Archive for the ‘Cleveland’ Category

2007 Offensive Coordinator / Fantasy Football Preview - Cleveland Browns

Sunday, August 12th, 2007

Romeo Crennel - third season as head coach
Rod Chudzinski - first season as offensive coordinator

Background:
Rob Chudzinski comes from two years of work with San Diego, as their TE coach. His move to be the Browns OC only further raises the profile of Kellen Winslow in Cleveland’s offense. In addition to Chudzinksi’s time with Antonio Gates, Rob has worked with K2 previously when he was the OC at UM from 2001-03. His hiring by the Browns is a clear effort to better utilize the most athletic and instinctive tight end in the game (when, you know, healthy…).

Philosophy:
It’s still early to tell, but given the situation at quarterback, I expect to Browns to base their game on the run and use a lot of playaction to get Winslow involved. The Browns have two good running backs now (below) that compliment each other well and enough talent at the receiving position to improve from one of the worst offenses in 2006 to somewhere in the 15-20 range, at least.

Players
Jamal Lewis is down from the 250-255 lbs he’s played at in recent years, weighing in at a svelt 235 lbs in 2007. In the Browns first preseason game against the Chiefs, Lewis looked as strong as ever, but much faster to the hole and even a bit of a threat again around the edge. Lewis was catching the ball well out of the backfield and looks like a very different runner.

Adding to the optimism for Lewis, he signed a one year contract in the offseason and is really playing with something to prove.

“I’m with a new team, so I felt as if I needed to do something new,” he said of his weight loss. “The Browns say they plan on running me a lot more, and I have to be ready.

“This is a fresh start for me, and I want to take it to another level.”

In a recent USA Today article, Lewis pulled no punches on his situation with his former team.

“It was just a bad deal, man,” he says. “I didn’t get along with Coach (Brian) Billick. He didn’t get along with me. There was just a lot of turmoil going on. I needed to go.”

Lewis rips the Ravens for their personnel moves, maintaining the team didn’t do enough to support the rushing game.

“What did they do to make the running game better? Did they bring in new offensive linemen? No,” he says. “They brought in a new quarterback (Steve McNair) … but got rid of Darnell Dinkins, a blocking tight end.

“You know (Brian) Billick. He wants to throw the ball, anyway. I didn’t fit their scheme. I was ready to go. I was tired of just being beat up and talked about.”

Lewis stiff-arms the idea that the ankle problems and that offseason at a prison camp contributed to the spiral.

“That didn’t bother me,” he says. “That just made me go out and want to do better. It was just like they weren’t letting me do my job and they weren’t supporting me. … A 2,000-yard rusher does not forget how to run the football. Somebody may forget how to rush the football. Now I’m in a better place. ”

Interesting words from Lewis, who I think is still at part to blame for his poor seasons in Baltimore. But this new Lewis looks like a real threat again, and a probable top 10 RB in 2007.

Lewis’ addition allows Jerome Harrison to assume the third down, change of pace role he’s more suited for. This should be a good duo.

And the Browns offensive line will be better in 2007. Injuries and poor personnel led the 2006 OL to 31st ranking 3.71 adjusted line yards per carry, according to Football Prospectus. The drafting of Joe Thomas helps immediately, as well as the offseason signing of left guard run blocking specialist Eric Steinbach. That left side duo will be a force this season, if healthy.

At receiver, the Browns intend to use former college quarterback Josh Cribbs as a slash player, ala Kordell Stewart but more like the Jets’ Brad Smith. Right now, Cribbs is more of a threat out of the backfield and in space than as a pure receiver, but he’s learning the position in his third NFL season and has the size and skills to be slot / special teams / 3rd down a playmaker on this team.

Braylon Edwards’ career won’t live up to the talent he possesses until he becomes more of a consistent and reliable option. Considering this passing game will be built around Winslow, I’d expect to see Edwards’ production to continue to be disappointing.

Charlie Frye suffers a bit from the Joey Harrington syndrome, where he’ll look solid for 90% of his plays and then do enough in the remaining 10% to completely screw his team.

Frye has Elway-like skills in the pocket and when on the move. He’s sees the field well and is surprisingly elusive, but just doesn’t make the best decisions to be a real #1 QB for a playoff team. Derrick Anderson seems to be struggling still with the speed on the NFL game, so Frye will be in early until Quinn is ready to play.

