Cleveland Browns face ex-teammate in Seahawks Mychal Kendricks

The Cleveland Browns will see a familiar face on Sunday in Mychal Kendricks, who had a short, but eventful stay with the team last season

Mychal Kendricks of the Seattle Seahawks is the latest former bad boy to face the Cleveland Browns.

Last week the Browns faced the San Francisco 49ers and their former defensive back K’Waun Williams. He had been sent packing because of a temper tantrum after being demoted by Hue Jackson during summer camp.

Now Pro Football Focus (subscription required) grades him as the top cornerback in the NFL. You will recall his 49-yard interception return killed the Browns chances for a comeback.

Today, the Browns face old friend Mychal Kendricks and the Seattle Seahawks. Kendricks was a star for the Hard Knocks show featuring the Browns last year but was cut when he decided to change his plea from innocent to guilty on charges of insider stock training.

The Browns are still paying the price for the “my way or the highway” philosophy in the previous regime. Cleveland had a habit of getting rid of players who were good enough to start, but who had personal shortcomings or problems that management would not tolerate or who were otherwise alienated by the organization. A list appears in the table below:

For the most part, under Freddie Kitchens, the Browns have stopped running off talent. The closest they came under Kitchens may have been the Duke Johnson situation, in which the halfback was unhappy after the Browns signed Kareem Hunt.

However, this reviewer does not fault the team for Johnson’s unhappiness, and moreover they received a favorable deal in return, getting a draft pick and saving on the salary cap. Good luck to the hustling, hard-nosed halfback, but he should have stayed on the Browns, and should not have been intimidated by the possible presence of Kareem Hunt, who after all has not played a single down yet.

Why is Kendricks no longer a Brown?

He lied.

For many fans, not to mention former coach Hue Jackson, that was enough to terminate the relationship. Being cut from the team is the football equivalent of the death penalty.

However, in America, you are allowed to plead innocent even if you know darn well you are guilty. The Browns, of course, knew about the legal difficulties when they signed him. If they expected him to provide incriminating information during his job interview, they were incredibly naïve.

Currently, Kendricks is graded 25th overall among linebackers by Pro Football Focus. Pro Football Focus grades players on their success carrying out their assignments, which is not the same thing as evaluating the best or most talented players.

Nevertheless, in case you were wondering, PFF grades Kendricks significantly higher than either Joe Schobert (42nd overall)  or Mack Wilson (66th).

He’s tough, smart, fast and a hard hitter, good against both the run and the past. He has the reputation of being a good teammate as well and has not been a discipline problem. He’s just the kind of player that the Browns could use, other than his acceptance of an illegal stock tip, allegedly from a fan who wanted to ingratiate himself with an NFL player.

Andy Patton, writing for SeahawksWire, credits Kendricks and in particular his ability to blitz from the strongside linebacker position, as being instrumental in the Seahawks win over the Arizona Cardinals in Week 4. The Cardinals, of course, are led by Kyler Murray, the 2019 first overall draft pick from Oklahoma.

Kendricks sacked Murray twice on blitzes for 15 yards. He no doubt plans to be active against the 2018 first overall pick from Oklahoma, Baker Mayfield.

"“I was really fired up about Mychal,” coach Pete Carroll said after the game via Patton. “We played a lot of three linebackers on the field today…Mychal really showed that he can be a factor."

In last week’s Thursday night victory over the Rams, 30-29, Kendricks was second on the team in tackles with five.

If anyone wants to applaud the Browns for taking a stance against crooked stock trading, great.  But the Village Elliot hastens to point out that  Kendricks pleaded guilty to basically the same crime that Martha Stewart committed. She indeed was punished but was not banned for life from K-Mart.

Likewise, it is clear that Kendricks had to be punished with a suspension, but there was never doubt that he would at some point resume his career. Too many talented players had to leave the Browns.  It may not have been exclusively on the former coach but it was not an accident that he went 3-36-1.

Hopefully, the Browns will get past Kendricks and the Seahawks today, but truthfully it would be have been better if the guy had stayed in orange and brown, like he wanted to.