Way too early prediction of the Cleveland Browns 53 man roster
By Mitch Zoloty
Specialists
Absolute Locks:
Jamie Gillan
Austin Seibert
The Browns have arguably the most promising special teams room in the NFL. A young kicker, a young punter, and one of the top long snappers in the game. The future is very bright in this room, and I doubt it will ever change over the next five years. Each one of them brings a special talent to the team, and will only get better.
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Special teams coaches don’t get much better than Mike Priefer, and he is going to turn this unit into one of the best in the NFL. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them finish as a top 5 special teams unit by the end of the season. Elite special teams are how you win football games. Blocking kicks, making long field goals, and pinning your opponent back deep in their territory.
It doesn’t matter who you’re up against, a 95-yard drive is a lot harder to pull off than an 80-yard drive. There is no better way to dominate a team than blocking a kick. For those of you who have played football, when you watch your team block a kick, it is arguably one of the best feelings in the world. When you watch one of your kicks get blocked, its absolutely demoralizing.
Think back to the start of the 2017 season, when the Browns had that punt blocked in the end zone. With Preifer and his band of specialists, that is not going to happen nearly as often. Gillan had one blocked last year, but that will likely get fixed this offseason.
Jamie Gillan won special teams player of the month last September as a rookie. He also averaged 46.2 yards per punt, which was 10th in the NFL. Austin Seibert hit 86% of his field goals last season and will likely be even more accurate now that he has the confidence of an NFL kicker. Browns fans should be excited to watch these guys play in 2020.