Move on from Clowney

If the Browns capitulate and shell out the kind of cash that’s being bandied about to sign free agent Jadeveon Clowney, they will be making a huge mistake.

As it stands right now, they will be bidding against themselves because reports indicate they are the only serious entrants in the Clowney sweepstakes.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reported the defensive end/outside linebacker turned down the latest Browns offer. No numbers were mentioned, but is it known he seeks in the neighborhood of $17 million after initially valuing himself at $20 million a season.

“I think (the Browns) have been the most aggressive team with him financially,” Schefter said on Cleveland radio. “And I think he has balked at going to Cleveland for whatever reason.”

Let me take a stab at that reason. Could it be because he doesn’t want to play for a National Football League franchise that has had a two-decade history of embarrassingly awful football? Quite probably.

“I think he has been hesitant to go,” said Schefter, “because if he wasn’t, he would have gone already because it’s the most money (he has been offered). It’s the richest offer on the table and he hasn’t taken it. So why is that? I don’t know.

“Is that not wanting to be in that city?” Getting warmer. “Is that a lack of belief in the organization?” Ding, ding ding.

There’s no doubt the Browns have foolishly offered the most money to date. Guessing it’s somewhere in the $14-$15 million range, a preposterously ridiculous number for a spectacularly very average defensive lineman.

Other teams believed to be in the sweepstakes are Tennessee and Seattle, for whom Clowney played last season. He joined the Seahawks after being obtained in a trade with Houston, with whom he spent his first five seasons.

There is no question Clowney is overvaluing himself. The former No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 college draft has not come even close to playing like many believed he would after a nice career at South Carolina.

If it weren’t for one memorable play he made in the 2013 Outcast Bowl against Michigan, there is no telling where he would have been drafted. Most likely not first He built his reputation on that one play and is now seeking to get rich off it.

Most fans remember the lick he put on Michigan running back Vincent Smith in the latter stages of the game. It’s a tackle considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, in college football history.

Clowney and the football arrived in Smith’s midsection simultaneously, the big defensive end spearing him, dropping him in his tracks and sending Smith’s helmet flying backward about five yards. Smith lost the ball after the genuinely remarkable hit and Clowney recovered it.

By today’s standards, however, it would have been flagged because Clowney initially made contact with the crown of his helmet. Can’t do that today without drawing yellow. Concussions back then were not taken as seriously as they are today.

That one play also climaxed a mediocre junior season for Clowney, who registered only three sacks after posting 21 in his first two seasons for the Gamecocks.

He continued his lack of production with the Texans in his first five NFL seasons, registering only 32 sacks (a paltry three with Seattle last season) in 75 games. By contrast, Myles Garrett of the Browns has dropped opposing quarterbacks 30 times in just 37 games.

Had he not bopped Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph and been suspended for the final six games of the 2019 seasons, Garrett would have easily passed Clowney in half the time. And with a new contract looming on the financial horizon, you can bet he will be watching the Clowney situation with more than just casual interest.

The Browns, it would appear, believe Clowney is a very good edge rusher. No he’s not. He’s much better against the run than attempting to harass opposing quarterbacks. Run stoppers don’t get paid like quality quarterback hunters.

The bottom line probably will end something like this: Clowney will take less money and re-up with the Seahawks, who are in much better position to reach the postseason yet again than the Browns, who haven’t been in the playoffs since 2002.

But that’s okay. It’s far better than the Browns making a big mistake and once again overpaying for a player who is nowhere near worth it.

Like Cleveland General Manager Andrew Berry said recently about Clowney: “He’s a good player.” Good is not rewarded with the kind of money Clowney seeks. Great is. And using great and Jadeveon Clowney in the same sentence is oxymoronic.

Bribery in the NFL

As a general rule, I try to stay out of politics in sports. They are nothing more than minefields for the unaware.

But something the National Football League is now strongly considering has caused me to temporarily break that rule. Hopefully, I will not regret it.

The hiring of minorities – or lack of same – for important high-ranking positions in the league has been a sensitive subject for many years.

The Rooney Rule, adopted by the league in 2003, requires every team with a head coaching, general manager or other front-office vacancy to interview at least one minority in order to increase diversity at those levels.

