Following an exciting first round, we break down the favorite picks, most pleasant and biggest surprises, most under-appreciated pick, worst move and more.
Peyton Manning, Mario Williams, Mike Wallace and Carl Nicks headline an intriguing free agent class that can shift the balance of power this offseason.
The Eagles seemingly came out of nowhere to sign Nnamdi Asomugha as they eye a trip to the Super Bowl.
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Since their return to the league the Browns offense has ranged from humdrum to pathetic. The Browns have not finished higher than 18th in any of the main offensive categories (rushing, passing, scoring) in the past 6 seasons. And the year of their best offense, 2002, featured two 350-yard passing games by Tim Couch and another by Kelly Holcomb. Take those away and the average falls from 18th to 29th for passing and 19th to 30th in scoring. Anemic doesn't begin to describe the faltering Browns offense in the 2000s. And despite a new coach, new players and new excitement surrounding the team, don't look for the offense to do much better in 2005 than it has the past few seasons.
Start at quarterback. Tim Couch is spared being the worst top draft pick of all time only by Courtney Brown being picked by the Browns the following year. Couch is rightfully out of the league after 5 seasons marked by a weak, inaccurate arm, a pouty demeanor, and poor decisions both on and off the field. Kelly Holcomb, the brightest light of the new Browns with his playoff heroics, showed he's a good backup but completely overmatched when forced to start. Jeff Garcia played two good games before his tenure ended in bizarre, abysmal failure. Luke McCown started the final games of 2004, and merited only a throwaway draft pick from Tampa Bay, where he will be lucky to make the team. The quarterbacking has been nothing short of a disaster for the Browns. And the answer for 2005 is...Trent Difler!
That's right, the same Difler with a career QB rating of 70.6, and a negative TD/INT ratio. The same Dilfer who hasn't started more than 10 games in a season since 1998. The same Dilfer who has never completed 60% of his passes nor averaged more than 180 passing yards per game his entire career, save a 6-game stint in Seattle in 2002. Sure, he did win a Super Bowl with the Ravens (take that Browns fans!), and he's always been a solid citizen and quality locker-room presence. When you're shining moment as a QB is that you didn't blow games for the best defense in the past 20 years, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement. Consider the Browns D finished 24th last season in points allowed and dead last against the run and features as many as 8 new starters, and being a guy who doesn't blow games simply won't get it done.
The Browns do deserve credit for upgrading what might have been the worst offensive line in recent memory last season. When Ross Verba is far and away the best lineman, that's a major problem. Bringing in Joe Andruzzi and Cosey Coleman and a healthy return of Ryan Tucker all represent significant upgrades over the 2004 line. There's little depth and it generally takes at least half a season for disparate linemen to bond into a cohesive unit, but at least Dilfer will get a chance to look downfield, unlike his predecessors. A greater tangible improvement should come in the running game, where the Browns RBs averaged just 3.6 yards per attempt, good for 28th in the league. Finding the end zone more than 6 times on the ground. worst in the league, should be easier as well behind a strong guard to guard surge.
Dilfer also has some weaponry behind him. Lee Suggs finished his second season very strong, and the acquisition of Reuben Droughns provides depth and quickness. Suggs has all the moves and strength of a top-tier back, and if his confidence isn't shattered by the competitive presence of Droughns he could easily put up over 1200 yards and catch 30 passes. What remains to be seen is how well Suggs handles sharing the carries and the attention, something he and William Green both struggled with. Green still remains on the roster but shouldn't be counted on for any touches until he proves himself physically and mentally stable. Droughns showed some great flashes with Denver last season, but none of the recent Broncos feature backs have ever had any success outside Shanahan's system. To expect Droughns to do any better than Olandis Gary in Detroit or one-season Denver wonders Mike Anderson or Quentin Griffin is a stretch. Still, with an improved line and strong coaching the running game should look much better. How much better depends in large part on the passing game.
Braylon Edwards, Anotnio Bryant, Andre Davis, Dennis Northcutt. A pretty solid group of wideouts at first glance. There's lots of size, speed to burn, and bravado worthy of Michael Irvin in his prime. But probe a little deeper and discover why the sum of the parts is less than the individuals. The three main guys, Edwards, Bryant, and Davis, all excel downfield on the outside. All have great playmaking ability, and all have a very prolific propensity for dropping lots of easy balls. With Winslow gone at TE yet again, that means that at least one of these guys must play inside the hash marks. Bryant got exiled from Dallas precisely because he refused to go across the middle, and Davis has never been comfortable in the slot or underneath the zone. Edwards might be the best player in the past draft, but he racked up great numbers playing against marginal D-I corners. Ask Larry Fitzgerald or Plaxico Burris, two similar dominant collegians to Edwards, how big the talent gap at corner is to adjust to in the NFL. With an inaccurate QB like Dilfer throwing the ball, don't expect any more from Edwards than Fitzgerald's 58 catches and 780 yards. There's not a possession-type receiver on the team, nobody to run the dangerous 6-yard curls or 3rd down drags across the middle. It's a problem that both Garcia and Couch complained about during their tenures and it's not any closer to being solved now. Surely they will get some nice numbers on the outside and stretch the defense for the running game, and those are both important additions to last year's punchless attack. But unless one of the guys quickly embraces a new identity, a very difficult adjustment for any of them with their speed and hot-and-cold hands, there's going to be a lot of unconverted 3rd downs and points left on the field in the redzone.
It's hard to imagine a more toothless attack than the 2004 Browns. The O-line upgrades and the addition of Edwards and Droughns are marked improvements and might get the Browns higher than 20th in one or more of the categories. Yet this is still an unproven unit with some serious issues for Romeo Crennel & Co. to work out during the 2005 season.
