[h=2]Cleveland Browns[/h][h=3]Biggest Post-Draft Need: Wide Receiver[/h]According to Football Outsiders' metrics, Cleveland's weak spots in 2011 were in the running game, both on offense and on defense. Drafting Alabama running back Trent Richardson solved one of those problems. For the other, they signed run-stopping defensive end
Frostee Rucker, and are counting on the continued development of their two young defensive tackles,
Ahtyba Rubin and
Phil Taylor.
The Browns' pass defense, despite being ranked 17th last year in Football Outsiders' DVOA efficiency metric, doesn't seem that bad off either, especially with the return of strong safety
T.J. Ward from injury.
Joe Haden may have had a down year -- ranking 48th among corners in defensive success rate (explained
here) -- but there's still plenty of promise from his rookie season. More importantly, though, both
Sheldon Brown (ranked 11th in yards allowed per pass) and nickel cornerback
Dimitri Patterson (seventh in success rate) actually had a better season than Haden according to our metrics.
So that leaves pass offense as the Browns main weakness, and selecting Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden means that their biggest hole is at wide receiver. Last season, Cleveland had three or more wideouts on the field 52 percent of the time, which was 12th-most in the NFL, and those three receivers were almost always
Greg Little,
Mohamed Massaquoi, and
Josh Cribbs. According to
our metrics, Cribbs was the most valuable of the group, but he only ranked 42nd in the NFL. As for Little and Massaquoi, they ranked 85th and 88th, respectively --
out of 90 qualifying wideouts.
To their credit, the Browns drafted Miami wide receiver Travis Benjamin in the fourth round, but his small frame is best suited for slot duty. At least that allows Cribbs to focus more on what he's best at: special teams. Nevertheless, the cupboard in-house is otherwise bare.
That leaves free agency, where the best remaining options are an ancient
Plaxico Burress, and three wideouts coming off knee injuries:
Braylon Edwards,
Mark Clayton, and
Mike Sims-Walker. Let's hope that, for Weeden's (or
Colt McCoy's) sake, either
Greg Little breaks out in his second season, or an unnamed receiver falls into Cleveland's lap in August.
[h=3]Important Undrafted Free Agents[/h]Given the above, it should come as no surprise that Cleveland added three wide receivers among their 15 total signings. The most intriguing of the three is Josh Cooper out of Oklahoma State. Having been a teammate of Cleveland's No. 22 pick, Brandon Weeden, Cooper has a leg up in the "special quarterback relationship" department. In fact, if ever there was motivation to help the other guy look good, Cooper essentially
owes his employment to Weeden.
Also, Cleveland signed Idaho guard Matt Cleveland. Can anyone name other players whose surnames matched the city in which they played? Is this something that only amuses me?
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/four-downs/2012/four-downs-afc-north-0
