Why drafting a replacement for Colt McCoy doesn't make sense. Just yet.

The Browns currently sit bottom of the AFC North with a record of 4-7 and any optimism that was in the hearts/heads of Cleveland fans before the start of the season has disappeared and some are already calling for a replacement for Colt McCoy to be drafted at the 2012 NFL Draft.

I’m not going to claim this has been a good year for the Browns or that the offense has progressed from where it was last year, as it quite clearly hasn’t been a good year. My issue is how much of all that can really be lumped on McCoy? Fans’ wanting the Browns to be looking for a new quarterback this early in McCoy’s career proves one thing to me, it really is true what they say quarterbacks get too much credit for a team’s success and too much blame for a team’s failings.

The Browns defense has helped to keep the team in most games and they have one of the best secondary’s in the league allowing a league low average of 174.7 passing yards a game, unfortunately the run defense is almost at the complete opposite of the scale ranking 29th in the league allowing on average 138.6 rushing yards a game. With a little work in the draft and on the practice field that 29th ranked run defense can be improved to make one of the best defences in the NFL which already on average gives up less than 20 points a game, this to me is pointing to one thing that the problem must be on offense and special teams.

So it’s time to look at the offense, and in general it doesn’t look good ranking 28th in the league averages for total yards, 29th in rushing yards and 24th for passing yards, but then who expected it to look good? Well before the start of the season Browns fans did. We were being told that the new west coast offense would suit McCoy’s strengths, there wasn’t much thought given to the shortened training camp time affecting the level of play as we knew McCoy had the playbook and he organised a number of team practices during the lockout. On top of this we had Peyton Hillis coming into the final year of his contract with a point to prove after his breakout 2010 season, Montario Hardesty was returning from injury and Brandon Jackson was brought in as a free agent, which sounded like we would have a strong backfield for 2011. The truth however was far from that, Jackson didn’t make it to a regular season game after being placed on IR, Hardesty has spent the season struggling with injuries which have seen him only start 4 games playing in 8 overall, Hillis has struggled with injuries and some supposed off the field issues which have seen him play in just 5 games but in those 5 games he has 348 total yards, due to issues off the field it is expected Hillis won’t be in Cleveland for 2012. These injuries have seen Chris Ogbonnaya, signed off of the Houston Texans practice squad lead the Browns in rushing yards.

During the offseason we were being told that the offense would utilise our tight ends to better effect and with Benjamin Watson having an impressive 2010 which saw him lead the Browns in number of receptions and yards I had high hopes. The reality again hasn’t been quite as expected, although Evan Moore has a career high 19 catches so far, Watson is on course to finish with 20 catches less than he had in 2010. Fourth round draft pick Jordan Cameron has just 1 catch so far this season, but little was expected of him for 2011 as it was known he required time to work on his blocking and route running having spent little time in college playing football.

The Browns wide receivers seem to be much improved over 2010, they have already scored 2 more touchdowns than 2010 and are just 10 catches and 130 yards off matching the season totals from 2010. Coming into the season there was a lot of optimism surrounding Mohamed Massaquoi, he lead the Browns wide receivers in 2010 with 483 yards and was being called Cleveland’s number 1 receiver, his 2011 season has been affected by injuries and having missed all of the preseason rustiness was an issue early on and then he suffered a concussion in week 7 against Seattle. Both Josh Cribbs and Jordan Norwood have developed greatly and both have career highs for receptions, yards and touchdowns. Second round draft pick Greg Little has been a key part of the offense, he currently leads all rookies in number of receptions with 47, he also leads the Browns with 495 yards but there is still room for improvement he has a large number of dropped catches, though some of these are from McCoy forcing the ball to Little when under pressure or can be put down to rustiness as he was suspended for the 2010 North Carolina season, these need to be cut down.

In 2010 McCoy, Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace combined for 61.9% accuracy, 3142 yards and 12 touchdowns (Massaquoi also threw a touchdown) in 2011 so far McCoy has 58.5% accuracy, 2332 yards and 13 touchdowns, on average McCoy should better 2010’s totals but he still has to come up against the Ravens and Steelers twice which means he could easily fall short, however if some of those league high number of dropped catches had been caught his stats would be much improved.

I don’t have one particular reason a replacement for McCoy shouldn’t be drafted this year but many, the key one is the Cleveland Browns currently have very little star talent on their roster and it is my belief that no replacement quarterback would be doing much better with the same players. The draft picks should be used wisely, with the two first round picks the Browns could fill the hole likely to be left by Hillis at running back and pick one of the stud wide receivers who will likely declare for the 2012 draft, although I believe the current group of wide receivers has some talent and shows potential it doesn’t contain any stars. In my opinion this automatically improves the Cleveland offense and before you can judge McCoy's talent as a quarterback you have to at least give him the opportunity to take control of a team with some good players, if he fails to get a team that contains real talent to play well then it’s time to look for a replacement but for now give the guy a chance. There’s one other very important thing to consider, Colt McCoy is despite his lack of experience clearly a leader of this team the way he handled the criticism thrown his way by previous offensive coordinator Brian Daboll earned him the respect of his teammates, taking the playbook and organising a number of team meetings in Texas to help everyone learn it shows he should be considered a leader of the Browns.

primarily think its hillis's absense as it has put an extra load on McCoys shoulders

I'd suggest that some questions remain on the OL. Whilst fragility may be a factor, to have RB's injured can points to issues with run blocking. From what little I have seen of the Browns, McCoy also seemed to be pressured quite often and passing on the run a lot.

skins4ever wrote:I'd suggest that some questions remain on the OL. Whilst fragility may be a factor, to have RB's injured can points to issues with run blocking. From what little I have seen of the Browns, McCoy also seemed to be pressured quite often and passing on the run a lot.

