Thread: Browns soon to be good again?

Originally Posted by Red_Lizard2

*ahem* Kurt Warner was a 28 year old, 2nd-year QB in St. Louis when he won his first superbowl. Now I'm not saying Weedon is Kurt Warner, but it isn't as though a older QB with little NFL experience can't be good. Odds are likely well against it but still, just saying.

Smith to the Browns makes a lot of sense in the fact that, as far as I've heard, Alex Smith really liked working with Norv and considering the main argument on Smith prior to last year was the fact he had talent, just struggled having 8 billion OCs, seems it could work.

lol, the biggest difference there is that Kurt didn't really leave football other than his short career at a grocery store. He played Arena league and in NFL Europe for 4 years before he went to the Rams. Weedon spent a few years playing baseball instead and having nothing to do with football. Kurt continued to develop, Weedon didn't

Weedon might develop in the future, but like you mentioned the odds are against it. Just because something has happened once in the history of forever, doesn't mean it's bloody likely to happen again

~Morningfrost

Weedon was making fairly good decisions in the games I watched this season. They just couldn't finish games on either side of the ball...I wouldn't give up him yet if I was the Browns.

Originally Posted by iLLusioN

Weedon was making fairly good decisions in the games I watched this season. They just couldn't finish games on either side of the ball...I wouldn't give up him yet if I was the Browns.

But you're not the Browns, you're the Steelers....so you're more than a little biased lol. Of course you want them to keep Weedon, then there's only 2 teams for the Steelers to compete against in their division

~Morningfrost

Originally Posted by Morningfrost

But you're not the Browns, you're the Steelers....so you're more than a little biased lol. Of course you want them to keep Weedon, then there's only 2 teams for the Steelers to compete against in their division

~Morningfrost

I don't know about that...I have a feeling Baltimore is going to lose 4 or 5 major pieces and be k forced to sign Flacco to a mega contract that his overall production doesn't doesnt warrant. The browns have the talent... and now they have some competent coaching. Pitt cant getting majorly unlucky with injuries like they have the last 2 seasons...I wouldn't be surprised if Cleveland and Cincinnati are fighting for 2nd place
In the North next season. The only question is who out of Pitt and Balt handles the turnover they have coming. I would lean towards Pitt because the pieces they are likely to lose have been injured the past couple of seasons so the replacements have alot of playing time. Pitt also won't be losing any the heart of their team.

Originally Posted by iLLusioN

I don't know about that...I have a feeling Baltimore is going to lose 4 or 5 major pieces and be k forced to sign Flacco to a mega contract that his overall production doesn't doesnt warrant. The browns have the talent... and now they have some competent coaching. Pitt cant getting majorly unlucky with injuries like they have the last 2 seasons...I wouldn't be surprised if Cleveland and Cincinnati are fighting for 2nd place
In the North next season. The only question is who out of Pitt and Balt handles the turnover they have coming. I would lean towards Pitt because the pieces they are likely to lose have been injured the past couple of seasons so the replacements have alot of playing time. Pitt also won't be losing any the heart of their team.

I dunno though, Pitt needs to do a major revamping of their defense because it's getting old and creaky. And the last couple of years have been relatively poor drafts for the Steelers, so they're gonna have to do better going forward in order to get that revamping done right.

Baltimore's definitely gonna lose Ray Lewis, and probably Ed Reed too, but I think they'll be able to keep most of the rest together for next season at least.

I do agree there's a chance Cleveland's competitive in the division next year though. They've got the competent coaching, but I'd just like to see them replace Weedon with Smith.

~Morningfrost

Originally Posted by Morningfrost

I dunno though, Pitt needs to do a major revamping of their defense because it's getting old and creaky. And the last couple of years have been relatively poor drafts for the Steelers, so they're gonna have to do better going forward in order to get that revamping done right.

Baltimore's definitely gonna lose Ray Lewis, and probably Ed Reed too, but I think they'll be able to keep most of the rest together for next season at least.

