Cleveland Browns defense ranks high in quarterly report card
With the season essentially reaching the end of its first quarter, here is how each of the Cleveland Browns units grades out.
The Cleveland Browns sit at 3-1 through their first four games and have a great chance at improving that record in the coming weeks before more challenging opponents hit their schedule. While they are winning games, they’ve yet to truly have a dominant performance in all three phases of the game at one time.
Instead, the Browns are winning because one unit is able to cover the flaws and mistakes that another is having during a game. For example, in Week 4 against the Minnesota Vikings, while Baker Mayfield and the offense struggled to move the ball at times, the defense played extraordinarily well and shut down a rather high-powered Vikings offense.
With that said, here are how all three units for the Cleveland Browns grade through the season’s first four weeks, including how they could improve on that grade in their next several games.
Cleveland Browns special teams grade: C+
The Cleveland Browns special teams unit has been the opposite of special overall. In fact, if you take out the impact of kicker Chase McLaughlin, then the grade this unit gets would be much lower.
McLaughlin was signed in camp to be a competitor kicker with Cody Parkey, but after Parkey was cut due to an injury, the job was all his. After looking shaky in his preseason reps, McLaughlin has been nothing short of a surprise star, making all seven of his field-goal attempts through four games, including a 57-yarder in Week 3.
Beyond McLaughlin, special teams has been a unit for the Browns that could use some work. Punter Jamie Gillan, nicknamed “The Scottish Hammer,” has been anything but a hammer, netting only 41.1 yards per punt this season, the third-worst average in the league.
Gillan’s inability to flip the field leaves his defense with a big challenge at times, forcing them to step up and stop offenses with a shorter field.
The punting and kicking teams, however, have played fairly average. Returners Demetric Felton and Donovan Peoples-Jones haven’t made any spectacular returns, but seem to always gain positive yards when they are able to field a kick, giving the offense better field position.
Overall, the Cleveland Browns special teams unit isn’t a great unit, but it’s a serviceable part of their team. If the team finds a star returner who can make a big play on occasion, and find a punter who can flip the field, they have the chance to be one of the top units in the entire NFL. For now, they’ll have to settle for being middle of the pack.