Cleveland Franchises Attemping to Live Up to Always-Changing Expectations
September 7, 2011While We’re Waiting… Shurmur’s Genius, Cavs’ Rookies and Browns’ WRs
September 8, 2011One of the prevailing thoughts coming out of training camp and into the season is that the Browns are awfully thin across the board. I have been trumpeting this as loudly as anyone. Maybe it is a knee-jerk reaction for any Browns follower seeing as they have been hammered by injuries so much in the last decade. Then I got to thinking, how deep are the other teams in the AFC North?
Seems like a dumb question, right? Of course the Steelers and Ravens are deep. They are always challenging for the division and seemingly have talent develop on the roster all the time. The Steelers, for example, have LaMarr Woodley, James Farrior, Lawrence Timmons and James Harrison as starters. If one or more of those guys gets hurt, who are their backups? As Browns fans, we just assume that there are future Pro Bowlers there because we’ve seen the Steelers do it so many times before. Tell me, though. Do you know these names?
The Steelers have Larry Foote, a 31 year-old 10 year vet backing up Lawrence Timmons. After that though, they have a rookie in Chris Carter, second-year player Stevenson Sylvester, and second-year player Jason Worilds. Maybe someday those guys will be household names, but they certainly aren’t today. You have faith that they might be because teams like the Steelers have a successful track record. They are far from guarantees.
This is where I bring it back to the Browns and more specifically Tom Heckert. This Sunday Heckert brought in rookie Quinton Spears off the waiver wire after the Dolphins cut him. Titus Brown is a second year player backing up D’Qwell Jackson. Kaluka Maiava is a third year player backing up Chris Gocong. If Tom Heckert and his staff are successful, these are the kinds of guys that will occasionally become James Harrison or Farrior or Woodley. None of them are guaranteed, but after this year’s training camp, I think there is a decent chance that Titus Brown could be that guy over time.
Point being that the Browns have a very bad track record in this area, but it doesn’t mean that they haven’t already turned the corner. It is far too early to tell. You can’t anoint Heckert or Holmgren as saviors until they make you feel like this team can challenge for the playoffs year-in and year-out. At the same time, it is important to know what it is to be reasonable. Knowing the names of all the backups isn’t a pre-requisite as I just showed you with the Steelers’ backups. You just have to eventually know their names and preferably by seeing them on jerseys on fans’ backs at home games over time.
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11 Comments
from what I have seen in the preseason, i am hopeful we have some depth at CB, FS (Usama – hopeful at least), WR, TE, RB, and we had some at OG (Steinbach was a big loss, but not sure Hicks is any worse ‘depth’ than Pinkston was). Also, Seneca Wallace is a fine backup QB to have.
where I am terrified about our depth is DT, DE, OLB, ILB, SS, OT, and OC.
and let’s not get into where I’m terrified about our starters 🙂
The answer is yes, yes it is. And it will most certainly become an issue over a 17-week regular season–in fact, it already has. And until H&H prove they can find they guys who become a Harrison or Farrior or Woodley, it will continue to worry me. I trust in this new regime, but I also want to see real progress at some point.
That’s kind of what this season is setup to figure out though in my opinion. Instead of bringing in expensive retreads or guys who would have had the fans applauding but probably wouldn’t have been major upgrades over our current talent (hello Steve Breaston) we’re standing pat and figuring out what we have.
Of course Asomugha and a few others don’t fit into that category, but no reason to ramp up the spending like that until we’ve built a workable foundation.
IMO, there’s far too much hand-wringing from the fan base when finally our front office is taking the correct approach, building a system instead of trying to slap a free-agency bandaid across our problems.
speaking of depth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4hjzxsfyUk
just need to link to that anytime we need to smile.
I’m just asking this here cuz it’s the 1st place:
Does Hillis get paid for being on the Madden cover?
Whether we have depth or not, I’m calling it right here: the Ravens do NOT have that depth. They’re old at important positions, especially on defense and the OL, and Flacco has plateaued. I think by the time the Browns play them, they’ll be the worse for wear — and ripe to be overtaken by a younger, hungrier, improving Browns team for second in the division and a possible wild card.
There. I said it and I’m glad I did!
I think the problem is that depth is very hard for fans and maybe even the media to evaluate. We don’t see every minute of practice and don’t always notice the little things backups do in their limited game action. And with most backups naturally being players we don’t know or that went to smaller college programs, depth a tricky thing to determine.
@6- Funny you should say that cause I was listening to some sports talk in Boston (though I believe it was a national show) where the hosts/guest all agreed Baltimore Pittsburgh are the top 2 teams in the AFC. Im not trying to be a complete homer, but I can see us there in a year or 2… and I do agree Baltimore got old real fast. and they aren’t finding replacements the way the Steelers often do.
The Ravens started trying to find their next defensive stud last year in Sergio Kindle, then he fell down some stairs, hit his head and missed the entire year.
Didnt Kindle just get cut? and I dont know that he played a down for them. But they certainly had high hopes!
The only position this team is deep in is TE after that almost every other spot is lucky to have 2 guys in the rotation. Teams like GB, NO, NE, BAL, PIT, ATL might have a few positions thin but not multiple.
Btw Baltimore might be older but they are talented and deep. In football age isn’t as big a deal when you have talent and depth.