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Cleveland Browns Offseason Outlook

Published: 17th Feb 12 1:44 pm
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by Chris Ransom
New England Patriots and Dallas Stars Featured Columnist
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Cleveland Browns Offseason Outlook

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Cleveland Browns Offseason Outlook

I want to thank Browns writer Robert Cobb for collaborating with me on the Cleveland Browns piece.  You can click the link below to read more of Rob's pieces.

http://www.rantsports.com/blog/author/robcobb/

Cleveland Browns 2011-2012 record 4-12

Cleveland has 18 million in Projected Cap Room to spend for 2012.  Cleveland is probably going to save some cap space for next season.

I asked Rob his take on the Browns in these slides and got different responses for each slide.  My thoughts on the Browns are in the initials CR with Rob's opinion in his initials RC.

RC: My take on the Browns 4-12 season was that Cleveland was the victim of a injury-depleted line, receivers who couldn't catch, and conservative and atroicous play-calling from a rookie head coach(Shurmur) and a QB(McCoy) who literally had the confidence beaten out of him.

While McCoy showed show flashes of why he might be Cleveland's franchise quarterback, he may not have done enough to persuade or convince team president Mike Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert to give him another chance.

One area that the Browns need to address in the off-season is finding a legitimate #1 WR as Littlie is a glorified #2, Massaqoui is too inconsistent and injury-prong and Cribbs is not a true wide receiver who needs to be moved back to special teams.

On defense, the Browns improved in the secondary, thanks to the play of cornerback Joe Haden, but besides him, the Browns will need to either sign a cornerback in FA, or draft one in April.

At linebacker, Chris Gocong showed some glimpses of being a top-notch linebacker, and along with starting middle lineback D'Qwell Jackson, the Browns have a nice young nucleus to build around, but they lack a true leader and must improve on their tackling in space and learn to develop a real nasty streak.

On the defensive line, draft picks, Phil Taylor and Jabbal Sheard showed promise in being able to get to the quarterback and provide some form of run defense, but in the same didivsion that features Ray Rice of Baltimore, Cedric Benson of Cincinnati and Rashard Mendenhall of Pittsburgh, Cleveland must do a better job of stopping the run and getting to the quarterback.

Based on their shoddy run defense, this leads me to the conclusion that despite the cries for Robert Griffin III, Justin Blackmon and Trent Richardson, look for the Browns to fill out their defensive line with a top-end pass rusher in North Carolina defensive end, Quinton Coples and linebacker Vontaze Buefict.

CR: The Cleveland Browns had a bit of a setback season in 2011-2012 after Colt McCoy showed some promise in 2010-2011.  Colt McCoy defeated Drew Brees and Tom Brady as a rookie.  McCoy endured a brutal sophomore slump and now his job is in jeopardy.

The Browns status of running back Peyton Hillis is also in question.  Hillis may opt to pull a Lebron James type of decision to remove himself from Cleveland.

Cleveland will be up to 20 million under the cap.  The Browns have some money they can spend during free agency to land a few key players.  Will Cleveland make a big move at a big name during free agency or build through the NFL draft as usual?

 

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