We have reached the quarter-mark of the 2023 season as the Cleveland Browns sit with a 2-2 record. They have looked elite at times, and other times they have looked helpless as they are a hard team to pin down thus far through the season as they work through their bye week. Their defense says they are Super Bowl contenders while their offense and quarterback Deshaun Watson are struggling through a bit of Jekyll and Hyde inconsistencies.
The bye week might have come at the perfect time for this football team before they take on the San Francisco 49ers in Week 6. The bye week gives us a second to break down and level set what we have seen to this point from the Browns as well; the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Buy Browns TicketsWhat have we learned about these Browns through the first quarter of the season as they take the week to recover before preparing for the 49ers?
Very little about Deshaun Watson
We are four games into the season and still have no clue what the Browns have in their quarterback. This is quite an unsettling place to be. This does not mean he is washed or bad. He had a putrid game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he also dazzled against the Tennessee Titans.
Week 4 against the Baltimore Ravens was likely to be a great indicator of who he is going to be for the Browns. However, he missed the game with a shoulder contusion as it was reported there was some fluid build-up. Now, we have to wait until they take on the Niners where there are no excuses as he and the offense take on a Super Bowl contender.
He is paid a ton of money, and we are now in Week 5 with a full offseason in the building.
Nick Chubb truly is the best running back in the NFL
Given how the Cleveland run game has operated since Nick Chubb went down with an injury (albeit against two top-five run defenses), it makes what the superstar running back was able to do behind the same offensive line look magnificent. The run game woes are beyond what Jonathan Taylor would be able to provide in a trade, and Chubb was truly one of a kind.
The run game is broken, and head coach Kevin Stefanski and his staff need to figure out how to get the most out of Jerome Ford and Kareem Hunt. It starts with the scheme as these two backs are not the same caliber as Chubb, so it is on the staff to figure it out upfront and get creative with how to create holes along the interior.
Elijah Moore is not a gadget player
Please let Elijah Moore run routes like a normal wide receiver. He creates a great amount of separation and gets open when he is doing so. However, most of his touches through four games have been in a manufactured format, utilizing the former second round pick as more of a gadget player than letting him do what he is best at.
The jet motion and screen action are great, keep that up. However, Moore is not Deebo Samuel of the 49ers. Samuel has a dense frame and explosive lower half to take on contact and churn out yards with the football in his hands. However, Moore is not that type of player. Please cut out the reverses and carries.
Let Elijah cook.
How much the same personnel can flip the script with the right coaching
Outside of the additions to their front four, the Browns opted not to tinker with their back seven much (outside of adding safety Juan Thornhill). It truly is amazing how little former defensive coordinator Joe Woods was able to get out of players like Denzel Ward, Greg Newsome II, and Grant Delpit.
In year-two, Alex Wright looks like a formidable rotational player, especially against the run. The Browns opted to run it back with the same linebacker room as the year before, and that unit is thriving as well. Even defensive tackle Jordan Elliott is producing in a role that is significantly reduced from where they were over the past two seasons.
For the most part, the coverages are the same scheme with just a higher dependence on Cover-1 than Woods was willing to play. One of the worst units in football is now the best defensive unit in football this season, and all that changed for the most part was the defensive coordinator.
Coaching matters.
Grant Delpit deserves to be paid
Pay Grant Delpit.
Playing out the last year of his contract, the former second round pick is playing out of his mind for the Browns through the quarter-mark of the season. And he is doing it from all over the field. Through four games, Delpit has lined up in the box, slot, and over the top with a great deal of frequency without any lapses in his play.
PFF has him graded out as a top-five safety thus far, and that feels generous for what he has been doing for the Browns defensively in 2023. We are now looking at a potential top-end safety contract for Delpit if he keeps this pace up. And that currently sits at about $15.5 million per year.
If Delpit keeps this pace up, he is well worth it.
BONUS- Something we haven't learned: Can Kevin Stefanski adapt on the fly to his current personnel?
No Nick Chubb, no Jack Conklin, and no run game.
The Browns thus far have not found a way to adapt their offense around their current personnel. As mentioned, Ford and Hunt are not going to thrive in outside zone looks. Neither is your 6-foot-8 and 375-pound rookie offensive tackle. The quarterback you have paid $230 million for thrives off of RPOs and read-options, which are pieces that can be built off of inside zone looks.
This has to be the new foundation the Browns build their offense.
Elijah Moore, as mentioned earlier, is separating at an eye-popping rate. So please let him run routes and get open for his quarterback. You have perhaps the most athletic tight end in the NFL who is averaging less than five yards as his average depth of target. The passing attack cannot be all Amari Cooper or it is going to bottom out.
This falls squarely on Stefanski to figure out how to adjust his offense and build it around the guys he has on the field instead of trying to force them into his scheme.
