Moparman;858612 wrote:Anyone heading to the game Saturday night?

Ha...I'll be lucky if I watch more than the first teamers.

BR1986FB;858664 wrote:Ha...I'll be lucky if I watch more than the first teamers.

Normally I don't watch past the starters but I'm interested to see what this Jarrett Brown kid has got. People seem to be raving about him...

Y-Town Steelhound;858666 wrote:Normally I don't watch past the starters but I'm interested to see what this Jarrett Brown kid has got. People seem to be raving about him...

Yep...any thought of Terrelle Pryor as a "developmental QB" should be squashed from what I've heard of this kid. Looks more like an NFL QB than Pryor.

BR1986FB;858676 wrote:Yep...any thought of Terrelle Pryor as a "developmental QB" should be squashed from what I've heard of this kid. Looks more like an NFL QB than Pryor.

Personally I think of him more as a "developmental WR"

Y-Town Steelhound;858679 wrote:Personally I think of him more as a "developmental WR"

You, me and everbody else except Pryor & Drew Rosenhaus ($$$$) do too...

Mr Miyagi;858338 wrote:jut proves to Miyagi that keeping Mangini around last year was a waste and actually put us behind a full year. To not talk to a qb because " you didnt draft him" or not giving him the game plan till wed just goes to show we should not have waited

I agree. I'm disappointed when I see stuff coming out that makes Mangini look like a petulant little girl. No excuse for not including McCoy other than pettiness. They should have canned him before last season...and had I known about this stuff, I'd have said so instead of defending him for one more season.

Writerbuckeye;858692 wrote:I agree. I'm disappointed when I see stuff coming out that makes Mangini look like a petulant little girl. No excuse for not including McCoy other than pettiness. They should have canned him before last season...and had I known about this stuff, I'd have said so instead of defending him for one more season.

+1...the stuff that's coming out now like the reluctance to put guys like Jayme & Carlton Mitchell on the field and not giving Lauvao a spot after he returned from injury kinda pissed me off too. Granted, Mangini was "coaching for his life" but I think those guys may have given him a better shot to win.

Johnny Knox wants a trade...hes a guy that turns a 5 yard catch into a 70 yard TD...go get him.

bases_loaded;858702 wrote:Johnny Knox wants a trade...hes a guy that turns a 5 yard catch into a 70 yard TD...go get him.

This has been discussed on the OBR. Surprising how this guy went from being a key contributor to 4th or 5th on the depth chart. Seems like the Bears are more WR "rich" than they've been in awhile. Hopefully (doubtful) that spells doom for Sanzenbacher so he can find his way into an Orange & Brown uniform.

http://cle.scout.com/2/1094682.html

God, we can only HOPE....

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Daniel Wolf/National Football Authority
By Bob Evans
Senior Writer

The Cleveland Browns receiving corps was easily the worst in the NFL last season.

If you count receptions by players who are deemed wide receivers, the five players for the Browns totaled 129 receptions for 1,438 yards. Or for those of you who need easier numbers for comparison, 14 receptions more than Atlanta Falcons Pro Bowl receiver Roddy White and 10 less yards receiving than Denver Broncos Pro Bowler Brandon Lloyd.

I mean, you know things are bad when two of the Browns top three leading receivers were tight end Ben Watson (763 yards) and running back Peyton Hillis (477 yards). In fact, those two had the same amount of receptions as the five Browns receivers on the season, as Watson had 68 and Hillis had 61 for a total of 129.

You can’t put all the blame on the Browns receivers though. When your team starts the season with Jake Delhomme under center, then has Seneca Wallace take over due to injury and then finally third-round rookie draft pick Colt McCoy takes over when Wallace goes down with an injury, it may be a little tough to develop any type of rhythm with your quarterback.

After the 2010 season ended with the Browns in their usual place, on the couch at home watching the playoffs, many fans thought the team would go out and either draft one of the top two available wide receivers (A.J. Green from Georgia or Julio Jones from Alabama) or throw big money at a veteran free agent like Santonio Holmes or Sidney Rice.

However, fans could not have been more wrong, as the team not only passed on drafting Jones by trading down, but they also left free agency without any major additions to the receiving corps. In fact, outside of second-round draft pick Greg Little from North Carolina, one could say the Browns did not do anything to their group of receivers.

But they could not be more wrong.

See, it was not so long ago that another “small” quarterback was taking over a franchise in a state of flux. In 2006, Drew Brees signed a deal to become the starting quarterback of a team coming off a 3-13 season. While I know Brees was already an accomplished quarterback with the San Diego Chargers and McCoy still has much to prove, my focus here is on the receivers, not who was under center.

Can you venture a guess at how many “big name” receivers Brees has had when he signed with the New Orleans Saints? Well I’m going to make it easy on you, none.