I do agree there's a chance Cleveland's competitive in the division next year though. They've got the competent coaching, but I'd just like to see them replace Weedon with Smith.

~Morningfrost

It's hard for draft picks to make it to the field the players in front of them have been playing at a pro-bowl level for years. It's hard to push out players like Troy P, Casey Hampton, and James Harrison, all 3 of which have been without a doubt the best player at their position at least one season in the past 5. Baltimore is almost as far over the cap as Pitt is...and they have to sign a Franchise QB, who from what I'm hearing is playing pretty decent in the SB right now. That's anywhere between $15-20 mil per year that they currently don't have on the books since Flacco is in his rookie contract still. They're already 15 mil over. They will be cutting some big pieces this off-season: they'll have no choice.

QB – Joe Flacco
S – Ed Reed
LB – Dannell Ellerbe
CB – Cary Williams
DT – Ryan McBean
LB – Paul Kruger
OT – Bryant McKinnie
S – Sean Considine
DT – Ma’ake Kemoeatu
S – James Ihedigbo
LB – Ricky Brown
TE – Billy Bajemaa
CB – Chris Johnson

Those are their UFA's. The bolded will be expensive to keep. I expect Reed, Lewis, Birk, and possibly Leach to retire after the season. Those are alot of holes to fill.

Pittsburgh will replace between 3 and 5 starters on D...the only replacement that I expect will happen that doesn't already have extensive playtime in the past 2 seasons is whoever replaces Foote at ILB. Pitt will lose Wallace and Mendenhall on O...Wallace is massively over rated. Phenomenal speed, poor hands, poor route running, and poor effort. Mendenhall I expect to do great somewhere else...He's gotten some really harsh backlash in Pittsburgh for some of his twitter comments, and has been disciplined pretty hard by the team 3 times now. If he even looks at a contract from Pittsburgh I will be surprised. Big Ben, Harrison, TP, Miller, Taylor, Timmons, Clark and Woodley have all already stated that they are willing to restructure to stay in Pittsburgh and/or get under the cap...1 or 2 of them might be gone...I expect the majority will still be there.

Originally Posted by iLLusioN

It's hard for draft picks to make it to the field the players in front of them have been playing at a pro-bowl level for years. It's hard to push out players like Troy P, Casey Hampton, and James Harrison, all 3 of which have been without a doubt the best player at their position at least one season in the past 5. Baltimore is almost as far over the cap as Pitt is...and they have to sign a Franchise QB, who from what I'm hearing is playing pretty decent in the SB right now. That's anywhere between $15-20 mil per year that they currently don't have on the books since Flacco is in his rookie contract still. They're already 15 mil over. They will be cutting some big pieces this off-season: they'll have no choice.

I know it's difficult for draft picks to replace players who are playing well, but they haven't been able to have draft picks replace the players who AREN'T doing too well. Of their 2012 draft picks, DeCastro and Spence spent more time on IR than the practice field. Mike Adams was underwhelming, though I hear he got better as the season progressed. Ta'amu and Chris Rainey were blown picks (Ta'amu didn't play at all, from what I can see, and Rainey got cut after an arrest). Of their 2011 picks, Cameron Heyward hasn't cracked the starting lineup and hasn't played particularly well. Marcus Gilbert appears to have been a good addition, playing well in 2011, but only playing in 5 games this year because of injury. I'm not even sure the rest of the 2011 draft class made the squad, they certainly haven't made an impact. 2010 was a pretty good draft class, with Pouncey being one of the top centers in the league, Worilds being a quality backup (though for a 2nd round pick you'd really want him to be a starter), Sanders and Antonio Brown being productive WRs, and Jonathan Dwyer playing relatively well this year. 2009 is a trickly draft class. Mike Wallace played well before this season, but as you mentioned is probably overrated. He relies almost solely on his speed. Ziggy Hood cracked the starting lineup, so he's playing as one would expect of a 1st rounder. Urbik was a bust for the Steelers (though he's played well for the Bills lol), I believe Keenan Lewis is unlikely to resign, and the rest of that draft class is garbage.