The Browns defense, in their third year with the 3-4, finally looks like its ready to be in the top half of the league. They are still old on the DL, but their linebacking unit - with the offseason addition of 3-4 OLB specialist Antwan Peek and the continued development of star OLB Kamerion Winbley - could be one of the best in the league. In the secondary, Leigh Bodden is the most underrated DB in the NFL, but needs to stay healthy for an entire season to earn the accolades he deserves. Fast-rising rookie CB Eric Wright should start on the opposite side to form a decent unit in the defensive backfield. Peek should help with their run defense, but the Browns will likely still be in the 20-32 ranking against the rush.

2006 | Week 2 - Cleveland Browns

Thursday, September 21st, 2006

17-34 at CIN

Targets stats only this week.

CATCHES / TARGETS:
Edwards - 4/9
Winslow - 4/7
Northcutt - 3/5
Heiden - 2/4
Droughns - 3/3
Harrison - 2/2
Cribbs - 1/1
Smith - 1/1

2006 | Week 1 - Cleveland Browns

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

14-19 vs NO

The Browns leading rusher in week one was Charlie Frye. Still, I think only the offensive line is holding this team back now. Of course they’re on their 6th center. But with KII lining up at WR for half the snaps, and Braylon Edwards looking strong despite playing at around 80%, this team will be able to move the ball on offense. The loss of Joe Jurevicious is a big one, however, and injuries are really already taking away from what could have been a .500 season for Romeo Crennel’s team.

Charlie Frye really shows great pocket pressence, especially for a guy just in his second professional year. He reminds me a bit of John Elway in the pocket - a comparison especially nice for Browns fans - by the way he feels the rush and moves a little unconventionally in and out of space.

I’m interested to see if the Browns secondary can matchup against the Bengals passing game. If so, this defense may be able to carry Cleveland to a few extra wins this season.

Targets/Catches:
Winslow - 8/10
Northcut - 4/6
Edwards - 2/6
Heiden - 1/2
Smith - 1/1
Cribbs - 0/1
Harrison - 0/1

Cleveland Browns - Week 13

Wednesday, December 7th, 2005

14-20 vs Jacksonville

Charlie Frye led his team well in his first career NFL start. The former Akron QB has a arm that is more accurate than it is strong, and an odd ( almost short-armed) throwing motion. He showed better than advertised mobility and very good game awareness for a rookie. On his first TD pass to Edwards, the Jags jumped offsides and in turn Frye threw the ball into double coverage for Edwards, who came down with the pass in the end zone.

He looks like he has the potential to be what the Browns need (read: hope), but at this point he’s not much more than a tall Jeff Garcia.

Edwards’ season ending injury came in the fourth quarter, so we’ll have to wait to see who the Browns look to to step up as the #2 receiver.

Cleveland outgained the Jags 243 to 80 over the first two quarters but then Jacksonville came out after halftime looking to stop the run and the Browns ended up with -11 yards for the entire third quarter.

TARGETS(catches):
Edwards- 7(5)
Bryant- 6(3)
Shea- 2(1)
Jackson- 2(2)
Northcutt- 1(1)
Heiden- 1(1)
Droughns- 1(0)

Week 12 - Cleveland Browns

Tuesday, November 29th, 2005

12-24 at Minnesota

The Browns simply got away from their run game too much in this game. They dropped back to pass on nearly two-thirds of their total plays despite never being down by more than two scores until midway through the fourth quarter.

Braylon Edwards showed his immaturity (football) on Dilfer’s first INT as Edwards was given a well thrown pass in the soft area of a zone coverage and Edwards let the ball tip off his fingers and into the defenders arms. Consistency was the biggest concen teams had about Edwards coming out of Michigan and he’s not doing anything to help himself out of that hole with these kind of plays. Koren Robinson committed a very similar error a few drive later for the Vikings.

TARGETS(catches):
Heiden- 8(5)
Bryant- 7(2)
Edwards- 7(4)
Droughns- 6(5)
Jackson- 5(5)
Northcutt- 2(2)

Wednesday Football

Wednesday, October 19th, 2005

Cincinnati Bengals
Marvin Lewis may have outsmarted himself to start this game. The Bengals came out and tried to play a conservative, ball control road game in the first half. But with two minutes left, they were losing 0-10 and Plamer had thrown just six passes so far. So in their hurry up offense, the Bengals came out and ran 9 plays (all passes, all completions) for 79 yards and a touchdown. This Titans team is better than most think, but their one obvious weakness is against the pass and you’ve got to come out flying in order to beat them. And to second that point, Palmer completed 81.8% of his 33 pass attempts in the game.