It has been spectacularly unsuccessful. Currently, there are only four head coaches (Anthony Lynn of the Los Angels Chargers, Miami’s Brian Flores, Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh and Washington’s Ron Rivera) and two general managers of color (Andrew Berry with the Browns and Chris Grier in Miami).

And now the league is considering a plan to further give league ownership even more reason to seriously consider hiring a minority at high-profile levels. It arrives in the form of an enhancement to accomplish the goal of increasing diversity.

The plan – it is being called a modification of the Rooney Rule – would use football currency as an incentive. In other words, draft picks. If passed by the owners, it would work this way:

Hire a minority head coach and your team automatically moves up six slots from your regular slot in the third round of the lottery the following year, Hire a minority general manager and your team moves up 10 slots. Hire both and you hit the jackpot: 16 slots.

Other incentives: If a minority quarterbacks coach is hired, the reward is a fourth-round compensatory pick; if the minority GM and/or coach lasts at least three years, a fourth-round choice gains five slots.

Proponents of the plan call it incentivizing. I call it bribery with the league desperate enough to use it as an incentive to get things moving.  The proposed move elicits an interesting question: What is more important to an owner, moving up in the draft or hiring the right man?

It is embarrassing to the league and the potential minority head coach and general manager candidates that the plan resorts to using draft capital as a bribe to encourage teams to hire them.

Well the original plan is not working, argue those seeking an equitable solution. That’s where the desperation part enters the picture with the draft.

In an effort to make it a little more difficult for teams to adhere to the Rooney Rule, it is being reported teams now will be required to interview at least two minority candidates for head coach and at least one for a coordinator position.

It is entirely possible the Rooney Rule might never work as it was meant to. And that is unfortunate because there are a large number of candidates for high-ranking positions out there more than qualified to move up.

If the owners accept the plan, it is entirely possible the number of minority hires will increase. It is also entirely possible minority coaches hired because of the draft incentives will face unwarranted pressure to succeed.

Is there a solution that will make all sides happy? That’s a question that might never be answered.

Getting left tackle right

Before starting, it must be pointed the Browns’ offensive line this season (if there is a season) will be infinitely better than last season’s sad group.

That said, remarks made recently by the new position coach for that unit of the 2020 Browns should not be taken too seriously. At least not yet. Here are a few reasons why.

Bill Callahan is considered by many observers as one of the best offensive line coaches in the National Football League. Has been for years and he has the résumé to back it up. But he has a tendency, as do position coaches, to occasionally engage in hyperbole.

He has been around the NFL since 1995 – with the exception of a four-year stint at Nebraska – in a variety of capacities. He is one of just a few rookie head coaches to lead a team (Oakland) to a Super Bowl (XXXVII). The Browns are his sixth NFL team.

He inherits incumbents at center (JC Tretter) and left guard (Joel Bitonio).

In a videoconference with the Cleveland media recently, Callahan gushed about the Browns’ selection of Jedrick Wills Jr. with their first pick in the college draft. Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta said Wills was the top tackle on their board.

After listening to Callahan, who probably lobbied hard to put Wills there on that board, one can understand why. “You could feel him on film,” he told the media. “He came alive on tape and you got excited about what he was doing.”

An almost visceral way of explaining what he saw. He continued.

“He’s got those intangibles that show up in tangible ways on film,” he said of someone who is a mere NFL infant. “You watch him finish, you watch his detail and technique, you watch his consistent effort and his stamina throughout the game from start to finish and . . . that’s what appealed to me.”

Whoa! That sure sounds as though Wills has All-Pro written all over his 6-4, 305-pound frame. This is as can’t miss as can’t miss can get.

No wonder fans who pay rapt attention to talk like that are getting excited about the rookie from Alabama, who will be thrown into the pro football fire playing on the opposite side of the line as the one he played for the Crimson Tide.

Wills, who played a smidgen at left tackle in high school before switching to the right side until now, is the presumptive heir apparent to future Hall of Fame left tackle Joe Thomas, who retired in 2017.

“I’m quite confident he is capable of being our left tackle,” said Callahan. “They are going to go through some lumps and they are going to have times when they are going to get beat, but the best in the game get beat.”

Wonder if Callahan knows that Jack Conklin, the Pro Bowl right tackle the Browns signed as a free agent, was an All-America left tackle at Michigan State? The only reason the Tennessee Titans switched the college walk-on to the other side was because Pro Bowler Taylor Lewan had the left side locked down.