I realize it's hard to push stars out of their starting roles, but the Steelers recent draft history has been spotty at best.

~Morningfrost

Heyward was flat out dominant in the play time he had last season. He's a large part of why the Steelers beat the Ravens...just completely tooled the right side of their line all game after Ziggy went out. They won't miss a beat when he steps in for Keisel. I actually think he should start ahead of Ziggy...Ziggy is a good Dlineman...would be much better suited to a Wade Phillips type 3-4. He doesn't hold the point very well but is excellent when allowed to push up the field and disrupting.

Mike Adams is absolutely dominant in the run game. Like Flozelle Adams dominant. Steelers Rushing YPA was up 2 yards every game he started at RT compared to when he didn't. That includes games with Pouncey out, Colon out, and Pouncey playing guard with Legursky playing center. He got beat for 3 sacks...1 from Pierre-Paul, One from Tuck, and one from Suggs. He shut all 3 of them down for the rest of the game...he'll be fine. Pitt needs to put him at LT...he's a natural lefty and played there his whole life...footwork is majorly differently playing the right side compared to the left. I expect he'll be around for awhile.

Can't really blame people for freak injuries of the nature that Spence, or DeCastro received this year. I'll withhold judgement on them for now.

Gilbert scares the fuck out of me...dudes responsible for more Steeler injuries on his own than any opponent was...Took out Pouncey's ankle, DeCastro's knee, Johnson's knee(tight end but he was sealing the strong side edge on the play of injury), and he also rolled up on Mendenhall's leg, aggravating his achilles again. I hope that they just cut Colon and put Gilbert at LG which is a more natural position for his body type and also where he has the most experience. Beachum looked better out on the edge than Gilbert has...Gilbert does a good job in a phone booth...edge speed ruins his day. Beachum(7th round pick) looked really solid filling in at RT for the last 3 games...he got beat twice that I can remember, but both were coverage sacks...was adequate in the run game.

Ta'amu is still on the team...showed well in preseason. If he stays out of jail I don't see why he wouldn't work out. Unlike Rainey it's the first time he's been in trouble since he joined the team. Really there was no need to push it and they ended up not dressing him because they needed O-lineman and running backs due to injuries. Casey Hampton still plays at a pretty high level in the base, and Ziggy or McClendon do a solid job replacing him on passing downs.

I probably wouldn't call Rainey a bust. He was excellent in the return game...had 4-5 TD's called back. Unfortunately for him, Brown and Sanders are just as good if not better and they don't keep making dumb ass mistakes that get them in trouble with the cops. Pitt has always has a notoriously short leash with repeat offenders(See: Santonio Holmes, Cedric Wilson, Bam Morris).

Lewis has said publicly that he wants to stay in Pittsburgh because of Coach Lake and Coach Lebeau...He doesn't have the forced TO's to draw a really big paycheck...I could see it happening.

Urbik got shoved out of Pitt because for some god awful reason the FO has an unhealthy infatuation with Willie Colon. I hope he's a cap casualty this season. Literally good for 2 penalties per game without fail. Just a really fucking stupid player...gets beat consistently on stunts and can't figure out the fucking snap count even though he's right next to the center. They need to just cut the sack of shit and be done with it.

Sanders and Brown are definitely quality...both made alot of mental mistakes last season. Both work hard though. Hoping against hope that Pittsburgh can get Dwayne Bowe in FA this year...I've heard mixed reviews as to his relationship with Haley...local papers contradict each other(folks live near KC). If they don't, I really hope Pitt grabs a big, physical receiver early....big catch radius. That's the really big issue with Wallace...if it isn't in the breadbasket, it's not a catch.

It's all just speculation at this point. I bet I'm more right than wrong though...bookmark this and check back in a year