense tied for 15th in offense that's the only issue that's the only issue now and again the offense is so volatile that I think it will drive the overall success of this team more so th this is the most volatile ranking because of the offense and how volatile that quality of what they can be week to week is and there you have it my number seven team in my 2024 NFL Deep dive series the Outro Cleveland Browns are they even going to be this good are they going to be significantly worse than this you guys tell me it's going to be an interesting team to watch I think they'll be a fun team to watch and leave a comment in the comment section below about all those questions I just asked leave a thumbs up because you've made it this far and helps with the algorithm subscribe so you don't miss any of the other videos and if you have missed any of the other videos would you look at that they're on the other side of my head and check out my cool new logo there you can subscribe and I will see you guys with the next video next time