So the best offensive left tackle on the current roster is listed on the depth chart as a right tackle. That would be Conklin, whose experience on that side dwarfs Wills’ experience at the position, Callahan’s effusive praise notwithstanding.

Why not keep Wills at the position that garnered him all this attention and subsequent lofty draft position? He’d be much more comfortable there in his rookie season whereas all Conklin would need to do is quickly relearn to play a position he has always played until the NFL.

Muscle memory would return a lot quicker with Conklin than Wills. “From a muscle memory standpoint,” said Callahan, “you’ve got to get into a groove and a lot of that depends on the training and all that.

“But when you’re grooving a player, they need constant consistent reps day in and day out to get their game up to the level you want it.” Sure sounds a lot easier for Conklin than it would be for Wills.

“You talk about a system fit,” said Callahan. “You couldn’t get a more perfect tackle in free agency than Jack. . . . I’m really looking forward to digging down in the trenches with him and seeing how we can tweak some things and help his game.”

Maybe, just maybe, somewhere along the line between now and the start of the season (if there is a season), Callahan will discover the best and quickest way to strengthen the line will be to slot Conklin on the left side and Wills on the right.

That way, right guard, which Callahan labeled “up for grabs,” becomes the only slot that might cause concern. “I really believe we have some excellent players in there in Wyatt Teller, Drew Forbes, Colby Gossett and Willie Wright,” he said. 

Chris Hubbard, who struggled a right tackle the past two seasons and is now tethered to the bench, is an outside possibility at guard. “I really like Chris,” said Callahan. “I think he’s got a lot of value and a lot of upside and definitely will help us at some point.”

Upside at age 29? With seven seasons in the NFL? Hyperbole cuts in many different directions.

Throwing darts, part II 

If you’re still here, congratulations. You’re either curious to see how dumb I can be or you’re a glutton for punishment. We now continue with the back half of the 2020 season for the Browns. We pick it up with . , ,

Week 10, Sunday Nov. 15 vs. Houston, 1 p.m., FOX – Every time the Browns play the Texans, the haunting thought crosses the minds of many Browns fans. Deshaun Watson, who many still believe should have been the Browns’ second first-round pick after Myles Garrett in the 2017 draft, has developed into one of the best young quarterbacks in the league. The Browns unwisely swapped the No. 12 pick in that draft for a first-round choice in 2018 who turned out to be Jabrill Peppers, who was with the club for one season. If that hadn’t happened, Mayfield would not be the quarterback of this team. OK, the game. It’s a good thing this one is at home because the new Browns are winless in five trips to the Texas city. Won’t help in this one. The Texans prevail with a pair of Johnsons, David and old friend Duke Jr., making life miserable for the sagging Cleveland run defense. The Texans will not miss DeAndre Hopkins, Watson’s favorite receiver the last three seasons, who was shipped to Arizona. The addition of veterans Brandin Cooks and Randall Cobb should offset the loss. (L)

Week 11, Sunday Nov. 22 vs. Philadelphia, 1 p.m., FOX – Third straight home game and looking for their first victory of the month. Won’t get it as the fans get restless as the Browns slip to 4-6. Too much Carson Wentz (yet another Browns reject), receivers Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson, Marquise Goodwin and rookie Jalen Reagor, tight ends Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert. Wentz will put the ball up a lot against a Cleveland secondary still experiencing problems. He averaged 38 throws a game last season. That’s because the Eagles’ run game is ordinary. The no-name Eagles’ defense is anything but ordinary. It’s coming off a 43-sack season. Mayfield will be under fire all afternoon from defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s unit as the homestand winds up 0-3 with four of the next five on the road lurking. (L)

Week 12, Sunday Nov. 29 at Jacksonville, 1 p.m., CBS – For some reason, the Browns have always had problems with the Jaguars ever since they entered the league as an expansion team in 1995. The Jags have won 12 of the 16 games between the teams (6-2 in Cleveland) since the return. This one was originally scheduled to be played in London, but the pandemic scuttled that. It’s a sign that this year will be different. Yep, the Browns snap a three-game losing slide with an improbably easy victory as Mayfield torches a vulnerable Jaguars secondary and Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt take turns gouging the Jacksonville run defense. (W)

