Browns Musings In Light of Joe Schobert News
With the news that the Cleveland Browns are letting linebacker Joe Schobert leave in free agency, or at least that’s what appears to be happening, it begs a number of questions for this new Browns administration. Beyond opening a massive hole at linebacker with no proven option on the roster, the Browns already have a number of holes to address on this team and letting proven talent walk out the door risks the possibility that they take another step back, even from last year, which was disastrous. With the amount of skepticism already around both first year head coach Kevin Stefanski and the youngest general manager in the history of the sport, Andrew Berry, they may be attempting to walk an incredibly fine line in their first year running the team.
The idea that the Browns would make such a big decision with every other team seemingly on hold as they wait for the collective bargaining agreement, seems odd to say the least. It suggests absolute certainty on their part that they aren’t even willing to see what the new landscape will be in terms of contract and the salary cap as it evolves over the next ten years.
It also might suggest that it’s not just about Schobert. This front office simply may not value the linebacker position in general. And there’s some merit to that position, saving that money for positions who rush the quarterback or can cover opposing receivers.
Joe Schobert is a good linebacker, period. There is no way to make this into a situation where the Browns somehow get better by letting a proven player, who served as the leader of the defense making all the calls on the field leave in free agency. He was also an outstanding representative of the team. There are critics who have been nitpicking Schobert since he made the Pro Bowl in his second season and he won’t likely get his due until he’s playing great for another team.
The bottom line is Schobert offers a linebacker who has excellent ability in coverage, can make plays on either side of the line of scrimmage, can blitz and has an impressive record of making plays for this team. The only question is what that type of player is worth when it comes to the salary cap. The Browns appear to be saying it’s not worth $10 million per season
That’s a pretty big statement considering the amount of talent the Browns have that is making a significant amount of money and doesn’t put the Browns any closer to actually winning. There has been talk that the Browns are willing to cut defensive end Olivier Vernon if he’s not willing to take a pay cut from his $15.5 million salary he’s set to make in 2020. To this point, short of taking a small cut, around $2 or $3 million, Vernon’s probably inclined to tell the Browns he’s unwilling to take a cut, knowing he can get a good deal on the open market, especially if the new CBA is approved.
If the Browns are willing to let Schobert go, they might be inclined to let Vernon go, which would create cap room but leave them without two of the four best players on the defense from last season; the other two being Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward.
It’s not likely the Browns are going to go out in free agency and spend a ton of money on the replacement for Schobert and considering the market for edge rushers, that seems dubious as well. Maybe they pay out a nice sized contract to a player like Shaq Lawson or try to make a play for Eversen Griffen if the Minnesota Vikings let him go. Lawson is 25 years old and had 6.5 sacks this past season as a role player for the Buffalo Bills, but he’s never displayed the ability that Vernon has. For all the complaints about Vernon being hurt, Lawson has missed 14 games in four seasons.
Meanwhile, Griffen’s issues are far more delicate. During the 2018 season, Griffen had a serious issue related to mental health that caused him to miss several weeks of the season. Seemingly, he has struck a balance that has allowed him to return to the football field and be productive. Even if the Vikings were to release Griffen, they might have the inside track to re-sign him at a lower contract figure in no small part due to the fact that Griffen may not want to make a dramatic change in his life, preferring to stay in that familiar routine that has produced the results he wants in terms of his mental health.
Obviously, the Browns have a number of people that were with the Vikings and are familiar with Griffen’s situation. They would have to decide if they believe they can provide him the environment that can enable him to be productive on the field and safe off of it.
Maybe the Browns are confident that Sione Takitaki can take over the middle linebacker position for Schobert. He’s immensely talented and a force in the middle when it comes to making tackles, playing run defense. The question for him is his ability to improve in coverage. That was something Schobert could do well and Takitaki simply never did in his college career at BYU. Even last year in training camp, Takitaki ended up missing a significant portion of the preseason and start of the season due to a hamstring injury.
It’s possible, though really difficult to believe the Browns are going to see if Chris Kirksey can get them through this year at either position at linebacker. Injuries have plagued him the last several years and he’s been functional when healthy, but given his significant cap figure, he looks like an avenue for additional cap relief as opposed to a bridge option. He’s a dyed in the wool believer in this team, this organization and a better person, but his best football is long behind him.
The weak side linebacker position, meanwhile, was a complete nothing last year. Mack Wilson was put in an incredibly difficult position as a fifth round rookie with just 15 starts coming out of Alabama and looked it. He struggled in every facet of the game and while fans saw the occasional hit he’d make or a play that looked good, the reality was he was downright awful. Hopefully, he can improve heading into year two, but the Browns cannot just hand him the job.
The draft is certainly an option, but their resources are limited there. They might look to sign mid level to lower tier free agents to piece together a linebacker group that can do what this coaching staff wants.
This regime cannot be foolish enough to think they can go into 2020 and perform worse than the 2019 team that went 6-10 did. If they were to let talent walk out the door and then finish worse than they did the year before, it would immediately bring people back to the 1-31 regime led by Sashi Brown, having people accuse them of tearing down the team for draft picks that never actually see them win.
So if the Browns are planning to let Schobert walk, are seriously considering releasing Vernon, that would seemingly point to one obvious avenue for help; namely, trading down. And there have already been rumors to this effect. The second this group was hired, the assumption many had was they would trade down since that’s what Sashi’s group did, despite the fact the team was in a completely different place.
Trading down from the 10th pick overall could be brilliant. Obviously, the problem for the Browns is they get great value in the trades but they don’t quite make the picks pay off the way they should with the possible exception of trading down in the 2017 draft to get Jabrill Peppers, which became part of the deal to acquire Odell Beckham and then the first round pick which became Denzel Ward. Even with that one, there are still people who think the Browns got that one wrong for not picking Deshaun Watson, despite the fact the head coach at the time, Hue Jackson, wanted Malik Hooker rather than Watson and the Browns now have Baker Mayfield.
The Browns need multiple offensive tackles and this is a historic class at that position. Tony Pauline of Pro Football Network has suggested the Browns could be in the market to move down eight to ten spots to then select Ezra Cleveland out of Boise State. Cleveland is a tremendous talent with sky high upside at left tackle and the Browns hired Bill Callahan to coach their offensive line. Depending on what they could get in such a trade, that could be a really prudent move. Of course, they could just take what appears to be an elite tackle prospect at 10 in Andrew Thomas of Georgia.
This scenario still has the Browns banking on rookies to make an early impact, because the Browns simply cannot afford to be worse than last year’s team. And being a functional franchise could go a long way in ensuring they don’t, but they also have to add talent that can do it.
Coaches and general managers are hired to be fired. For that simple fact, they should operate the team the way they feel is the best to be successful. They shouldn’t cower to fan or media pressure, because if they play it scared, when they get fired, they then have to live with the regret of not knowing what might’ve been if they simply trusted themselves.
So, from that stand point, Stefanski and Berry should shoot their shot. And any number of things could change in the coming few weeks as the collective bargaining agreement is negotiated, free agency starts and the draft happens at the end of April. Nevertheless, their initial approach leaves plenty of room for questions and second guessing as they are asking fans as well as ownership to trust what they are doing, both of which always seem to have an eye on how the neighbors’ lawns are doing. Just don’t be worse than last year.