Chris Perry got 4 chances (run and pass) inside the red zone, giving him 10 on the season. That’s second on the team behind Rudi’s 17.

The Bengals still have not found a way to keep teams from running up the middle against them. And they have to face the Steelers this week.
TARGETS(cathces):
Johnson- 9(8)
CPerry- 9(9)
Walter- 5(4)
Washington- 3(2)
JJohnson- 3(1)
Henry- 2(1)
RJohnson- 1(1)
Schobel- 1(1)

Tennessee Titans
The Titans really picked up a couple of good receivers in last year’s draft (Jones, Roby). And it’s a good thing too. Tyrone Calico hasn’t looked like much more than a 4th receiver this season. He was solely to blame on McNair’s first INT that Odell Thurman returned for a touchdown.

In only one game this season (week two) have the Titans tight ends, as a group, been thrown less than 11 passes.

I’m not exactly sure who it was, but the play-by-play man covering this game for CBS must have used the word ‘beautiful’ to describe a pass at least 15 times, and I’m not exaggerating. At one point, it did so on four straight plays and only a McNair incompletion could stop him.

This game ended with a real smart job of coaching on the part of Jeff Fischer. Down by 11 with less than a minute to go, the Titans were able to get a first down on Cincy’s 30 yard line. And rather than spend more time trying to get a touchdown, the Titans spiked the ball to stop the clock and then kicked a field goal to bring them within 8 points of tying the game. Tennessee did not retrieve the resulting onside kick, but you still have to appriciate what that kind of winning attitude will do for a young team like this.
TARGETS(cathces):
Jones- 12(5)
Bennett- 11(7)
Kinney- 5(4)
Troupe- 5(4)
Brown- 2(3)
Calico- 2(1)
Roby- 1(1)
Scaife- 1(1)

—
Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens finally played fast and physical on defense and special teams. For the first time this season, they looked to me like a hungry team.

Anthony Wright played a smart game, but by no means was he a playmaker out there against the Browns. He did do a good job at getting the ball to the guys that need to get it most: Mason and Heap. The Browns could not cover Todd Heap. He finally looks healthy and ready to make a difference.

Mark Clayton had an end-around touchdown called back by a holding penalty. The Ravens had 11 total penalties for 97 yards. That’s 32 for 244 in two weeks.

Dear Jamal: HIT THE HOLE RUNNING! You’re dancing behind the line like you think you’re Michael Jackson. Lewis was easily the third best running back on the field this past Sunday in Baltimore.
TARGET(catches):
Mason- 8(8)
Heap- 7(6)
Taylor- 6(4)
Lewis- 3(2)
Hymes- 2(1)
Clayton- 1(1)
Wilcox- 1(1)

Cleveland Browns
This game was a lot like the first three quarters of the Browns game last week against Chicago. The Ravens’ offense was unable to score in the second half, but unlike the Bears, Baltimore’s defense held up. And despite the final score, the Browns were competitive throughout this game.
TARGETS(catches):
Norhtcut- 9(4)
Bryant- 6(4)
Heiden- 5(4)
Shea- 4(3)
Jackson- 3(0)
Droughns- 1(1)
Green- 1(0)

—
San Diego Chargers
With an early lead, the Chargers played a real conservative football game in Oakland. They also used Antonio Gates as a decoy for most of the game; often throwing underneath his routes to Peelle, Neal, or LT.

Keenan McCardell dropped an easy pass in the end zone. It would have been his 6th touchdown of the season.
TARGETS(catches):
Tomlinson- 5(2)
Gates- 4(2)
Neal- 4(4)
McCardell- 3(2)
Peelle- 3(3)
Parker- 1(1)
Caldwell- 1(1)

Oakland Raiders
The Raiders’ defense started this game fired up and ready to stop the run. But their offense wasn’t up to the task. Collins was forced to rush his throws thoughout the game.

This team can still move the ball with Jerry Porter and Doug Gabriel as their top wideouts, but it’s really the play of their underachieving offensive line that is going to determine whether or not Oakland can get back into the playoff race.
TARGETS(catches):
Porter- 12(5)
Gabriel- 11(5)
Jordan- 7(6)
Anderson- 6(2)
Whitted- 5(4)
Moss- 3(0)
Zlemister- 1(0)

—
Washington Redskins
Another game is in the books where Clinton Portis looks great running in a single back set, and not so great having to find room behind lead blockers.

