The Cleveland Browns could see these five players break out over the second half of 2022.
The Cleveland Browns are about to get a lift when embattled starting quarterback Deshaun Watson returns to the team next week. He won’t play until the Houston Texans game, but the Browns are hoping to have a decent enough record without him so that his arrival could help push them to the playoffs.
His arrival will help lift certain positions on the offense just with his athleticism alone, so it makes sense that several offensive players could have a big second half of the season. Who else, though, will have a big second half of the season?
That’s what we’re going to look at right now. We’re going to look at guys who may be able to prove to the league and to the team that they’re better than previously thought. Not every guy on this list is “bad”, but some may be in a new position in Week 10 than they were in Week 1. With the Browns being 3-5 and at the midway point of their season, it makes sense to look at this now, as opposed to last week or next week.
It’s been half a year for the Browns, so who is poised for a bigger second half?
Honorable Mention: Jordan Kunaszyk
If Jordan Kunaszyk gets some more opportunities, he’ll make the most of them. He’s a good tackler and should the Browns suffer more injuries at linebacker, he may be forced into a bigger role. Especially since the trade deadline has passed.
Sione Takitaki
It may be a tall order to say that Sionne Takitaki is going to have a breakout season, after all, he’s one of the older players on the team and is in his fifth season with the Browns. The odds that he pops up out of nowhere and dominates on a week-to-week basis as he did against the Cincinnati Bengals isn’t likely, that stuff doesn’t just happen.
What makes Takitaki different is, unlike in past seasons, he’s now playing the Mike position on defense. The Mike, or as they’re often called the middle linebacker, is the play-caller on the defense usually. He’s the one the defense that puts everyone in a position to succeed and is often the first contact for the second level. He’ll have more opportunities to get tackled, he’ll be a bigger factor in the pass defense and unlike in past seasons with Joe Woods as his defensive coordinator, he won’t be leaving the field as often anymore.
He went from playing 19% of defensive snaps in Week 1 to 85% in Week 8. So with him being the featured linebacker amid all the injuries on defense, he should seemingly continue to be given opportunities to make plays.
If he keeps making them, he may find himself entrenched in the position for good going forward.
Greg Newsome
Greg Newsome has been very uneven all year. Three of his first four games saw him play very subpar football, at least according to PFF. In weeks 1, 2, and 4, he averaged a PFF grade of 56.53. Not great. Yet he showed flashes of his former self, putting up solid outings in Weeks 3 and 5. His performance evened out even more against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 7, and again with the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 8.
While the Bengals were without Ja’Marr Chase, the Browns struggled against Joe Flacco and the New York Jets, clearly, this wasn’t about the talent across from them but about the mentality one needs to cover guys. Newsome was clearly shaken for some reason. Has Newsome been banged up this year? Some thin so, but we’ll never truly know.
What we do know is that Newsome is playing well in back-to-back games, against two very dangerous quarterbacks. Will this be the week that Newsome extends his positive performance streak to three?
It seems like if any defensive back is about to break out, it’d be Newsome. He has started to return to form, and while that may not all be due to him, defense and offense run best as a unit, and very rarely does one player lift everyone up, he has started to show that elite coverage ability again that we saw as a rookie.
If Newsome plays better, the Browns will have a better shot at winning.
Donovan Peoples-Jones
With Donovan Peoples-Jones having a solid outing so far in 2022 with a pretty average quarterback, he’s among the most likely players to get a huge beak this season with the debut of Deshaun Watson. His numbers aren’t eye-popping, with 417 yards on the season, and no touchdowns as of yet, but he’s already on pace to surpass his 597 from a season ago.
At his current pace, he’ll break 800 for the season, and for a sixth-round pick in 20202, that’s impressive. Yet, with his ability to get behind defenders and his shifty route-running, with a quarterback with better accuracy and the ability to make more throws, Peoples-Jones could hit 1,000 yards.
Who knows what the offense will look like with Watson in charge of it, maybe they’ll go super unbalanced towards the passing game, or maybe Watson will struggle due to all of the time off and the team will throw less, but should Watson not need that much time to acclimate to his new situation, the Browns should be expecting big things from Peoples-Jones.
As for why Peoples-Jones and not Amari Cooper? Well, we’re all expecting Cooper to put up big numbers. So if he does it, why would any of us be surprised that he did exactly what he was brought in to do?
Jack Conklin
The former All-Pro is returning to slowly but surely returning to his peak. Since returning from injury and missing the first two weeks of action, Jack Conklin has been very up and down. His lower leg strength doesn’t seem to have returned just yet after his patellar tendon injury from a year ago. He was once the best run-blocker on the team, and now, at least according to PFF, he’s no longer the same force.
He’s posting just a 64.3 in that area for the year, with his best performances coming in weeks the team runs less. His season-high grade in that area came in Week 7 against the Baltimore Ravens, where he posted a 75.7, but it was also the same week the Browns ran just 22 times, the second-fewest of the season in games Conklin has played.
Conklin has, however, excelled at pass blocking. As bad as he’s been getting his feet under him and powering forward, the lateral quickness seems to be back. He’s posting a PFF pass-blocking grade of 79.8. That’s a pretty high mark and one that shows he will eventually find his footing.
It takes a while to come back from major knee surgery, and getting a quarterback who’s mobile and can help take the pressure off of you with his feet, should only help Conklin’s marks go up.
Deshaun Watson
And here we have it, the boss at the end of the game. Deshaun Watson’s return could go one of two ways; either he comes in and plays well, giving the Browns a chance to make the playoffs (assuming the next three games aren’t a disaster). The Browns have the Miami Dolphins, then the Buffalo Bills, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If they get swept by those three teams, that puts the Browns at 3-8 and all but out of the playoffs. If they go 1-2, the Browns have an uphill battle and can’t afford another loss the rest of the way with Watson at quarterback. If they go 2-1 or even 3-0, that would put them at 5-6 or 6-5 and right in striking distance.
What we’re saying is, that Watson’s impact on the team will be predicated on how they do the next three games. Since Watson only gets his deal if he plays, there exists a scenario, regardless of how unlikely, that the Browns may sit Watson for 2022. This would mean in 2023 that his salary would be $1 million, as his contract would have been delayed.
This isn’t likely to happen, but it could conceivably happen if the Browns are out of the running. If Watson does play in 2022, no matter how few games, he’ll command his pay of $40+ for next season.
Watson could easily come out and sling the rock and look like an All-Pro over the last six games, and that is what everyone is expecting him to do. He could also very likely struggle, as he’s coming off nearly two full years of no action, and could very well need time to find his legs.
Plus, considering the Monstars have seemingly sucked the talent out of so many quarterbacks already this year (Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, etc), who knows if they didn’t get to Watson as well.
That said, he has every chance in the world to prove his worth and has some decent targets around him. So he should have a decent few games to close out the year.