Numbers Worth Considering for the Browns

There are all kinds of different ways to measure where a player or team is in a given season. Since the Cleveland Browns are on their bye week, it's worth checking out where the team and some of its players are in a few different categories to get a sense of what they've done, how they performing and perhaps what's to come in the future.

Yards per play

Offense - 6.0

This actually has the Browns 9th in the NFL and is up from 5.8 from last year. The Browns move the ball when they have it. The issue has been turnovers. If they stop giving the ball away, the offense is actually doing better than last year in totality, but like last year, it should pick up that much more in the second half. This might be the best indicator the Browns will be okay on that side of the ball.

For all of the issues on the offensive line, injuries and suspensions, plus a quarterback who is capable of playing far better in Baker Mayfield, the Browns are moving the ball better than they did at this point last year. If they just find some consistency, that will only improve as will the amount of points they score each game.

Defense - 5.7

This is of slight concern as the Browns are 18th and their mark last year was 5.6 yards per play. In several games, it feels like the defense is doing much of the work and it has been put in any number of bad positions, but it's an inconsistent unit.

At times, it will shut the opponent down, force a three and out in spectacular fashion. The flip side is there are times when opposing offenses march right down the field and score. Injuries have played a role, but there are certain areas of the defense such as the defensive interior that have to simply play better.

Having a rookie like Mack Wilson pressed into duty has also been problematic on a number of occasions. Hopefully the bye week helps slow the game down for him and he can be more effective in the second half. If he starts the rest of the year, his number of starts in the NFL will be pretty much identical to his career at Alabama.

Nick Chubb 

735 total yards (32.8 percent)

5.3 yards per carry

Christian McCaffrey accounts for an incredible 41 percent of the offense for the Carolina Panthers, which is why he can make a compelling argument for Most Valuable Player thus far into the season. Dalvin Cook of the Minnesota Vikings (34.1 percent) and Leonard Fournette of the Jacksonville Jaguars (33.8 percent) are also doing much of the heavy lifting for their respective offenses.

Cook is the only ball carrier that has over 100 touches that has more yards per attempt (5.4) than Chubb does.

The efficiency in the passing game leaves something to be desired in terms of his yards per touch, but there's no denying how much of an impact Nick Chubb has the offense as a whole, which has been evident through six games. As it stands, Chubb is as good as any back in the running game and if the passing game can improve, the Browns offense can fire on all cylinders and really put up some great numbers on that side of the ball.

Odell Beckham

436 receiving yards (28.7 percent)

8.08 yards per target

55 percent first down conversion rate

Jarvis Landry

439 receiving yards (28.9 percent)

9.9 yards per target

64 percent first down conversion rate

The marks for Beckham and Landry are very good, though neither is elite. Their sheer impact in terms of the passing game, representing 57.6 percent of the receiving yards has been great for the Browns between the twenties. Unfortunately, teams are doing everything they can to take them away in the red zone, so when Chubb can't run the ball in, the offense is struggling.

Injuries to David Njoku, Rashard Higgins and a suspension to Antonio Callaway have contributed to why the passing offense is so concentrated on Landry and Beckham. The next leading receiver in terms of impact is Ricky Seals-Jones (9.4 percent) which is good for a guy who arrived here right before the first week of the season, but not a great indication for the passing offense as a whole.

Landry to this point is significantly more efficient than Beckham, which also isn't surprising given the obvious issues Baker Mayfield and Beckham have had with their timing, resulting in any number of failed connections. That hopefully improves coming out of the bye and should that happen and Beckham just regresses to the mean in terms of his career averages, he'll be far better across the board the rest of the year. 

Despite not finding his way into the end zone through six games, Landry is having the best year of his career in terms of efficiency. His yards per attempt and first down rate look the part of a stud receiver especially compared his first year with the Browns (6.55 yards per target, 54.3 percent first down rate). That's an increase of 151 percent in yards per target from 2018 to the first six games of 2019.

Myles Garrett

14 solo tackles (4.7 percent)

9 sacks (47.3 percent)

9 tackles for loss (23.3 percent)

One player is actually outperforming Garrett and it's Shaq Barrett with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He's having a truly special season so far with 17 solo tackles (6.2 percent), 9 sacks (69.2 percent) and 9.5 tackles for loss (28.3) percent through six games.

Nevertheless, Garrett's numbers are outstanding and short of injury, there's been nothing to suggest he's going to slow down on his production. With the secondary getting healthy, it's possible he could actually improve but should at least maintain his production.

At the very least, he's got ten games to surpass the single season sack record for the Browns, which is 14 by Reggie Camp in 1984. Garrett was half a sack short of tying that mark last year. Garrett has been every bit the transformative player the Browns hoped he would be when they took him #1 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.

Joe Schobert

43 solo tackles (14.5 percent)

The only two players in the NFL that currently have a higher percentage of their team's solo tackles are Tracy Walker of the Detroit Lions (15 percent) and Blake Martinez from the Green Bay Packers (16 percent).

So much about defense is fulfilling the assignment, which can have certain players put up less production by design, but linebackers, first and foremost, are there to make tackles. If they aren't doing their job correctly, the numbers can be somewhat hollow but Schobert is great at taking care of his responsibility and getting to the ball carrier.  The Browns scheme usually only has two linebackers on the field, so they need them to be able to deliver and Schobert is making tackles at an elite rate.