10 moves the Cleveland Browns must make during the 2018 offseason
5. Replace The Crow
It’s not that I’m against Isaiah Crowell for one particular reason, but he’s served his purpose in Cleveland and it’s probably time for him to move on.
Crowell finished the year with 853 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
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Yes, a lot of people question Hue Jackson’s decision not to run the ball more, and that certainly impacted Crowell’s numbers.
Give credit where credit is due to Crowell. He came to the Browns as undrafted free agent out of school no one’s ever heard of after leaving Georgia’s football program because of a weapons charge.
He won the starting job and was a solid contributor.
But that’s the thing. He was “solid.”
He was far from an impact back.
Jackson gets knocked for not running enough, but on the flip side, look at Duke Johnson‘s numbers. Johnson set the Browns running back record for passes caught during the 2017 campaign.
A lot of those catches were close to the line of scrimmages and could be thought of as hand offs. Jackson was probably trying to get the ball to one of his playmakers in space. Duke caught 74 balls for 693 yards.
Crowell’s work was appreciated, but the Browns can probably unearth another running back somewhere in the draft. The franchise also has Matthew Dayes, who had just five rushes for 13 yards during the season.
He’ll definitely be worth more of a look during Training Camp.