In the first draft I did talk about this but I thought it may have been too long, and I'm not knowledgeable about how the O-line should be working so it got cut out. Key thing I think with the line though is Eric Steinbach the left guard has spent the season on IR meaning rookie Jason Pinkston who was a left tackle has had to fill in at left guard, issues on the right side too as Tony Pashos missed the first 4 games at right tackle and his replacements were both cut by other teams in preseason saw some stats yesterday that showed Pashos allowed a lot less QB pressures than his replacements in about 3 times as many downs, Shawn Lauvoa at right guard has also gone from starting 1 game to starting all 11 so far.

Like the Skins, they really should be looking to fill their boots with linemen in the draft and FA. Just hope the Skins beat them to all the good ones!

wouldn't go through fa too much, the redskins throw money around but any players with ambition right now will not see either teams as attractive prospects at all. Build your o-line through the draft and you will see results rather than guys wanting big deals

To be honest, I would say we've stopped throwing money around. Apart from Atogwe, I don;t think we spent too big in FA at all. Gaffney was relatively cheap and looks to have proven value for money. Hightower was a trade and we (at least at the start of the season) got the better of that deal.

Agree wholeheartedly - best way to build your lines is via the draft. There's rarely a big benefit from an FA lineman - if he's that goods, he's unlikely to be an FA!

They just need some improvements on the right side, Mack and Thomas are still very talented and hopefully Steinbach can return to full fitness next year. With 2 first round picks there is potential to pick up one of the O-line talents but I still think RB (if Hillis leaves) and WR should be the biggest concerns, of course if the O-line is better it makes the RBs better as more holes should open up and WRs/QBs better as they get more time to throw so should be more accurate but I still feel we miss a truely talented WR, and everyone in the North needs a good RB.

The left side of the Browns OL was a HUGE reason why Hillis had the year he did in 2010, and Steinbach being on IR has been a real blow for them. The Browns roster is very thin in talent, they don't have the depth to absorb a blow like losing a pro-bowl calibre guard. But Thomas and Mack are still excellent. The line isn't their problem (well not their biggest).

The problem is McCoy has no players around him. How many of these guys have you got on your fantasy team? None. Hardesty might be a nice bench option but you're not gunna start him week to week. Little has so many drops this year it's depressing (tho you hope as a rookie he can continue to improve on his hands) and Watson isn't anything like as good as he used to be.

McCoy's numbers aren't that bad when you dig a bit, only a 2% INT rate, 58.5% completions is fine. Get him a decent back (or even just Hillis '10) and a good young TE and he could win games. But, i don't think he's ever going to be a guy you can win a Superbowl with unless you've got an ace D and superb running game.

I like the guy, but if you've got Landry Jones etc sitting there at your spot then the front office will have a tough choice. Personally i think they should go after Blackmon, they've got a tone of picks from the ATL deal and could easily jump up to get the elite WR in this class and still have a late 1st rounder to get some OL help or a playmaker on D.

Toby3695 wrote:
I like the guy, but if you've got Landry Jones etc sitting there at your spot then the front office will have a tough choice. Personally i think they should go after Blackmon, they've got a tone of picks from the ATL deal and could easily jump up to get the elite WR in this class and still have a late 1st rounder to get some OL help or a playmaker on D.

Look what happened to Dalton. Had a young, hungry and talent WR to work with and has performed far better than anyone expected. It's worth giving Colt a shot with someone like that and if he fails then having the go to guy at WR will help the next man up anyway!

I can see teams looking at how well the Bengals have done this year with Green and Dalton, and trying to follow a similar philosophy. The Browns have got a chance of doing so with their 2 first round picks. I don't know how QBs are being projected for the draft, but say the Browns were able to draft Justin Blackmon/Alshon Jeffrey and Robert Griffin/Landry Jones. That would put them in a great position moving forward, as they would still have their (early) second round pick to go get a decent lineman. With the rookie wage scale, there is much less risk for teams.

Derbyblue - What would you think of this scenario

with 4 wins i think they'd have to move up to get Blackmon. The Rams need a WR like him, and Vikes need a playmaker outside the numbers. Too many obstacles for the Browns just to sit and hope Blackmon falls to them.

bambamwillis wrote:I can see teams looking at how well the Bengals have done this year with Green and Dalton, and trying to follow a similar philosophy. The Browns have got a chance of doing so with their 2 first round picks. I don't know how QBs are being projected for the draft, but say the Browns were able to draft Justin Blackmon/Alshon Jeffrey and Robert Griffin/Landry Jones. That would put them in a great position moving forward, as they would still have their (early) second round pick to go get a decent lineman. With the rookie wage scale, there is much less risk for teams.

Derbyblue - What would you think of this scenario

It sounds like an attractive scenario but there are good quarterbacks every year so I'm not sure it's necessarily worth it or likely to happen, McCoy is I think a pick that Holmgren really wants to work out, they handed him the largest contract they could for the position he was taken and I would like to think he know that this team isn't loaded with talent and to me quarterback isn't the team's biggest need. Also as Toby says I'm not sure Blackmon will make it to us unless everyone starts winning but we could end up with 5 wins with Arizona coming up, but there are other talented WRs who could make it to us but then some of the talented ones will still be around near the middle/end of the draft too for the pick we have off the Falcons.