The Cleveland Browns are back to the drawing board, and predominantly for evaluation purposes at this point as they have been practically eliminated from playoff contention. After a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, a heavily penalized game for the Browns, they will be looking to build rapport, and momentum, and put players who need further evaluation under a microscope over their last four games.
Before looking ahead to the Baltimore Ravens, however, there is still plenty to evaluate from this AFC North loss. Starting with the snap count totals, what stood out from the personnel groupings, and who saw the field the most (or least) for the Browns yesterday?
All snap count data has been pulled from The OBR’s weekly analytics article. The graphics are made by The OBR’s Anthony Reinhard.
Browns running a ton of 11 personnel, empty now
A year ago, given the lack of talent at the wide receiver position, the Browns ran a ton of 12 and 13 personnel (one running back, two and three tight ends). They still ran a good amount of 12 personnel with Jacoby Brissett under center as they ramped rookie David Bell up to significant snaps, but now with Deshaun Watson under center, the Browns are all in on 11 personnel and empty looks.
The Browns have always been incredibly efficient out of empty, and that has continued with Watson at quarterback as well. Bell is now fully up to speed and played a massive 51 snaps in this game against the Bengals.
Meanwhile, tight ends Harrison Bryant and Pharoah Brown played just eight and two snaps respectively in this game. With the incorporation of a great deal of RPO, zone read, and even triple option looks put on display in this game, expect David Njoku to be the only tight end to see the field with frequency the rest of the way out.
Perrion Winfrey is here to stay
Make it three straight weeks where rookie defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey has put a positive step forward for the Cleveland defense. As the Browns continue down these last four games, there is no reason to expect this to change as Tommy Togiai has been benched and Winfrey continues to hold a formidable chunk of the rotation.
Only third-year defensive tackle Jordan Elliott played more snaps than Winfrey at the position as he out-snapped Taven Bryan. Finding even one salvageable piece on this defensive line would be huge for the Browns as they look to overhaul the bulk of the room this offseason. Winfrey is proving he can play at the NFL level.
He’s stacked positive weeks, so it will be interesting to see if Winfrey can continue to take steps forward after a rocky start to his rookie season.
There are plenty of snaps for Jaelon Darden when he is ready
We already mentioned that Bell played a massive 51 snaps on Sunday, but Demetric Felton played nine as well. The majority of Felton’s snaps came in jet motion looks as well, as he is not a player who is going to thrive running direct routes down the field.
Needless to say, and even if it eats into Bell’s large number of snaps, the Browns have a plan for recently claimed wide receiver Jaelon Darden. There are quite a few snaps to be had for him in this offense. He was inactive this week after spending less than a week in the building, but one would think the Browns want to see directly what they have in him over these next four games.
He has 4.4 speed, is shifty in the open field with the ball in his hands, and has the verticality to stretch a defense. There should be a great deal of excitement in the building to see what this young wide receiver can do for this team.
Tony Fields II's role doesn't change after big week
After his big day against the Houston Texans, second-year linebacker Tony Fields II was still played sparingly in just the WILL role in base defense looks. Again, the Bengals spread the ball out a ton more than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Texans in prior weeks, so the Browns lived in nickel and dime more frequently to match personnel.
However, with the injury to Sione Takitaki, it appeared there may have been an opportunity for Fields to see reps at MIKE in his relief. These reps, however, went to Deion Jones who played quite well in relief. This, however, brings us to our last point which could point toward Fields finding the field with more frequency over the last four games.
Will we see the young guys getting more snaps now that Browns are essentially eliminated from playoffs?
As the Browns enter evaluation mode down the stretch, there is reason to believe some of the veterans on expiring contracts could see less snaps to younger players. Jadeveon Clowney may lose snaps to Alex Wright and Isaiah Thomas. Taven Bryan may continue to lose snaps to Perrion Winfrey.
While Fields did not play any MIKE yesterday, perhaps the Browns give him some snaps that belong to Deion Jones as his contract is set to expire as well. It is completely reasonable for the Browns to want these younger players to get as many snaps as possible before the season’s end to have a healthy amount of tape to evaluate.
This can be said for under-achieving veterans with outs in their contracts or one year left as well like safeties John Johnson III and Grant Delpit, and defensive tackle Jordan Elliott. If the snap counts start to look weird from here on out, this will be the reason why.
