Cleveland Browns new players graded much higher than departing veterans

Pro Football Focus grading system and implications for the Browns

Some comments are needed to explain the Pro Football Focus grading system, which is a useful aid in evaluating talent, but not the last word. PFF says they review every play on tape and assign players a grade based on how well they carried out their assignments.

It’s not the same as evaluating the talent of the player or his total value.  An obvious case would be if your player is a defensive back, and one game he is assigned to be the extra DB in zone formations, but the next game he might be assigned to cover the league’s best receiver in man-to-man coverage. In that case, it’s tougher to get a good grade when you draw a difficult coverage assignment.

Alternatively, you could be a quarterback and the coach might have a terrible game plan. That’s not your fault, but nevertheless your grades will be low as a result.

Or it may be that some players are good in one system but not in another system.

So PFF grades are not a sure-fire method to predict team success, so please do not take a second mortgage load to bet on the Browns and win Super Bowl tickets. If Bill Parcells is right that “you are as good as your record says you are,” then the Browns were a 6-10 team last year and just not very good. They could improve a lot, but they still share the AFC North with Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati and it is not easy to win.

Another cautionary note is that the Browns probably didn’t improve their defense as much as they improved their offense. If the defense is giving up points, it is difficult to be truly dominant.

It is worth noting that PFF’s Anthony Treach has an alternative view of the Browns’ free agency compared to this fan’s view. Treach was less impressed by the team’s overall performance, citing overpaying for Austin Hooper.

Actually Treach has a valid point about the costs of the prime players and at some point, the Browns will run out of carryover cap to cover these investments. However, if you just look at how much the acquisitions improve the team for this year, it is very impressive. Is there another team that upgraded seven positions with only a minor downgrade at one position?

Despite the cautions listed above, this fan is more optimistic than ever.  Somehow Andrew Berry and his staff have charmed unprecedented levels of talent to come to play for the Browns. This has happened so fast, this fan’s head is spinning.

It was only a few years ago that unrestricted free agents and their agents were avoiding Cleveland like the plague. This year the Browns have upgraded several positions in a way that we have never seen before.