It’s Year Three of the Crennel/Grantham defense, and disappointing doesn’t quite cover it. Not to throw a wet blanket onto what has been an exciting and encouraging season so far, but the results speak for themselves.
Back in 2005, converting immediately to the 3-4 was the first order of the new regime. That required a whole new breed of players for the front seven, and the overhaul was underwhelming. Most of the D-line was sent packing to Denver. Several linebackers and three of the starting DBs from ’04 didn’t return.
The roster churn continued after that 6-10 season. More holdovers from the PHD era were pushed out: Chris Crocker, Ben Taylor, Kenard Lang, Michael Lehan. And several defenders brought in by the new regime weren’t worth a second year: Jason Fisk, Pete Hunter, Ray Mickens, Orlando Ruff.
Turnover has continued apace the past year as well. Eleven members of the Browns’ current defense — a full 44% — were acquired in ’07.
That’s not the whole story, of course, but it’s time for me to get to the point: A chronic inability to find and fully develop strong core talent by this regime and the previous one has severely impaired the Browns’ rebuilding effort.
Even considering the turnover necessary in the aftermath of PHD’s disaster, and even considering a few untimely injuries, it’s clear that serious problems remain with both the personnel acquisitions and the coaching on the defensive side of the ball. The evidence lies in the sheer number of players coming and going through Berea, underperformance of the outgoing players, and the lack of results from the current squad.
Take any one of the 11 positions and you’re certain to see a lengthy list of players cast, miscast, and outcast in the roles of stopgaps, projects, fill-ins, and unpolished gems. In the front office and on the field, there have been many more misses than hits.
Let’s look this problem square in the nose, because the man in the middle is the single most important determinant of a successful 3-4 defense. The new regime found no worthy incumbent. Warren G. Hardly might have been the closest candidate, but for many good reasons, he became a Brownco and now toils, such as it is, in Oakland. Here’s the portly parade from ’05 on:
-
Free agent Fisk — quickly proved inadequate to the task, stuck starting most of ’05.
- Late round draftee Keg Hoffman — never close to seeing the field, made futile effort to convert to guard.
-
Ethan Kelley — waiver pickup from Pats, has the size for the job, but inconsistent. Suffered season-ending knee injuries in both ’05 and ’06. Survives as the present-day starter. Would be an unrestricted free agent after this season.
- J’Vonne Parker — got repeated opportunities in ’05, ’06, and ’07, now on the practice squad of the Baltimore Ravens.
- Former first-rounder and Pro Bowler Ted Washington — got two-year deal to become Browns oldest and heaviest defender ever. Started every game in 06, decent at best. This year, not close to that. After a bye and an inactive week, went on IR with a previously undisclosed knee injury.
- Babatunde Oshinowo — high-character Stanford guy drafted with the pick gained from Ravens when Phil Savage opted for a pass rusher instead of Haloti Ngata. Hopes of filling two holes from this gambit dashed when he failed to make the final roster this fall. Just 6-foot-1, he was good enough, many thought, to stick at end. Now on the Bears’ PS.
- Shaun Smith — nice young RFA pickup from the Bengals. Could be the long-term answer here, but lack of depth at end has him playing musical chairs.
- Louis Leonard — the latest project, yet to see the field.
So that’s eight new players (maybe more, if I confused any training campers for ends) in less than three years to fill one position. And after all that, what do we have? No stars. No locks. Possible answers.
Each position has its own history and current status, but the exercise above could essentially be repeated at most of the other ten spots.
It’s not like the Browns have shunted aside great players, or even players who have become great elsewhere. I count only ten former Browns defensive players who have started more than one game elsewhere this season. Maybe the top three could’ve helped today’s Browns, but nobody shown below qualifies as a star whom we definitely should’ve kept:
-
DT Jovan Haye, Tampa Bay
-
S Brian Russell, Seattle
-
CB Anthony Henry, Dallas
-
CB Michael Lehan, Miami
-
CB Lewis Sanders, Atlanta
-
S Chris Crocker, Atlanta
-
DE Greg Spires, Tampa Bay
-
DT Gerard Warren, Oakland
-
DT Alvin McKinley, Denver
-
DT Amon Gordon, Denver (since released).
