Monday leftovers (bye edition) part II

If there is a flaw in Freddie Kitchens’ approach to strategizing the Browns’ offense this season, it lies in his insatiable quest to get the football to wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry way too much.

There is no question the two close friends are the best wide receivers on the team. They not only love playing together again, they love playing in an offense that caters to their talents. Therein lies the problem.

The two men have combined for 54 receptions for 875 yards and ONE touchdown. And that was an 89-yard romp by Beckham with a short slant pass of about 10 yards in the week two victory over the New York Jets.

Baker Mayfield is suffering to some degree this season because it seems either Beckham and/or Landry are the prime targets of his passes. To be exact, they are the prime targets 49.5% of the time. That needs to change.

Kitchens and offensive coordinator Todd Monken need to help their quarterback by diversifying his targets. Opposing defensive coordinators are locking into a pattern here and it is hampering the second-year quarterback.

When you become predictable on offense, that offense tends to bog down quickly. Unpredictability is one of the hallmarks of a good offense. And right now, the Cleveland offense is anything but good.

Last season, Mayfield spread the football around to the likes of wideouts Landry, Antonio Callaway, Rashard Higgins and Breshad Perriman; tight ends David Njoku and Darren Fells; and running backs Nick Chubb and Duke Johnson Jr.

Opposing defenses either didn’t know on whom to key or flat out stopped because Mayfield was indiscriminate in where the football was headed. His receiving corps enabled him to set a league record for most touchdown passes by a rookie with 27.

Through five games this season, Mayfield is stuck on five touchdown passes. And with the National Football League’s best pass and overall defense waiting in New England Sunday, he might be stuck for another week.

The big difference this year is he is not throwing to Njoku, on the injured list; Perriman, now playing in Tampa Bay; Higgins, who has been injured all season; Fells and Johnson, now with Houston; and Callaway, who just returned from a four-game suspension.

Callaway and Higgins, who is expected to play Sunday, are nowhere near ready to execute with the rhythm required to be successful in the NFL. It will come eventually, but eventually is at least a couple of games away.

Their return should put Damion Ratley, Taywan Taylor and KhaDarel Hodge (yes, he’s still on the roster) where they belong – either on the bench or as healthy scratches.

Now Ricky Seals-Jones, a wide receiver masquerading as a tight end, has been a revelation. Since being claimed off waivers by the Browns right before the season opener, he has caught seven passes for 143 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

He has more touchdowns than Beckham and Landry combined. So why doesn’t he have a bigger role in the offense? The 6-5, 245-pounder makes an excellent target in the red zone, an area that has been a minefield for Mayfield all season. He needs to be more involved. Much more.

So S-J doesn’t block very well. So what. Neither does the offensive line. Balance his relative weakness at blocking with the fact he has caught 40% of Mayfield’s touchdown passes and it’s not out of the ordinary to wonder what the hell are the coaches thinking. This is not nuclear science we’re talking here.

It’s a prima facie fact the club’s two best receivers have scored one touchdown. And the last time I looked, scoring touchdowns was the main objective in football for the offense. Stop throwing to them so much and bring others into the picture. Give opposing defensive coordinators something to think about.

Besides, it just might get Mayfield kick-started after proving some pundits correct that there is such a thing as a sophomore slump in the NFL for cocky quarterbacks.

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The rumor mill continues to spit out the possibility that General Manager John Dorsey is trying his damndest to trade for recalcitrant Washington Redskins offensive tackle Trent Williams.

There are a number of good reasons to root for the Redskins to toe the line. Making a deal like that is foolish to begin with. It smacks of desperation and when desperation enters such talks, it often results in paying too much.

Dorsey is smart enough, I think, to realize that using high draft choices as bargaining chips midway through a season just to improve one position endangers the future.

There is no question the Browns’ offensive line is nowhere near being what the GM and the rest of the front office thought it would be this season. Losing Kevin Zeitler in the Beckham trade with the New York Giants is being severely felt.

Williams is one of the NFL’s best offensive tackles. But he is 31 years old (he’ll be 32 before the 2020 season begins), a 10-year veteran of the NFL wars and is, if anything, on the downside of his career.

Sure he would be better than Greg Robinson right now. But there is no guarantee if Dorsey somehow comes up with a deal the Redskins can’t refuse that Williams can come in and be plugged into the starting lineup immediately.

He hasn’t played football since last December. He isn’t in shape. And it will take him at least a few games to be comfortable enough in a new system with different nomenclature to be effective. It’s better to bite the bullet, stay put and not mortgage the future.

Dorsey can also blame himself for being in this predicament. Passing on some pretty good offensive linemen in the last two college drafts and selecting poorly (Austin Corbett) has not helped.

It’s time he realizes games are won and lost in the trenches. And his turning a blind eye to that notion, at least on offense, has helped create the desperation to save what many believed was going to be a breakout season for this franchise.

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One piece of advice for Mayfield: Take what the defense gives you. Don’t try to squeeze passes into tight windows like you did last season. It’s not working this season.

On more than several occasions this season, you have passed on numerous opportunities to move the chains and author long, time-consuming drives that keep your defense fresh. Think checkdown. Think quick slants. Think more screen passes.

Now that Higgins is back and Callaway has chipped off enough rust built up throughout his suspension, it’s time to take advantage of open receivers underneath. The short to medium stuff works and can frustrate the hell out of a defense. You don’t have to go for the big gulp all the time.

Watch Tom Brady Sunday. Watch how he carves up a defense with short- to medium-range passes mixed in with an effective ground game. He doesn’t dazzle. He doesn’t have to. And it’s terribly effective.