Cleveland Browns: Andrew Berry head-to-head with Eric DeCosta
2019 was a big year for the Ravens, DeCosta
In 2019 Lamar Jackson was the league MVP and the Ravens went 14-2 in the regular season before being upset in the playoffs.
On the Browns side, John Dorsey was gearing up for a Super Bowl run by trading away his first-round draft pick along with Jabrill Peppers for Odell Beckham, Jr. in hopes that he would form an unstoppable combination with Baker Mayfield. That had nothing to do with Andrew Berry, who was in exile in Philadelphia, purged from the Sashi Brown era.
Even in a Browns publication, we are not going to credit the 6-10 Browns with outfoxing the 14-2 Ravens. Nor are we going to join the classless critics who attempt to discredit Lamar Jackson, who was the youngest player to ever start a playoff game in 2018. Nobody should be horrified that he went 0-2 at age 22. The second one we can blame on the GM to some extent, but man, they won 14 games and the Browns won six, okay?
Overall DeCosta kicked Dorsey’s butt in 2019.
Dorsey, in effect, won some discount in the OBJ trade because the Giants were immediately charged for the remaining bonus money on OBJ’s contract, but he still assumed a $14 million dollar salary and gave up a first-round draft pick and a legitimate starter who was the previous year’s first-round draft pick.
The former GM was also overspending by expanding his payroll with Sheldon Richardson, Morgan Burnett, Adarius Taylor, Kendall Lamm, and a few others. Dorsey’s deal made sense for a team with a veteran team and a Super Bowl window about to close, less sense for a team with a second-year quarterback and a new coach, who was bringing home a losing record.
DeCosta had two big investments in free agency in 2019 in running back Mark Ingram, and controversial superstar safety Earl Thomas. Ingram had a good regular season but was injured and could not deliver in the playoffs. That really hurt the team. Perhaps you could blame the GM for signing a 29-year-old running back, but he gained 1,000 yards, so how horrible was that?
Jackson passed for 365 yards, in the playoff game loss to Tennessee, by the way. It was terribly disappointing to the Ravens. but it is beyond stupid to blame the quarterback.
Earl Thomas gained great notoriety that offseason after an unfortunate incident in which his wife held him at gunpoint with a gun that she thought was unloaded but was actually loaded. He also got in a fight with a teammate. At the end of the day, Thomas seems to be an intelligent, complex but troubled individual who is not a fundamentally bad person, but he not worth anywhere near $14 million dollars a season, either. That contract has hurt them, but it was okay in 2019.
The 2019 NFL draft produced Marquise Brown and Miles Boykin, both of whom have been reliable if not spectacular receivers for Lamar Jackson. It was not a sensational draft for Baltimore.
Cleveland traded away their first-round draft pick (stupid) and took Greedy Williams in the second round, Sione Takitaki in the third round, Sheldrick Redwine in the fourth round, and Mack Wilson in the fifth round. Williams is a very good talent, but turned up injured with nerve damage in his shoulder and his status for 2021 is uncertain.
Takitaki is the only one who is likely to start full-time this season. Let’s give Baltimore the clear edge on their draft.