3 Browns who could be on PFF’s “Most improved” list in 2021.
With PFF declaring Wyatt Teller its most improved player on the Browns, I went ahead and put together a list of three players who could be awarded the accolade by the Analytics Bible after the completion of next season.
Teller was deserving, and was eally was a gift from nowhere. Many viewed the right guard spot as a liability entering the season. Teller was sound during the end of the 2019 campaign, but he still posted a final grade of 56.7.
Yet, when it was all said and done, Teller ended the 2020 season as the NFL’s highest graded guard, according to PFF. He also earned a mark of 93.6 in run blocking, the highest score PFF has given out since 2013.
The Browns bolstered their line in free agency by signing Jack Conklin and by drafting Jedrick Wills, but the emergence of Teller is what really made the offensive line the strength of the team.
So, who could be on the list after next season, when the Browns are celebrating a Super Bowl title? Here’s three potential candidates.
1. Browns SS, Ronnie Harrison
Ronnie Harrison came to the Browns as the Jaguars decimated their roster in an effort to tank for Trevor Lawrence.
The plan worked, and the Browns made out by landing Harrison.
It took him awhile to crack the lineup, but when he finally took over for Karl Joseph, it was clear that the Browns had found their strong safety of the future.
Harrison’s most memorably play of the season was a pick-6 against the Colts. As it turns out, that was a very important victory in the grand scheme of things.
Unfortunately, the Browns lost Harrison for the stretch run, as a shoulder injury took the safety out of action for the entire month of December. He returned for the season finale, and played in the Browns’ two postseason games.
Harrison, who will turn 24 in April, graded out with a mark of 74.4 on PFF.com. It was the third highest mark on defense behind Myles Garrett (89.5) and Olivier Vernon (74.6). If he’s as good as we think he’s going to be, he should at least be graded out in the 80s when 2021 is in the books.
2. Browns LT, Jedrick Wills
The 10th pick in the 2020 draft, Jedrick Wills had a solid rookie season, starting all 16 games. Not bad considering the Alabama product switched from right tackle to the left side, and then didn’t have a traditional offseason to prepare due to the pandemic.
Wills graded out with a mark of 61.5, according to PFF.com. That’s considered average. It’s also surprisingly low. I monitored a lot of what PFF wrote about Wills right after games concluded, and the authors were usually high on Wills. Nobody was calling him the second coming of Joe Thomas, but the job was getting good done and the writers always recognized his potential.
I guess they were making those judgements off the eye test and initial replays. A deeper dive into the tape was obviously not as kind.
Still, his final grade isn’t the worst and now that he should have a more traditional offseason (hopefully)–well, look what Bill Callahan turned Wyatt Teller into.
Oh by the way, he might have been showing us what’s in store for next season. In the season finale against the Steelers, Wills set his career high in run blocking (69.2) and then topped that mark in the Wild Card round (75.3).
3. Browns WR, Donovan Peoples-Jones
The sixth-rounder from Michigan had some huge plays for Cleveland in his debut season, and he’s certainly capable of building off what was a stellar rookie campaign.
For Donovan Peoples-Jones, opportunity will be knocking in 2021, as Odell Beckham misses the first half of the season recovering and rehabbing from ACL surgery.
That leaves DPJ as the Browns lone threat to stretch the field. We saw some of what DPJ was able to do this past season in games against the Bengals and Titans. Heck, he even had a nice 23-yard catch against the Chiefs. It always perplexed me why Stefanski didn’t try to dial up more deep throws to DPJ in that game to soften up the middle of the field.
While the Steelers are experts in plucking receivers in the later rounds ( Antonio Brown, Chase Claypool) few wideouts from late in the draft impact their teams as much as DPJ this past season.
The stats won’t make DPJ a first-round fantasy pick next season, but 16 catches for 304 yards (a nice 21.4 yards per catch average) are numbers that are begging him to be picked as the team’s mosts improved player next season.
It’s been written how the coaching staff really likes how DPJ prepares, in addition to his football IQ. He could certainly put things together in year two, which would surely light up those OBJ trade rumors, yet again.