2018 NFL off-season thread: Mr. Alex Smith goes to Washington

That could just mean hard contacts, which I still wear in one eye.

 

Same thing. Transplant 16 years ago. Welcome to the club, Brandon Williams.

 

It did jump out at me that they didn't treat him with a transplant, but a corrective procedure. I'm wondering if that is a more recent development.

 

The Browns have Tyrod Taylor. Not a great player by any stretch but a significant upgrade over anyone they had the last decade under center.
I draft Barkley at No. 1. Assuming he doesn't become the next KiJana Carter, I think the Browns can fill in holes from there and sport a very competititve football team this season.
They have to address their needs. IMO, QB is no longer one of them.
Is the QB spot settled? No. But Taylor is a known commodity who can deliver wins.

I think Rosen is the class of the QB draft. I say that based on past performances of USC QBs in the NFL (lots of them, and very few stuck) and I don't much faith in Allen's ability to compete in the NFL.

 

The Browns have the luxury of taking a top QB AND another impact player. They’re taking a QB if they keep those picks.

 

If the Browns don't take a quarterback at 1 or 4, the city of Cleveland should take a wrecking ball to the new stadium and throw it into the lake next to the old one.

 

Agreed. Taylor isn't terrible, but he's not a long-term answer. He's fine as a placeholder until a guy they draft can develop.

The Browns have a few pieces and this offseason is an opportunity to be competitive in 2018, but the goal should be to build an eventual contender, not just a team that can win six games instead of none.

 

It sure worked for Jacksonville when they drafted Leonard Fournette to elevate their running game. The Jags improved to 4.3 yards a carry. And that was inflated by a 90 yard run in garbage time when Pittsburgh went short yardage defense when they were behind by 14 with two minutes left. So Fournette, who averaged 3.9 yards a carry did not seem to actually improve the offense that much.

Before a team drafts a running back early I think they should trade down for extra picks and draft extra linemen. That would improve both the running game and the pass protection.

 

Not that mock drafts mean anything, but the latest ones have the Browns taking a QB at 1 and Chubb at 4. I think it was The Ringer that had Barkley going to Denver at 5. Another had him dropping to Colts at 6. Can't imagine he drops past that.

 

What?
Fournette came in as became the starter. Year 1, he started. And ran for 1,000 yards and 9 TDs.
As a team the Jags rushed for 2,262 yards with Fournette, as opposed to 1,631 yards the year before with Yeldon as the featured back.
And they went from 3-13 to 10-6.
Fournette also had 36 receptions.

Is it all because of Fournette? No. But the Jags offense didn't change much between 2016 and 2017. But he sure as hell helped. A LOT.

I won't say you are wrong about NOT drafting a RB with the top pick, my point is/was: I don't think the Browns should risk it on a QB. They have one.

 

The Jags scored 269 points in 2016 and 318 points in 2017. The defense went from giving up 400 points to 149. The offense averaged 5.4 yards a play in 2017 and 5.1 in 2016. They ran for more yardage because they attempted a lot more running plays. That was largely because the defense improved and they played with the lead a lot and were trying to kill the clock.

Much of the improvement was because the Jags averaged 5.6 yards a passing play in 2016 (god awful) and 6.5 yards in passing play in 2017 (still bad). Was this improvement because they faced more stacked boxes? Probably in part. But they averaged 6.2 yards a pass in 2015 so I think much of the improvement was Bortles was less bad.

The league average for a running play is around four yards. I think you can find guys and have running back by committee and average close to four yards a run. That is the Patriots way and they are the most successful team of the last 20 years. Use your high pick for another position, I say.

 

The Cardinals have had only one quarterback they drafted start back-to-back season openers since moving to Arizona.
The Bills haven't had one start three straight openers since Kelly.