Cleveland Browns with rising and falling stock after the New Orleans Saints game

Falling Stocks – Offense

David Njoku

David Njoku was a bad re-signing. He may be in the Top 10 in a bunch of tight-end stats but that’s more an indictment of the lack of good tight ends in the league than it is a testament to how good he is. Now, I want to give Njoku a pass for dropping passes due to the cold weather, I really do, but he drops them in warm weather too. He’s wildly inconsistent and we’re not letting him off the hook. Not at his salary.

Ethan Pocic

Ethan Pocic has been a nice run blocker for the team all year, but his pass blocking has nearly gotten Jacoby Brissett killed on more than a few dozen occasions. Yet, on Saturday, it was the inverse. He kept his assignments in front of him and rarely missed any blitzes, a big issue of his. But when it came to running the ball, Pocic looked awful. He got driven backward, couldn’t get any holes opened up, and at times looked lost. On more than one play, Pocic ran down the center of the field without making contact with anyone from the Saints. All while Chubb was 15 yards behind him getting stopped.

Wyatt Teller

The sheen is off Wyatt Teller. He’s strong as a bull, quick as a rabbit, and may be the Shaquille O’Neal off offensive guards; A bit guy with no real talent. See it’s easy to out-muscle someone. Teller does that a lot. But to have the nimbleness to shift down the line to pick up blitzes and be keen enough to see that in defenses? That’s not Teller’s forte. Like with Pocic, which flipped this week. Partly due to the fact no one can get any traction due to the frozen field (completely, actually). Teller has fallen off this season, so much so there’s a Wile E. Coyote-sized hole where he landed. Teller’s always been bad at pass blocking, hence why he was always among the team leaders in penalties, he overcompensated due to his slow lateral movement, but now that he’s not run blocking as well as he used to, that’s concerning. That was the whole reason he got that massive contract.

David Bell

I’m still waiting for David Bell to break out. It’s been an entire season and the only thing we’ve seen him do more than miss passes thrown his way is get excuses for why he’s been so bad. We’re at that point of the season where we’re done accepting excuses. Bell has had a bad year.

Jack Conklin

For the year, Jack Conklin has not played well. He doesn’t have the same dominating strength he’s had the last few years, that’s largely due to the injury he suffered last year. Yet, he’s the anti-Wyatt Teller. Conklin has all the skill in the world, just look at his pass-blocking grades. He’s near-elite. Even though he couldn’t move the Saints off the line of scrimmage on Saturday, Conklin got his new deal because of his ability to block against the pass rush. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him slide over to left tackle next season.