The Redskins have done a great job at getting Santana Moss the ball where he can do the most damage; near the line of scrimmage or way down the field. Over last three weeks, Moss has been thrown 12, 13, and 14 passes respectively.

Fox Sports brought in an interesting stat. After Tony Gonzalez drew a defensive pass interference call on the Redskins with 5:40 left in the first quarter, Fox noted that it was the first of such penalty Washington’s defense has been guilty of all season.

Chris Cooley really does a good job playing that tweener H-back spot for this team. And he runs faster than I thought he could.
TARGETS(catches):
Moss- 14(10)
Cooley- 8(6)
Patten- 6(2)
Thrash- 4(2)
Portis- 4(4)
Royal- 2(0)
Sellers- 1(1)

Kansas City Chiefs
With Willie Roaf back in the lineup, it was believed that Tony Gonzalez would see more opportunities to catch the ball. Over the last few weeks, KC has had to use their tight ends in pass blocking a little more than they are used to and it obviously hurt Gonzo’s already slipping pass production. In this game, the Redskins often used three defenders to contain Gonzo, but on those downs #88 was left to run against single coverage, Green looked for him immediately.

KC seems to be using more 3 WR sets than I remember them running in the past. And I wonder what happened to their high hopes for TE Kris Wilson. I didn’t see him at all in this game.

The Chiefs came out in the second half running a couple of different of screen passes and they ended up scoring on their first possession of the third quarter. Then on defense, KC came after Mark Brunnell hard until Moss hit that 80 yard flanker screen. Later in the game, the Chiefs scored the game winner on another screen pass, this time a 60 yarder to Holmes.

This was a strong game from both teams and one that could have gone either way.
TARGETS(catches):
Gonzalez- 6(2)
Holmes- 6(5)
Parker- 3(2)
Boerigter- 3(2)
Hall- 2(2)
Kennison- 2(0)
Dunn- 1(1)
Johnson- 1(1)
Richardson- 1(0)

Sunday Football II

Sunday, October 2nd, 2005

I had this written from earlier in the week, but somehow forgot to post:

CLE- The Browns are playing good football. They’re not trying to do things they can’t do well and Trent Dilfer is really doing a good job at getting the football out of his hands. Antonio Bryant had a good game against the Colts, with 7 catches on 10 targets. Braylon Edwards went 4 for 7, and Frisman Jackson was just 2 for 3. Steve Heiden picked up 2 catches on 2 passes, as he’s still the #1 TE on this team. Dilfer completed 75.9 percent of his passes and the Browns converted 6 of 14 third downs.
IND- Okay. It’s time for Tom Moore to add something new to this offense. Defenses are using against the Colts a variation of 3 deep and something I’ll just call for now a 2 and a half deep zone. They are forcing Manning to drive the length of the field on 8+ play drives and thereby shortening the game and for the most part, avoiding a shootout. The Jags did this to the Colts last year and had great success. New England too. Now it seems, everyone is doing it and it’s time for Indy to add something new. The Colts are 3-0, so it’s not like they are in trouble, but the ground game needs to be more explosive in order to bring those three deep players back towards the line of scrimmage. Brandon Stokely had just 1 target against the Browns, Reggie Wayne had 6, and Marvin Harrison had 8. The tight ends played big role against the Browns, with Dallas Clark earning 4 passes (including one inside the red zone) and impressive looking Bryan Fletcher catching 2 passes on 2 targets. The Colts have Tennessee, San Fran, St Louis, and Houston before their week 8 bye, so I don’t think they’re going to do too much to change until then. They can easily do what they’re doing and be 8-0 or 7-1 before they face the Pats in week 9.

Also, beware of the Texans and the Lions today. Dominick Davis, Tony Hollings, and/or Jonathan Wells should combine for 35-40 carries today. And the Bucs weakness on defense (nickel and dime coverage) is a strength for the Lions.

Friday Football

Friday, September 23rd, 2005

AFC Targets, and related team news from Week Two:

BAL- In their first game with Anthony Wright at quarterback, Derrick Mason was the most active Ravens receiver. He caught 8 passes on 10 targets for 60 yards and a score. The tightends, all three of them, were again heavily featured. Heap, Wilcox, and Dinkins had 11 total passes thrown their way. With a bye this week, Baltimore’s top priority is to find their running game.