Yeah, Marques Colston is a household name now, but back in 2006 he was a seventh-round draft pick out of Hofstra. The Saints did not think he would make the roster when they drafted him, let alone post four 1,000-yard receiving seasons in his first five years in the NFL. The rest of the team’s leading receivers from the Brees era are listed below:

Lance Moore, 2005 Undrafted Free Agent from Toledo
Robert Meachem, 2007 First-Round Pick from Tennessee
Devery Henderson, 2004 Second-Round from LSU
Joe Horn, 1996 Fifth-Round Pick from Itawamba Community College
David Patten, 1996 Undrafted Free Agent from Western Carolina

The team also had the likes of tight ends Jeremy Shockey and running back Reggie Bush too. The point is the New Orleans Saints have been dominating the NFL in passing without top wide receivers in the draft or big name veteran free agents and they grew within the system itself.

What the Saints do is trust in the system and their quarterback. They gave Brees the keys to their version of the West Coast offense. Their fans don’t clamor for big name wide receivers, because they trust in their quarterback to put the ball on their compilation of guys who know how to run routes and catch the ball. And I think the Saints have been doing a pretty good job at it.

So when the Browns enter the 2011 season with the likes of Brian Robiskie, Mohamed Massaquoi (currently injured), Josh Cribbs, Little, Carlton Mitchell and Jordan Norwood as McCoy’s wide receivers, don’t panic and start screaming for Terrell Owens. The big change to the receiving corps won't be the addition of any "big name" players, it will be the installation of a new offense which will allow them to do what they are supposed to do best—catch the ball.

Under the direction of Pat Shurmur and Mike Holmgren’s West Coast offense, you will soon see it does not matter how big of a name the receiver has. What matters is that the guys can run the routes effectively and catch the passes thrown to them. It has worked with the combination of head coach Sean Peyton and Brees in New Orleans since 2006 when they came together, and it will work for Shurmur and McCoy in Cleveland.

http://www.nationalfootballauthority.com/2011/08/cleveland-browns-wrs-have-feel-about.html

I'll be glad when there is actual football to discuss and not trying to compare us to the 2006 saints team. Brees > McCoy (at this stage and at that stage of Bress career). Nuff said. I feel for the guy though, not a lot to report at the moment it seems.

Commander of Awesome;858864 wrote: I feel for the guy though, not a lot to report at the moment it seems.

When the team isn't doing shit in free agency, there's really nothing to report so we get "fluff" pieces.

Notice how the Browns had two of those Saints receivers at one point and cut them?

Writerbuckeye;859043 wrote:Notice how the Browns had two of those Saints receivers at one point and cut them?

yeah that was highlighted in the article.

http://www.ohio.com/sports/browns/browns-wide-receiver-brian-robiskie-hopes-to-increase-production-1.229309

BR1986FB;859168 wrote:http://www.ohio.com/sports/browns/browns-wide-receiver-brian-robiskie-hopes-to-increase-production-1.229309

10-6 book it!

BR1986FB;859168 wrote:http://www.ohio.com/sports/browns/browns-wide-receiver-brian-robiskie-hopes-to-increase-production-1.229309

Nice to hear this.

Well.....just saw this article and wanted to know what you guys think.

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22475988/31266368

I would like to see them go get the Cleveland Native and add a veteran to the WR core.

What do you think?

OQB;859593 wrote:Well.....just saw this article and wanted to know what you guys think.

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22475988/31266368

I would like to see them go get the Cleveland Native and add a veteran to the WR core.

What do you think?

Doubtful

To piggyback on that, nice writeup on Carlton Mitchell...

http://www.nationalfootballauthority.com/2011/08/cleveland-browns-2011-training-camp_11.html

And BTW, after watching some preseason action last night, the new kickoff rule is f'in stupid. EVERY kickoff is a touchback or through the end zone. Cribbs likely won't have a single return this year.

Here is Josh Cribbs tweet after last night's preseason games:

"JoshCribbs16 All these touchbacks....smh not me 9yds deep we bringing it out!!! 9 1/2 I'll think about it... "

OQB;859621 wrote:Here is Josh Cribbs tweet after last night's preseason games:

"JoshCribbs16 All these touchbacks....smh not me 9yds deep we bringing it out!!! 9 1/2 I'll think about it... "

He's an idiot with a "me first" attitude if he does this. He'll have the Browns starting inside their own 10-15 yard line just about every time he tries it.

It seems to me the WRs are having very good camps. Maybe this position is a lot stronger than most have thought, making the need to pick up a FA mute.

royal_k;859640 wrote:It seems to me the WRs are having very good camps. Maybe this position is a lot stronger than most have thought, making the need to pick up a FA mute.

The belief is that Shurmur's system would "coach these guys up" and that even guys like Robo & MoMass should thrive. Mangini should've had a bullet put in his head (kidding) for not giving Carlton Mitchell EVERY chance possible last year. Daboll's offense was verticle in nature and they decide to shelve their ONLY deep threat...duh?

Erica Womangini's tenure as Browns HC was full of idiotic moves like this. Pretty bad when I honestly think majority of fans could have produced a better offense than what idiot Dumboll drew up. Womangini has no one to blame but himself for not getting it done with Cleveland.