Week 13, Sunday Dec. 6 at Tennessee, 1 p.m., CBS – If there was ever a revenge game this season, this would be the one. Browns fans last season harbored thoughts of the postseason as the season got underway against the Titans at home. The pres-season hype all but handed the Browns, coming off a 7-8-1 season, an invite to the playoffs. The Titans grabbed on to a gigantic needle and thoroughly burst those thoughts to smithereens with a 43-13 victory . . . and it wasn’t even that close. The undisciplined Browns under rookie head coach Freddie Kitchens were their own worst enemy, committing 18 penalties for 182 yards. It was an everything-that-can-go-wrong-will kind of game. It won’t be much different this year down in Nashville, mainly because quarterback Ryan Tannehill, coming off a career year, is now in charge of the offense. Last year, he watched from the bench as Marcus Mariota piloted the upset victory. It won’t be 43-13 this time, but it will end the Browns one-game winning streak. So much for revenge. (L)

Week 14, Monday Dec. 14 vs. Baltimore, 8:15 p.m., ESPN – The Browns enter having lost four of their last five games, a season rapidly falling apart (again) and the AFC’s best team itching to sweep the season series. Every once in a while, especially when the nation drops in for a peek, strange things happen in the NFL. Call them “on any given Sunday” moments. Substitute Monday for Sunday and you get an idea where this is going. The Browns will play as they did when they hammered the Ravens early last season in Baltimore and come up with yet another an eye-blinking, where-in-the-world-did-that-come-from stunner. Everyone contributes on offense, especially a line that keeps Mayfield clean, and a defense that stifles the league’s best offense all evening. (W)

Week 15, Sunday Dec. 20 at New York Giants, 1 p.m., CBS – Two straight weeks in the New York-New Jersey area in what had to be a scheduling screw-up. The first sees the Browns coming off their huge upset of Baltimore into a game Odell Beckham Jr. has waited nearly two years to play, getting his first crack against his old teammates. The Browns’ wide receiver, having a solid season with 79 receptions, 1,101 yards and eight touchdowns, comes through, adding another eight grabs, 98 yards and a touchdown to his season totals, but it isn’t enough. That’s because Saquon Barkley continues to prove he’s the best running back in the league, shredding the Cleveland defense for more than 200 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns, one via Daniel Jones’ only scoring pass of the game. The Giants defense throttles Mayfield & Co. The best the 6-8 Browns can do now is finish at .500. (L)

Week 16, Sunday Dec. 27 at New York Jets, 1 p.m., CBS – Mayfield and Jets quarterback Sam Darnold hook up for the second time in three years – Darnold missed last season’s game with mononucleosis – and this one won’t turn out any differently than the first two for Mayfield, 2-0 against the Jets after a 23-3 victory in week two last season. That’s the game where Beckham busted an 89-yard pass and run that opened up fairly tight game in the third quarter. This time, the Cleveland defense after last week’s debacle suddenly remembers how to play well when the opposition has the football and shuts down Darnold and the solid running game featuring Le’Veon Bell and grizzly veteran Frank Gore. The offense, meanwhile, plays just well enough to inch closer to the .500 mark. (W)

Week 17, Sunday Jan. 3, 2021 vs. Pittsburgh, 1 p.m., CBS – Remember what happened the last time the Browns faced a strong division opponent at home? Yep, I’m talking about the mid-December beatdown of the Ravens in front of a national television audience. Well, it’s going to happen again as they start the new calendar year off right by snapping Ben Roethlisberger’s personal seven-game unbeaten streak against them, reducing his record against them to a still-ridiculous 24-3-1. How are they going to do it? The same way they knocked off the Ravens – with smart, mistake-free football, rewarding a coaching staff determined to set the tone for season two. Mayfield caps his comeback season – only 11 interceptions after the 21 he threw last season – with touchdown passes 25 and 26 aided by a relentless ground game that made it easier to operate the offense. (W) 

The 8-8 finish will be met with mixed reviews. Those who predicted a better record will cite underachieving as a reason they were wrong. Those who believed Stefanski isn’t any better than his predecessor will say, “Told you so.” And then there are those who fall in between and use a .500 record as a launching pad toward a more prosperous future. Consider this a launching pad.