BUF- J.P. Losman was lucky he didn’t leave Tampa with two or three interceptions to his credit. Josh Reed picked up 7 targets, as did Eric Moulds. But the real story with the Bills right now is with their running back, Willis McGahee. He and Coach Mularkey have had a minor media fued this week in reference to McGahee’s running style lately. I, too, noticed in the preseason that he looked hesitant. The 1-1 Bills face another tough defense this week as they host Atlanta, and McGahee needs to show that he can dominate games because J.P. Losman can’t.

CIN- After picking up 4 more targets against the Vikings, Chris Perry now has 10 total on the season. He also had an impressive 87 yard flare pass called back on Sunday by a holding penalty. Chad Johnson was again the team leader, with 13. He’s on pace for a 184 target season (last year he had 158). Chris Henry looked good, catching 4 of the 4 passes thrown his way. And T.J. Houshmandzadeh picked up 4 red zone targets.

CLE- Trent Dilfer is doing a good job so far this season at getting the ball out of his hands quickly. He’s also spreading his targets around well. Steve Heiden led the team with 8, as the Packers have been hurt by tight ends a lot this year (Marcus Pollard in week 1). Billy Miller also got a chance in the end zone that was knocked away by a defender. As expected, Frisman Jackson only had two passes thrown his way and everyone saw what Braylon Edwards did with three of his four targets. The Browns will face a very fast Colts defense this week, and I expect their rather immobile offensive line to have all kinds of troubles.

DEN- The Broncos did all they could to lose to the Chargers, but it didn’t take. Denver turned the ball over twice inside the Chargers’ 30 and Elam missed two field goals in their first 8 possessions. But 10 fourth quarter points led them to a key divisional victory. Rod Smith (11) and Ashley Lelie (10) led the team in targets and Jeb Putzier had a surprisingly low 3. Charlie Adams seems to still be the #3 WR, as he got 4 passes thrown to him. Darius Watts had just one. The Broncos host KC on Monday night, and they should doing so with an 0-2 record. Still, they also could have beaten San Diego by three touchdowns. Denver’s defense played well.

HOU- Awful.

IND- The Colts are going to expload this week, I can just feel it. They’ve faced two of the best defenses in the league, and yes they are going against Romeo Crennel this week but his Browns just don’t have the talent to do what the Pats have done in the past. Dallas Clark played his first game of the season and he picked up 3 targets. The WR trio maitained their form; Harrison 8, Wayne 7, Stokely 5.

JAX- Reggie Williams continued his rise, with 4 catches on 5 targets. The Jags also kept Matt Jones involved with 3 targets. But Jimmy Smith is still the clear #1. He picked up 7 passes.

KC- Almost by default, Eddie Kennison is still the top WR on the Chiefs. He had a career high 1086 yards in just 14 games last year. He picked up 102 targets last year and is on pace for 104 this season. But I still like #2 guy Sammy Parker. He had 6 passes thrown to him against Oakland, catching 3 for a 28.7 ypc average. In the red zone, the Chiefs went to their running backs 10 times in week one, and 11 times last week. Tony Gonzalez has just two RZ chances on the season. He’s a little behind his three year average of 21.6 and he’s got those talented Denver linebackers to deal with this week.

MIA- Randy McMichael was busy against the Jets, pulling in 8 passes on 11 targets. On the year, he has 14 catches on 18 targets, and four looks inside the red zone. Chris Chambers is also getting a lot of passes, as he has 20 targets on the year and five inside the twenty. But Chambers only has 6 receptions so far.

NE- Daniel Graham only got one pass thrown his way in week two, but it was a 1 yard touchdown strike. Ben Watson is still the top TE target, he got 5 more passes thrown to him against Carolina. Deion Branch (14, 25 in two weeks) is the clear #1 and David Givens (9) a solid #2 guy. New England’s offense really struggled last week. They only ran one play in the red zone (Graham) and that was only after Troy Brown’s 71 yard pass play that ended on the 1. Their best starting field position was from their own 33 and they made it into Carolina territory just four times (TD, INT, FG, Fumble).

NYJ- Laveranues Coles and Justin McCareins had identical target numbers in week two (10 and 8, respectively). Not too much else going on here. The Jets are still finding their way around their new offense.

