Cleveland Browns vs. Steelers: 3 X-Factors in Week 6
3. Is Joe Haden still Joe Haden?
One of the most heartbreaking experiences of being a Browns fan was having a general manager who would deliberately cut the team’s best defensive veteran for the Pittsburgh Steelers to sign, while absorbing salary cap charges of four million dollars in 2017 to allow Pittsburgh to sign Joe Haden. This after a sub-par 2016 season in which he played the entire season with two torn groin muscles that had to be surgically repaired after the season.
Many fans (and perhaps the general manager himself) didn’t understand that he was playing hurt and just thought that he had lost a step. Not so! Jiminy Christmas, this writer could probably not type a Browns article on the computer with two torn groin muscles, and yet Haden was playing in the NFL at the highest level. Never could his desire or dedication be questioned. Offseason surgery was successful, and it was clear to the coaching staff, especially defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, that Haden was again playing at a high level.
The coaching staff tried to talk general manager Sashi Brown out of this crazy move, but to no avail. Haden was history, and Brown got to save $7 million on the salary cap, though they still got dinged for $4 million worth of charges for the privilege of cutting him. However, at the end of the year, Joe Haden was a star again in Pittsburgh and Brown was unemployed.
For years, this writer defended Haden against Cleveland detractors who foolishly thought that Sashi had made a clever move. Sashi sure fooled the Steelers! Haden’s fault that the defense has been bad all these years! Watch him weaken the Steelers now! Yeah, right. Haden immediately became the leader of the defensive backfield and the unit played much better than it had before. Haden made the Pro Bowl again in 2019. You may say as many bad things about Haden as you like, but the Steelers have been very happy to have him on the team.
However, now it’s 2020 and what was a stupid question in 2017 may be more relevant now. He’s kind of middle-aged for a cornerback at age 31. Is he still able to cover a number one NFL wide receiver in man coverage?
The Steelers have looked great overall in 2020, while beating up teams like the dreaded New York Giant juggernaut and young star Daniel Jones….the Denver Broncos and the amazing Jeff Driskel….the Houston Texans and their fired coach, Bill O’Brien….and the high-flying Eagles of Philadelphia.
Of course, there are no bad teams in the NFL, and so perhaps, shame on me for knocking these wins, but the fact of the matter is these four teams averaged 237.5 passing yards per game, which is only average, despite having a terrific front four that really gets after the passer. Holding the Texans and Deshaun Watson to 264 yards is rather impressive, but Jeff Driskel, Daniel Jones, and Carson Wentz are not on trajectories that will likely take them to the Pro Bowl.
Haden’s Pro Football Focus grades are not very good so far this year — they rank him 85th among 116 graded cornerbacks. Who knows? Maybe he is a bit banged up. Maybe the caliber of competition they have played is higher than we think. Or maybe he really is on the downside of his illustrious career now.
Mike Hilton at 27th is the highest-ranked cornerback and their safeties — including Minkah Fitzpatrick — grade below average. That doesn’t sound like a Super Bowl team’s secondary, does it?
Haden is the leader of this underperforming unit, which was very highly regarding entering the season. Thus he is most definitely an X-Factor. Is Haden going to get them to pull together one more time and fix whatever is wrong? By the way, he is going to draw the Browns’ top receiver in man coverage, and that is Odell Beckham, Jr. Can he really cover OBJ one on one? We are about to find out.