Cleveland Browns: Anthony Fabiano intrigues at center

The Cleveland Browns started little known Anthony Fabiano at center this past Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fabiano is the face of the Browns’ FO.

The Cleveland Browns used their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers as an opportunity to evaluate several players along the offensive line. Among those evaluated was Anthony Fabiano at the center position.

If you have never heard of Anthony Fabiano, it is ok. Nobody else has heard of him either – until this past Sunday.

Fabiano was an undrafted free agent out of Harvard University. During his senior year at Harvard, Fabiano hyperextended his toe, partially tore a toe tendon and fractured a bone in his foot. Unfortunately for Fabiano, the timing and severity of the issue prevented him from fully preparing for the NFL combine and his Harvard pro-day. He overcame the setback and performed well at his pro day, posting numbers that gave him the highest SPARQ score of any offensive lineman in the draft.

His athleticism was apparent but his switching positions while at Harvard also raised questions. While at Harvard he played left tackle, left guard and right guard. Without a consistent position on tape, it was hard for scouts to determine where his fit was in the NFL.

According to his NFL.com scouting report, Fabiano lacks “lacks core power and the anchor to deal with NFL bullies across from him. Lacks leg drive as run blocker . . .” In English, this means he lacks leg strength and strength in his core muscles to stand his ground in the pass rush and get movement in run blocking. With these weakness, the NFL scouting report projected him as a lineman for a zone run team.

After going undrafted in the 2016 draft, Fabiano signed with the Baltimore Ravens (a zone run based team) for a three-year contract. However, he was unable to make the team out of camp and was cut. The Browns signed Fabiano to their practice squad on October 5. After being cut and re-signed, Fabiano was activated on December 5 after injuries and suspensions depleted the Browns’ offensive line depth.

Projects like Anthony Fabiano are exactly the diamonds in the rough the Browns have taken chances on all year. The Browns claimed Austin Reiter from the Washington Redskins practice squad. The book on him is the same as Fabiano – good athletic player who lacks strength and size to compete at the NFL level. Reiter started one game in Cameron Erving’s absence and played well.

With the revamped strength and conditioning programs in Cleveland, the Browns are confident that flaws in strength and size can be overcome by their training staff. If such results are possible (and the jury is still out) players like Fabiano and Reiter, who are normally written off, all of a sudden become potential starters with little risk. Working a market inefficiency is what this current front office is about. Anthony Fabiano is in many ways the symbol of this front office strategy.

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Anthony Fabiano started his first game for the Browns last Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He started the game at the one position he did not play collegiately – center. Why center? Center is the most physically and mentally demanding position along the offensive line. If anyone can figure out how to play it, it would be the most athletic offensive lineman in the draft who just happens to be smart enough to graduate from Harvard. In an ideal world, Fabiano is the perfect material out of which to create a center from scratch.

Like any rookie, Fabiano’s debut for the Browns had its positives and negatives.

On the positive side, Fabiano played as well as one could expect given his journey. He made the protection calls effectively. He understood the snap count and snapped the ball on time (which is harder than it looks). However, at times he looked confused about run and pass blocking schemes. He could make the calls but seemed to lack a larger understanding of what the calls are trying to accomplish. As a result, he used the wrong techniques against defenders for the protections called.

There was the issue of the bad snap with Robert Griffin III. During the play, Spencer Drango had given the signal to snap the ball. Fabiano then bobbed his head for timing then snapped the ball. Fabiano and the offensive line were all on the same page, for whatever reason, Griffin was not ready for the ball when the high snap came. The fumble is equally Griffin’s and Fabiano’s fault.

Fabiano struggled all day with high snaps. The issue is easily correctable. However, as Fabiano is learning the position and does not have a lot of experience snapping the ball in pressure situations, high snaps may be a long-term issue until he gains more experience.

In the run game, Fabiano played true to the scouting report. He was able to effectively, with some exceptions, get position in zone run schemes. He also used great technique to gain position when filling for pulling guards. However, once he gained position he was unable to generate movement. Yet, at center the real battle is for position and movement is secondary but extremely helpful in the run game. Moving forward he will need to improve on his leverage and overall strength to be an effective run blocker as a center.

In the passing game, Fabiano’s performance was mixed. He got the Browns into the right protections consistently. But, the mental battle is only half the issue. True to his scouting report, Fabiano struggled to keep defenders at the line of scrimmage, allowing them to collapse the pocket on Griffin. He struggled to hold his ground against bull rushers up the middle. Moving forward he will need to improve his leverage in pass blocking as well as increase in overall strength to hold the pocket.

Anthony Fabiano is certainly an intriguing figure for the Browns. In many ways, Anthony Fabiano is the face of the new mode of player development. He is an undersized athletic player who can be bulked up, taught to play NFL football and used as a serviceable starter. He comes cheap as an undrafted free agent. It will be interesting to see how this player development scheme works for the Browns.

Next: Browns 2-round mock draft

If it works out, the Browns may have found an inefficiency in the market to exploit – which is good news for the Browns and for overlooked players like Anthony Fabiano.

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