We’re ranking and grading the rest of the team.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been looking at the Cleveland Browns roster position by position. Now, we’re wrapping up the last of the Browns roster evaluation by looking at the special teams and coaching. So, if you’ve missed anything up until now, we have your hookup.
Offense: Quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, offensive linemen
Defense: Defensive linemen, linebackers, defensive backs
As for the special teams, we’re not going to be looking at guys who play the gunner role on kickoffs, because that would be an obnoxious level of talent evaluations. It’s going to be a fast guy who can tackle.
So no, we’re looking at the kicker, the punter, and both return men specifically We’ll also be evaluating the coordinators and head coach as well.
The Boilerplate Stuff
"The below grades are intended for individual talent evaluations only. Letter grades are given “+” or “-” to determine exactly where they rank among others in that grade. For instance, an A- is a Pro Bowler, an “A” is your top-of-the-class, All-Pro type, while an “A+” is for your guys playing at a Hall of Fame level. INC – Given to expected practice squad players with little-to-no tape on them F –expected to be out of the league before the end of his rookie contract D – practice squad guy C – could get minutes as a backup B – starter A – among the league’s best Positional grades are more optics related. In that regard here’s how that would break down; F – Position is a determinate to the team and talent is needed. D – Not a very talented group/too many unknowns. C – League average, can win with them but will also lose with them. B- A strength on the team. A – Among the league’s very best."
Special Teams
P Corey Bojorquez
The Cleveland Browns retooled their kicking positions for 2022, and they’re fine. Corey Bojorquez is no better than Jamie Gillan, and the Browns are playing round robin with the position because the coaching staff still fails to grasp how hard it is to kick footballs in Cleveland Browns stadium. Bojorquez will be fine for the team.
PK Cade York
As for Cade York, this one baffles me. Browns fans are buying into the franchise’s hype about the kid. The articles on him have to be pay-for-play because he’s a career 82% kicker and everyone thinks he’s the next coming of Phil Dawson I don’t care if he’s the best kicking prospect since Lou Groza. Until he kicks in Cleveland’s weather, I don’t want to hear about his hype.
Grade: C+
Returners – Jakeem Grant Sr. D’Ernest Johnson, Demetric Felton, Anthony Schwartz, Donovan Peoples-Jones
The returners are going to be bad this year. Jakeem Grant may not make the roster. D’Ernest Johnson may not be a viable option if the running backs ahead of him get hurt. After all, you don’t want to risk Johnson getting hurt on a punt if he’s RB1 on the depth chart.
The same can be said for Donovan Peoples-Jones. He’s the second-best receiver on a team that doesn’t have many good ones. Risking him on returns isn’t smart.
That leaves you with Demetric Felton and Anthony Schwartz. Both guys I think can get the job done, but they won’t be Joshua Cribbs back there.
You also have to keep in mind the difference in punt returns and kick returns. With punts, you’re likely to be more crowded, so being sideline-to-sideline quick is more important, while with the kick-offs, it’s all about finding a lane and being faster than the other guys.
So for that reason, I would like to see Felton on punts, as you want to be more laterally quick, and I feel like Felton is quicker sideline to sideline than Schwartz. Yet, with the kick returns, you want to be more 40-yard fast, which Schwartz is. I don’t think either guy is going to the Pro Bowl in those roles, but they may do some damage.
Grade: C+
Coaches
Coordinators – Alex Van Pelt (OFF), Joe Woods (DFF)
The Cleveland Browns have not had the best of luck with coordinators over the years but these two have been part of the team for three seasons now, and that’s pretty impressive considering the last decade(s) of the team.
Alex Van Pelt is a former quarterback turned quarterbacks coach who actually got Trent Edwards to look respectable in the NFL. That said, in his lone year with the Bills as their offensive coordinator, he was bad and the team was terrible. Van Pelt has not been much better since arriving in Cleveland, having a solid 2020 season but getting to avoid most of the blame for the team’s downfall thanks to Kevin Stefanski and Baker Mayfield being giant lightning rods of controversy. Van Pelt is in his last year with the team if they struggle again, especially if Stefanski won’t turn over the play-calling reigns.
Grade: C
As for Joe Woods, I think he’s safe regardless of what happens or at least should be. His defense isn’t very exciting and you need very unique and skill-specific guys to run his mostly coverage-based defense. Linebackers play a bit further back than in other schemes, he usually only rolls out two-linebacker sets, and the ends are a bit more off the shoulder than normal. It’s very much a “spread” defense. His scheme didn’t work in year one because he had a slower team. In year two, it looked much better. I’m surprised the team hasn’t brought back the Joe’s (Joe Haden and Joe Schobert) as they are great coverage guys and can really bring Wood’s defense to the next level.
Grade: B
Head Coach – Kevin Stefanski
Kevin Stefanski is on the hot seat. Everything that has been said about the failings of Freddie Kitchens can be said about Stefanski. Both men had a good-to-great first year in Cleveland but their offenses fell off as time went on. Both men lost the locker room and allowed anarchy to reign supreme. Both men didn’t know how to or decided not to, get the best out of Baker Mayfield.
Stefanski gets a pass because of Mayfield’s top villain status, however, but whether Deshaun Watson is gone a game, a season, or a lifetime, Stefanski can’t afford another losing season. He’s not reliable as a head coach, he lost control of Odell Beckham, he isn’t the most intune with what the team needs week to week and worst of all, his play calling is atrocious.
We’re not talking bad, we’re talking among the league’s worst. It isn’t just the Xs and O’s that make his play calling so bad, he puts the wrong players into the wrong situations. The one that always jumps out, on third and short, on a designed pass to the running back, Stefanski put in rookie Demetric Felton, instead of the “pass-catching running back” that is Kareem Hunt.
Felton drops a pass that would have been an easy first-down conversion. That isn’t the only time that type of substitution has failed Stefanki, it’s just the most readily remembered. He has a lot to prove as a head coach this year.
Grading the special teams and coaches
Overall, the special team’s position shouldn’t be much worse than last year, but I don’t see them being better than last year either. This is a team that’s by and large a known commodity on that end of the field. The kickers are fine, and yes, I consider a punter a kicker. In fact, I don’t know why a team just doesn’t carry one kicker who does both jobs. It would really make things more interesting and make kickers far more valuable.
I don’t think Cade York is going to be the guy everyone thinks he is. Most kickers who get drafted don’t last in the NFL beyond a few years, and most of them don’t make it to the end of their contract. I’m supposed to believe York is different because the Bengals had a good season with their rookie kicker?
Naw, I’ve seen this song and dance before, and I’m not buying it again. York is more likely to be a journeyman kicker like Mike Nugent than he is to be Sebastian Janikowski.
As for the coaching, I think Stefanski has a lot to prove. Van Pelt has a lot to prove as well, but his failures as a coach aren’t as instrumental during Sunday, as it is for Sunday. See, Van Pelt is supposed to get everyone on the same page. So all these gaffs by rookies are on him. He’s the one who runs the cats through their paces and he didn’t do a great job last year.
Stefanski’s blunders are less about practice and more about organization and play calling, two things we’ve seen fall apart in real-time. He’s got to be better at calling plays, and he’s got to be better at knowing who to use and when.
Special Teams Grade: C
Coaching Grade: C