No, the main problem is that way too many of the possible answers have turned out to be no-gos. Think I’m wrong? Then just tell me, of all the defensive free agents signed by Phil Savage, name any true difference-maker. Choices include Gary Baxter, Brian Russell, Matt Stewart, Willie McGinest, Daven Holly, Antwan Peek, Robaire Smith, the nose tackles named above, and several lesser luminaries. See my point?
It’s true, some of those folks were brought in to buy time. I’m not saying all those players are bad or that their signings were all unneeded. (Even Ralph Brown, crispy as he was, was in Cleveland for good reason.)
The issue is that we are too little and too late in bring along the players we were buying time for. Sean Jones and Brodney Pool, both playing their third season, remain average safeties at the moment. Eric Wright looks like he’ll become a terrific young cornerback, but the fact that he needed to start as a 22-year-old rookie with all of 22 college games under his belt speaks volumes about this program’s lack of development. You can’t lay it all on the injuries to Baxter and ‘Cutch.
You can point to the draft. If a Phil Savage draft were a golf hole, you’d have a long, lofty tee shot, a lot of jabbering back and forth along the fairway, and a three-putt. The most interesting bogey you’ll ever see.
Of his 25 picks, there are seven starters, two key reserves, five back-benchers/special-teamers, three practice squaders, and eight men out. Six of those eight departees played defense (Perkins, Speegle, Hoffman, Minter, Oshinowo, Hamilton). Two of the three practice squaders are undersized defensive ends that just might develop into Simon Fraser types, which we know from experience doesn’t bode well for the rush defense.
And even the defensive draftees who are considered part of this team’s core, well, serious questions remain about each one of them. Wimbley, Pool, D’Qwell, Leon, Wright — all have had their weaknesses exposed in game action. Perhaps they will yet round into more complete players. I certainly want to believe that. Pro Bowl potential exists, maybe for Leigh Bodden this season and others down the road.
But until we see Gumby develop a full repertoire of rush moves and break up a few passes in coverage…
Until Pool displays more of the smart, heads-up plays like we saw against Big Ben last Sunday…
Until D’Qwell sheds more blocks and withstands the rigors of the NFL season’s long slog…
Until Leon can help stop tight ends from picking us apart…
Until Wright is entrusted with more tight man coverage, disrupting receivers’ rhythm and freeing up blitz opportunities…
… then the investments will not have matured, the rewards will not accrue. And while we’re waiting with interest, the margin of opportunity will narrow (ala McGinest and Roye) and close (ala Fisk, Washington, and ‘Cutch) on folks like Robaire Smith and Andra Davis before their successors are in place. And so the rebuilding effort will never come to fruition.
Scheme-wise, to maximize their chance of making this a special season, the Browns need to do more than keep the ball in front of them. They’re getting nibbled to death by possession passing, losing the time of possession battle, losing confidence. They need turnovers. You don’t get those when your defense wears training wheels.
That means, among other things, taking more chances in order to disrupt the timing in the backfield and generate a pass rush. Creative, disguised blitzes in both run and pass situations are the best hope for forcing mistakes.
Here’s a shorthand exercise to try while watching the game: Look at the Browns defense just before the snap. Guess how many men will rush. Hold out that many fingers to lock in your bet. Then take note of a) whether you were right, and b) whether the defense succeeded. In theory, the harder it is to guess right, the better the defense’s chances.
Are there signs of progress with the Browns’ defense? Absolutely. Short yardage run-stuffing. Four sacks of Big Ben. But how long it will take for the unit to truly come into its own and become an agent of victory rather than a liability to overcome?
If that growth curve doesn’t continue to accelerate, look for lots more turnover this off-season on the Browns defense. And not just the players, either.
