Two fumbles and an 80 yard TD...

[Koa]

Think Armond Smith survives the final cuts? It'll be tough to pink slip a guy with such rare explosion, but it's obvious Shurmur runs a system predicated on accuracy (not only for the QB). I'm pulling we hold on to the kid at the mercy of a TE, say, Alex Smith.

[Vegasdogg]

Evan Moore > Dave Casper

Wow! What a catch(s).!!!

[Brown Warrior]

Moore is a star waiting to happen. PLEASE don't get hurt!

Lovin' Little, too. Eager to get Massoquoi back. Think Norwood is a lock for the slot. Can't remember who else we have but those guys seem pretty good.

[ProphetKing]

I'm thinking you'll be more likely to get the guy who fumbles the ball and not the one who scores 80 yard TDs game to game.

[Flugel]

Originally Posted by Koa

Think Armond Smith survives the final cuts? It'll be tough to pink slip a guy with such rare explosion, but it's obvious Shurmur runs a system predicated on accuracy (not only for the QB). I'm pulling we hold on to the kid at the mercy of a TE, say, Alex Smith.

Me too Koa! I LOVE that kid the SAME way I still loved Hillis when he put the ball on the ground 2-3 times against Tampa Bay. When it came to extra effort, I also ADORED Leroy Hoard says the poet who doesn't knowit.

This kid is young and trying to be an undrafted kid leapfrogging cuts for practice sqaud stuff. If we're thinking practice squad for this kid, somebody is gonna steal him the same way LeGarrette Blount got grand thefted. If he goes to the RIGHT intelligence, it could make us sick forever.

This kid has the gears we've longed for. You toss his ass in space with a swing pass and daylight vrs one of those blitz happy defenses we've never had the jets to beat and suddenly we're heraing "UH-OH!"

He didn't fumble at all the week before and I loved the way he rocketed through the holes. I'm worried Hardesty still isn't ready to bounce back from major recon (that wasn't the first either). I think this injury usually better comeback results the 2nd year removed from surgery like Edge James. Even if we have to IR Hardesty 1 more year, we now have Brandon Jackson and Armond Smith bringing skill sets this offense could really use.

[Crow]

Can't agree with you more about the practice squad, Flugel - I hate when teams try to get cutesy with the practice squad to save one spot and then toss away quality talent.

[Vegasdogg]

It's okay that the kid is really fast, but he is really raw. Can he block? Does he know his assignments? In this intricate offense it takes more than just good wheels? James Davis looked good in preseason. With PH, MH and BJ, I don't see this kid making the final cut. He may be PS material.

[DawgFan]

You can teach 'holding on to the football', you can't teach speed that can pull away from a CB who has the angle on you. The Browns TOTALLY lack that kind of speed, so if we need to put this kid on the 53 just to hide him, I say we do it.

[Flugel]

Originally Posted by Vegasdogg

It's okay that the kid is really fast, but he is really raw. Can he block? Does he know his assignments? In this intricate offense it takes more than just good wheels? James Davis looked good in preseason. With PH, MH and BJ, I don't see this kid making the final cut. He may be PS material.

That's a really good point too Vegas. He is from a small school in Kentucky or East Kaputnik jumping up quite a few competitive levels overnight. That's definitely going to show the rawness you speak of in terms of is he ready for this?

Here's some things that may get you to think a little differently or they could make you think your buddy Flugel is on crack:

To be honest, I really don't care about his blocking skills unless we're going back to Daboll's offense or he's playing FB. When he has the best gears on the team, he ain't here to block anybody any more than Evan Moore is here to block anyone. That would be like taking Marshall Faulk's 4.2 speed and wasting it on blocking a blitz instead of burying it via short pass over/around it. Like Dawgfan says above speed is 1 thing you can't coach; but it IS something we've longed for. And Tiki Barber will tell anyone that fumbling doesn't have to be permanent if you accept coaching.

When Heckert drafted Brian Westbrook out of Villanova's tiny football program - all he heard from Philly fan was "He ain't FREAKIN Ricky Williams." Good thing too because this guy liked football BETTER than marijuana. He showed up with a strong agenda to PROVE himself while a hotshot like Ricky Williams out of college showed up feeling entitled very early on. In fact, Ricky put the football on the ground 3 times in our very first win after getting our team back in 99. I'll forever love the guy for his important role in that. Westbrook became an ideal little back in the WCO all the way from a football program like Armond Smith's. Hindsight 20/20 says it's a ridiculous comparision. That said, if both small school guys were spotted by Heckert for the same reasons - maybe our trust in Heckert's eye for talent doesn't make that such a ridiculous comparision after all.

[YtownBacker]

Bottom line is that he is still a developmental project. He needs to work on whole game and that's why there are practice squads. Hardesty's health will be the key. They aren't keeping 4 RBs.

[Dan in Florida]

Coach Shurmur addressed the Smith fumbles in his post game Press Conference (briefly). He said he was moving the ball from one arm to the other in traffic "which is a no no" and that can be corrected.

That accounts for one anyway. He needs development though...will be interesting to see what they do.

[Flugel]

Originally Posted by YtownBacker

Bottom line is that he is still a developmental project. He needs to work on whole game and that's why there are practice squads. Hardesty's health will be the key. They aren't keeping 4 RBs.

Nobody said we were keeping 4 RBs. BUT I think it's very critical to understand that ALOT of guys that have had major knee reconstuctions on ACLs have needed 2 full years to look like the same guy again (Edge James). Some have never returned like LeCharles Bentley. And in Hardesty's case he's had major knee recons done on both knees over the years so that warrants concern over proneness/vulnerability. I think one of those had more than 1 so I'd hate to go the route of thinking we're gonna use him before he's ready this year and lose him forever while we also give a promising kid like Smith away to someone else.

If Hardesty isn't ready this year, we simply put him on IR and work in Jackson frequently as a change of pace to Hillis. I don't think it would kill us to put this kid into a game every now and then with a smaller role. If he's faster than Buster Skrine as I've read/heard he is, we're talking as close to the 4.2s as we've ever had. Now Detroit just saw what he had as they can wonder "what would he look like indoors on turf?" Seing how nobody remained impressed by Jerome Harrison or Mike Bell - I'll bet they'd cut one of those guys to make room for this kid since they lost LeShoure to IR already. Is it a gamble? Yes, BUT wasn't Blount a gamble for TB? Wasn't Mike Williams a HUGE character gamble for TB? Was it a gamble for the Saints to do an onside kick vrs the Colts in the SB? Sometimes you need to gamble and win if you like the way you sized up your horse.