OAK- Lamont Jordan had a tough time hanging on to the ball against the Chiefs. He caught just 6 of the 11 passes thrown to him. Many of those incompletes were due to Jordan trying to run with the catch too soon. I still think he’s a above average receiver, especially considering his size. The errors he made Sunday night were not really physical; he definitely has the hands to catch 70-80 passes this year and he’s obviously going to get the chance to in this offense (see the OAK preview). After two weeks, it looks like I might be wrong about Randy Moss. He’s got 10 catches and two scores so far and that’s in line with the projections I had him at. But the 257 yards he’s racked up is way ahead of the pace I’d thought he’d go on. In fact, he’s on pace for 2056 and even though it’s only two games, I didn’t see him getting to 1600. But that looks to be where Moss is headed. He’s getting the ball thrown to him plenty (22 total targets). Jerry Porter had 11 targets in week two and with Ronald Curry out of the year, Porter should see an increase in his production. Also look for Doug Gabriel to make an impact as he returns this week from a finger injury.

PIT- All of these crazy Pittsburgh stats are either very misleading or they underscore how fantastic this team is playing. We’ll find out this week, but from my point of view, it looks like they are rolling.

SD- The Chargers got Antonio Gates involved right away, as he went 8 for 8 in passes. Keenan McCardell continued his high pace with 8 more targets, giving him 22 on the year. And not only has LT not caught a pass all season, but he’s only been thrown one ball.

TEN- Steve McNair used his back heavily against the Ravens, throwing 15 passes to the trio of Chris Brown, Travis Henry, and Troy Fleming. In turn, the tight ends saw considerably fewer balls (4, down from 13). The wide receivers were led by Drew Bennett (8) and Brandon Jones (6). The Titans are back on the road to St. Louis this week.

And from the NFC…
CAR- The Pats were focused on slowing Steve Smith. He only had 4 catches on 6 targets for 34 yards. Keary Colbert had 7 balls thrown his way but didn’t come down with one. Ricky Proehl stepped up for the Panthers, catching 3 of 3. And Rod Gardner, who reportedly has been slow to learn the offense, picked up one red zone chance. It’s Stephen Davis’ team inside the twenty, he scored 3 RZ touchdowns on 6 chances.

2005 Fantasy Football / Offensive Coordinator Preview - Cleveland Browns

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2005

INDEX

Maurice Carthon
-entering first season with the Browns

This one’s going to be brief and there’s one obvious reason for that: fantasy stars don’t come from 3-13 football teams. Chris Chambers only had a 28th best, 898 yards last year. Kevan Barlow gained a 25th best 822 yards last year. And Cleveland had, well, a disappointing running back by committee and a team leading WR who scored just two touchdowns all season.

Romeo Crennel hired former Giants fullback and two-time Super Bowl Champion Maurice Carthon to run the Browns offense this season. Carthon spent the previous two season in Dallas with Bill Parcells, where he managed an offense that finished 15th and 17th in total yards. In part because Carthon is rooted in the ground game, and in part because the Cowboys have had trouble throwing the football, the Cowboys totaled 963 rushing attempts in the two seasons under Carthon and Bill Parcells. And judging by the way the talent is lining up in Cleveland for this season, it looks like the Browns will run the ball close to 500 times this year.

Leading the way will be a revamped offensive line led by free agent signees Joe Andruzzi from NE, Cosey Coleman from TB, and L.J. Shelton from Arizona. They will join center Jeff Faine and right tackle Ryan Tucker as a group that absolutely must step up and play well for the Browns. The pressure is on the line because this team will begin the season with a 33 year old pocket quarterback, three quality starting running backs, and a group of young, inconsistent wide receivers.

Between Lee Suggs, William Green, and Reuben Droughns, Cleveland will have the ability to run the football all season long. And they’ll have to shorten games in order to protect their defense. The question is then, who will be their starting running back? Suggs reminds me a lot of Chris Brown, which is an odd statement because they both came out of the same draft class. Suggs shares that breakaway ability that Brown has displayed, but he also shares a high injury frequency. Reports early out of camp indicate that Green is impressing his new coaches with his work habits, but the darkhorse of the bunch appear to be Droughns.

The Browns, afterall, traded for the former Bronco RB/FB and he is the most consistent of the trio. Suggs is saying he’ll start, and he probably has the highest potential of any of the backs, I just think at some point this season the Browns will eventually turn to Droughns. Either way, it doesn’t matter. This running back competition is an afterthought in fantasy football since you’d have to use three picks to secure a position that has a ceiling of 1200 yards and 5 touchdowns.