NFL preview: Cleveland Browns
The big story in Browns camp is the QB battle between Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn, but I don't see either of them having the ability to improve the Browns by all that much.
Projected finish: 5-11 (3rd in AFC North)
Anderson, and the Browns as a whole, fooled me a bit by playing way over their heads in a suprisingly good 2007 season. I'm not picking big things again from a team that looks average at the very best in every spot but its offensive line. Maybe moves like losing TE Kellen Winslow are the proverbial addition by subtraction, but Winslow's loss also means the Browns are losing talent that they sorely lack. They simply don't have very much of it on either side of the ball.
Anderson reverted to his previous mediocre form in 2008, and Quinn didn't take the job away and hide when given ample opportunity. Top receiver Braylon Edwards is currently sidelined with a leg injury, and No. 2 man Donte Stalloworth is suspended indefinitely. That leaves David Patten, Joshua Cribbs and Brian Robiske as the cast of receivers that either Anderson or Quinn will be throwing to. It looks like the starter at TE will be none other than the legendary Steve Heiden. Somehow, I'm doubting the Browns will have a top-5, or even a top-25, passing game.
I know Jamal Lewis has gone through a resurgence of sorts in Cleveland, but he'll be 30 by the time the season kicks off. Even if young cornerstone LT Joe Thomas and his linemates, Eric Steinbach, Hank Fraley, Rex Hadnot and Ryan Tucker, open running lanes, is Lewis going to be able to get through them before they close? Backup Jerome Harrison has all of 448 rushing yards in 33 career games, so Lewis will have to run wild for the Browns to have any chance at all.
New coach Eric Mangini's 3-4 defense is highly dependent on NT Shaun Rogers, who had 75 tackles in his first season in Cleveland and has the talent to be a centerpiece, but who has a history of periodic underachievement. Starting DEs Kenyon Coleman and Corey Williams had a combined total of one sack in 2008. Suffice to say, Rogers will need to be at his best if the line is going to be anything short of a glaring liability.
Veteran OLB David Bowens, ILBs Eric Barton and Kamerion Wimbley and ROLB D'Quell Jackson (who Yahoo! credits with an astounding 154 tackles last season) comprise a linebacking unit that lacks anyone who's shown the ability to make big plays. Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald are actually a decent, numbers-wise, combination at cornerback, and Hank Poteat offers veteran depth at the position. The secondary is weakened by its safeties, who are Brodney Pool and Abram Elam.
