CLEVELAND, Ohio – As the Browns prepared to face Jacksonville in their first preseason game of the season Saturday night on the road, I looked at some bigger issues. That’s especially true because most of the starters are not expected to play against the Jags.
ABOUT KEVIN STEFANSKI
Stefanski announced he plans to call the plays again in 2021.
In general, I don’t like the idea of head coaches calling plays. Of course, Sean Payton, Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay have done it well for several years.
Part of the reason the Browns hired Stefanski as head coach was his play-calling ability in Minnesota. They wanted him to do the same for the Browns in 2020.
Some fans have suggested he turn the job over the Alex Van Pelt, the offensive coordinator who called the plays in the 48-37 playoff victory in Pittsburgh last season. Stefanski was sequestered in his basement while recovering from COVID-19.
But why change? The Browns had a good offense last season, one that improved in the second half as Baker Mayfield grew with Stefanski. Van Pelt has significant input, as does offensive line coach Bill Callahan.
Stefanski explained: “The communication that has to occur during a game and the communication that occurs between me and the defensive staff and the game management side of things – we do have a year under our belt. We know how we want to be better. We know how we can communicate better.
“Just talking about play calling ... we do it very collaboratively. I am very, very fortunate to have coaches on my staff who have called plays before – and guys who are outstanding on game day in particular in making sure I have all of the information that I need.”
Along with Van Pelt, wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea also called plays as an offensive coordinator in Miami. Callahan was a head coach in Oakland, Washington and the University of Nebraska.
Stefanski called the plays for only 19 games in Minnesota. He called plays for 16 regular season Browns games, and the playoff loss to Kansas City. That’s a total of 36 games. That’s not a lot of experience, and Stefanski already has been successful. He is likely to improve this season.
The bigger picture is the entire coaching staff is organized. They didn’t have the same sideline periods of confusion Browns fans saw in the past from other head coaches who were calling plays.
ABOUT JOE SCHOBERT
Yes, the Pittsburgh Steelers traded for Joe Schobert. They reportedly didn’t give up much to Jacksonville (low round draft picks) to acquire the former Browns linebacker.
The Browns declined to sign Schobert, who left the team after the 2019 season via free agency. Jacksonville signed Schobert to a 5-year, $53 million deal with $21 million guaranteed. All the guaranteed money is in the first two years of the contract, according to overthecap.com.
The Steelers have had some injuries at linebacker. New Jacksonville coach Urban Meyer probably wondered why the Jags spent so much money on Schobert, who had a so-so season in 2020.
Schobert is guaranteed $7.3 million this season. The remaining three years (2022-24) are worth $30 million, but not guaranteed. Jacksonville signed free agent linebacker Damien Wilson in the offseason for $2 million and liked him better than Schobert.
In 2017, Schobert was a Pro Bowl middle linebacker in a 4-3 defense for Gregg Williams. He’s not played close to that form since. The Steelers play a 3-4 defense, which is not ideal for Schobert.
Going to Pittsburgh in 2017 revived the career of former Brown Joe Haden, who remains a starting cornerback. Will the same thing happen with Schobert? Haden is 32 and a free agent at the end of the season. His agent has asked the Steelers to extend Haden’s contract.
ABOUT THE SAFETIES
The Joe Woods defense depends more on safeties than linebackers. It’s why the Browns signed John Johnson III to a 3-year, $33.75 million free agent contract – $24 million guaranteed. He has been healthy and playing well in training camp.
They picked Grant Delpit in the second round of the 2020 draft. He was projected to start as a rookie. But the LSU product missed all of last season due to Achilles surgery. He has missed most of this training camp with a hamstring problem.
Delpit has played so little as a pro, it’s hard to know what to expect in the near future. Hamstrings are a tricky injury. Ronnie Harrison Jr. also has missed most of camp with a hamstring problem. Harrison had some promising moments at safety last season, but also missed five games due to injuries.
The Browns prefer to play three safeties much of the time. At the start of camp, the projected three were Johnson, Harrison and Delpit. Sheldrick Redwine would have been considered a top backup, but he’s missed much of training camp with an ankle problem.
Some of these guys will be healthy when the regular season opens a month from now. But Harrison and especially Delpit missing so much time in camp could be a problem in the regular season. After Johnson, Delpit is a key guy at this position.
ABOUT WYATT TELLER
Teller emerged as one of the NFL’s best guards in 2020. He’s a free agent at the end of this season, and seems to think it will be his last year with the Browns. He talked about there “being only so much money to go around.”
The Browns signed Nick Chubb to a 3-year, $36 million extension. They want to keep Mayfield and Denzel Ward.
Teller is being paid $2.1 million. Veteran center J.C. Tretter is in the final season of his contract, worth $11 million on the salary cap. They appear to be training Nick Harris (fifth-rounder, 2020) to possibly take over as center next season if Tretter falters – or if they want to save salary cap space. Tretter has $9.8 million (not guaranteed) on his contract for 2022.
A possible replacement for Teller based on the current roster is veteran Chris Hubbard. He is under contract for $5 million this season. He will be a free agent in 2022, but the Browns have been able to work deals with his agent.
Rookie James Hudson III has been training at tackle, but the fourth-rounder also can play guard – according to the Browns.
“We want to train him as a tackle right now,” said Callahan. “We talk about his assignments and what the guard is doing on each specific play so he is informed. ... He has the mental side of it. A lot of our techniques are interchangeable so the play-side guard can do the play-side tackle or the tackle can do the guard.”
The biggest difference between guard and tackle?
“When a tackle has to go to guard, they are going to find out that everything is going to happen a little quicker and faster,” said Callahan. “The players are bigger and they are tougher to remove than a tackle being on the edge. ... The biggest change for a player going from outside in is really the physical matchup, but other than that the mental is still the same. The physical techniques are the same so there is not a lot of difference in that respect.”
As for Teller, what about putting the franchise tag on him for 2022? Won’t happen. I was shocked to see the franchise salary for 2021 was $13.7 million for a guard.
As for other guard candidates, the Browns have Blake Hance, Michael Dunn and Drew Forbes. They also played Harris a few games at guard last season when Teller was hurt.
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