Cleveland Browns: Andrew Berry head-to-head with Eric DeCosta
Was 2020 the turning point?
The 2020 draft had some good and bad for both the Ravens and the Browns. First off, the 2020 draft brought the Ravens J.K. Dobbins in Round 2, so overall DeCosta had a very good draft.
Shades of Ozzie Newsome. How did the other NFL teams screw up and let Dobbins fall to Baltimore? Curse you, NFL. That makes zero sense.
Sure enough, Dobbins is turning out to be a star. He had 6.0 yards per carry as a rookie and appears headed to a Pro Bowl with Nick Chubb.
That draft is a success based on Dobbins alone. The only thing that might slow him down is the loss of Pro Bowl behemoth Orlando Brown, Jr., who would not shift to right tackle for Ronnie Stanley, who is returning from IR (more about that on the next page). Aging Mark Ingram was not a major contributor in 2020 and is now in Texas replacing the immortal Duke Johnson.
Another eye-popping stat is Devin Duvernay’s 76.9 catch percentage, which is insane for a wide receiver. However, with 347 snaps and only 201 yards, it is clear that he has to learn to run better patterns to get open for Jackson. When he is open, he catches the ball. We have to assume that he will only improve with time.
As for first-round pick Patrick Queen from LSU, however, Pro Football Focus grades him a 29.7. That’s crazy. I used to complain about the low grades that Joe Schobert used to get from PFF, but nothing like this. Even Judas was graded over 40 when he turned in Jesus to the Romans back in 30 A.D. They say Queen missed 22 tackles as a rookie, which is admittedly rather mind-numbing.
Justin Madubuike looks like a starter at defensive tackle. Malik Harrison has a similar skill set to Mack Wilson: a big physical linebacker. These players are solid contributors but not difference makers at this stage of their development, at least.
The Browns received an acceptable performance from first-round draft pick Jedrick Wills, but he will improve in his second and third year in the league. A simple rule of drafting is that 21-year-olds are still maturing physically and are going to get much better by the time they are 24 or 25. Wills was another of those 21-year-olds, so if you liked him in year one, you are going to love him as he gets better each year.
Grant Delpit was injured (Achilles) and is an unknown quantity but was trending positively before his injury. 3rd round pick Jacob Phillips played much fewer snaps than Patrick Queen but received a much higher grade than Queen (and Judas, for that matter). Donovan Peoples-Jones can be compared in some ways to Devin Duvernay of the Ravens, although Duvernay spends more time in the slot than DPJ.
DPJ didn’t really come out of The School Up North with much polish, but once he got settled into the Pro Game things started to click for him. The Browns also like what they saw from tight end Harrison Bryant and center Nick Harris. The Browns overall drafted better than the Ravens.
Free-agent-wise, the Browns gave Jack Conklin huge dollars and he made the Pro Bowl. They also gave tops dollar to Austin Hooper and received above-average performance from him.
The Browns let Joe Schobert go, as well as Damarous Randall, Demetrius Harris, Eric Murray, T.J. Carrie, Eric Kush, and Juston Burris, all of whom started four or more games. It’s not easy to cut payroll and improve the team. However, the Browns did improve the roster while cutting payroll and that has to be credited to general manager Andrew Berry.
Baltimore was mainly preoccupied with hanging on to the players that they drafted. They lost defensive tackle Michael Pierce to the Vikings, and their biggest signing was defensive end Derek Wolfe to a one-year, three million dollar deal.
Their top free agents from 2019 unraveled, as Earl Thomas was kicked off the team prior to the season, and Mark Ingram lost his starting job to Dobbins.
Baltimore was still very good at 11-5, but the Browns also finished 11-5. The Browns trended upwards and the Ravens slid back slightly. Both teams won a playoff game. So much for the notion that Jackson and Mayfield cannot win playoff games. The advantage goes to Andrew Berry in his rookie year as general manager, with Eric DeCosta and company having a slight sophomore slump.
In the 2021 off-season, the Ravens have done what the fans want, namely unload a boring Pro Bowl offensive lineman in favor of speedy wide receivers. That’s not necessarily the way to build a great football team, however.