Cleveland Browns bye week to do list on offense
The bye week represents an opportunity for the Cleveland Browns to get some work done and improve, both on the field and off of it. On the field, the Browns need to become far more consistent, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. Much of that is on Baker Mayfield. He and his receivers also need to improve their chemistry, timing and execution with a break in the action to catch their breath, assess the season so far and work on areas of weakness.
Specifically with Mayfield and Odell Beckham, it's about reps. Six games into the season, they have a good feel of what the offense has evolved into, the types of plays they are calling and the types of passes they need to improve as it relates to timing. Far too often, the two are just a beat off from each other and it has cost the Browns any number of occasions. There's been at least one misfire or drop per game due to this issue and the Seattle Seahawks game had a number of them, which shows how much better than they can get, considering that Beckham still had 101 yards in the game.
Passes have been off target. Beckham has fallen victim to not knowing when to expect the pass coming out of breaks, which has led to being surprised the ball was on him too fast to adjust and make the catch.
The Browns also have Callaway back and he needs to get back to the form he had at the end of last year. Callaway benefited a great deal during the team's bye week last season in terms of consistency catching the ball and his feel for the game. He became a dangerous threat as the game slowed down a bit for him and Mayfield looked for him quite a bit, which led to a great stretch the final six games.
Rashard Higgins was active against the Seahawks but didn't actually play. He's got to be fully healthy and confident in his knee, so he can get back to being Mayfield's trusted target. He missed five games effectively counting today, which has hurt the Browns offense, but forced Mayfield to develop better chemistry with Jarvis Landry, an unintended but great consequence, which hopefully continues after the bye.
It also allows Mayfield to take another, longer look at his first six games and look at what he's doing right and what has to improve while his hip recovers. His play against pressure and the sheer number of negative plays have to improve. He also just needs to refocus on his mechanics to ensure the ball is coming out on a more consistent basis, both in terms of accuracy and velocity.
The offensive line also needs to get better, only really having two good players on that unit. So, the first thing the Browns need to do is while the players get a few days off, John Dorsey needs to call up J.C. Tretter's agent and hammer out a contract extension. This should've been done before the season, but this is the only break until after the season, so Dorsey should take the opportunity to pick up an easy win.
Tretter is the second best offensive lineman on the team behind only Joel Bitonio and at the level he's playing, Tretter is going to warrant awards after this season, whether he gets them or not. The Browns need to get Mayfield's center locked up, who has done everything the team could ask of him. He played on one leg through immense pain and was still effective last season. Now, healthy, he's playing at a tremendous level.
The Browns should be willing to pay something that should average around $11 million per year for three years after this season that would take Tretter up until the offseason he'll turn 32 years old. And at that point, the team can go year to year for around that same figure.
That would make him one of the higher paid centers in the league, lock him up with Joel Bitonio for the foreseeable future, leaving them three more spots to shore up.
One of those is likely Wyatt Teller. If he's far enough along in getting comfortable at right guard to be able to protect Mayfield in pass protection, the bye week is the time the Browns should go ahead and insert him into the starting lineup. Eric Kush is a great sixth man that can play center and guard. He is a decent spot starter, who has done well in pass protection for the most part, but he's just not a good run blocker and that reared its ugly head in the game against the Seattle Seahawks.
The Browns kept pulling linemen on short yardage plays, which means they don't trust the five guys they have up front to move someone off the ball. Kush is a finesse run blocker. He can do some things effectively with pinning and pulling. He has mobility to get out and move, but he's not built to drive opponents off the ball.
Teller is bigger, stronger and nasty while still being a good athlete for the position. If he's ready, he should get the nod here, because everything suggests the trade to acquire him from the Buffalo Bills was with the mindset that he'd be a long term answer somewhere, so unless they plan to move Joel Bitonio to left tackle after the season, right guard is where he's going to play.
Chris Hubbard has been a failure of a signing to start at right tackle. Options were limited at the time, but his contract is set up so the Browns can get out of it after this season with minimal penalty. Like Kush, he's mobile, but he's undersized and struggles to move anyone off the ball, often getting crumpled into the backfield. He has to win with position and that's not a great fit for this offense. Or really any offense. He's a capable swing tackle. Trading him would be ideal.
The Browns performed some roster gymnastics all for the sake of rookie Drew Forbes to be in the position to be eligible to return from injured reserve this season after suffering a knee injury during the preseason. It's not clear what he suffered or if he's ready to go, but the Browns should be able to designate his return this coming week, which would allow him to practice. If he is healthy, the Browns should get him ready to take over at right tackle when he's active and able to play.
Much like Teller, the Browns loved Forbes in terms of his size and athletic gifts as he showed remarkable growth during training camp. He's an absolute specimen physically and the fact the Browns went to so much trouble to ensure they could activate Forbes suggests that's the plan. The pass pro has to be there at a baseline level to put him out there, but he can be a massive upgrade in the running game, having all of the mobility that Hubbard did with power to be a stud tackle. The combination of Teller and Forbes could give the Browns so much more power in the running game, which compliments what Freddie Kitchens wants to do and the style of back Nick Chubb is.
Ideally, Teller and Forbes get comfortable and ultimately show they have the capability to be the right side of the line going forward and the Browns then only need to address left tackle after the season. That would also mean the Browns aren't integrating three new starters on the offensive line this offseason, when they are getting ready to load up and make a serious run.
This is Pete Smith for Browns Maven
