We're really not that far away

[OconRecon]

The D:

Dick Jauron's D is good and improving. Ranked 14th in yards allowed per game and 9th in yards given up per play. They're super young and will grow. The secondary has top draft picks Haden and Ward. Young is pretty decent and Skrine looks like he has potential to help in many areas. The D line is super green and every indication is they'll continue to improve. Gocong had a goal line stance by himself last week, DQ is a leader, as is Fujita. Heckert has the D primed to gel.

The O:

The O line is easy to figure. Thomas and Mack are solid. Steiny comes back as we now know he was sorely missed. You let Pinkston and Lavaou duke it out for the remaining guard spot. The experts were raving about the O line until Steiny got hurt.

McCoy gets more time. All of the current elite QB's started out slow. Brees, Manning, Rogers - all slow for various reasons.

Keep the same RB's. Hillis has lost bargaining power. He's affordable.

This leaves one thing to concentrate on: Playmaking WR's. The last time we were good was when K2, BE, and JJ were clicking. It wasn't the stellar OL, RB, or QB.

Come on Heckert. Draft some ball-hawks and maybe a lineman to replace our 1-legged right OT. (and sure, some QB from Mizzou Poly Tech State to appease the Walrus). If we do this and don't dramatically improve, then Shurmur has no excuses.

[Sez.EJ]

I see 7-8 spots that need upgrading; and then upgrade the depth on top of that. That's still a far way away.. when is the last time we ever filled more than 3-4 spots in an offseason. I am glad your optimistic.. I am too.. It looks like we will have 4 of the top 100 picks in the draft.. We hopefully can do some damage with that.. and a couple good free agents too... maybe we can fill 4-5 of those spots.. that would be a significant upgrade.. and then add some depth too.

[Alvis27]

Originally Posted by Sez.EJ

I see 7-8 spots that need upgrading. and then upgrade the depth on top of that. That's still a far way away.. when is the last time we ever filled more than 3-4 spots in an offseason.

well we have what like 6 or 7 picks in the first 4 rounds this year plus pull in 1 or 2 FA's that are high quality and boom brand new team in one off-season.

or a least a much improved version of the current one

[Sez.EJ]

I think in the first 4 rounds we only have an extra pick in round 1.. but enlighten me if we have more.. that would be great. I know we have an extra 6th rounder..but those guys rarely make rosters. I am focusing on the first 3 rounds for potential starters.. and a couple free agents.. That means all the picks have to hit.. that's pretty rare for any team.

[Alvis27]

Originally Posted by Sez.EJ

I think in the first 4 rounds we only have an extra pick in round 1.. but enlighten me if we have more.. that would be great. I know we have an extra 6th rounder..but those guys rarely make rosters. I am focusing on the first 3 rounds for potential starters.. and a couple free agents.. That means all the picks have to hit.. that's pretty rare for any team.

well we've done pretty well the past 2 years at hitting well with our pics so we shall see how it goes

[hoorta]

Originally Posted by Alvis27

well we have what like 6 or 7 picks in the first 4 rounds this year plus pull in 1 or 2 FA's that are high quality and boom brand new team in one off-season.

or a least a much improved version of the current one

Hate to be a Negative Nellie, but-

Are you assuming Heckert is going to hit home runs with every one of those picks? Marecic is a downgrade from Vickers, IMO.

And you're overlooking the area that is most in need of significant upgrading- head coach.

[BernietheKid]

Originally Posted by Sez.EJ

I think in the first 4 rounds we only have an extra pick in round 1.. but enlighten me if we have more.. that would be great. I know we have an extra 6th rounder..but those guys rarely make rosters. I am focusing on the first 3 rounds for potential starters.. and a couple free agents.. That means all the picks have to hit.. that's pretty rare for any team.

I believe we have Atlanta's 1st and 4th this year making it six picks in the first four rounds.

Cleveland Browns select Baylor defensive lineman Phil Taylor after busy night of draft trading

Published: Thursday, April 28, 2011, 10:21 PM Updated: Friday, April 29, 2011, 5:46 AM

By Tony Grossi, The Plain DealerThe Plain Dealer


After seeing top prospects Von Miller, Marcell Dareus, A.J. Green and Patrick Peterson plucked off the board at Nos. 2 to 5, the Browns accepted Atlanta's offer of five picks -- their first-, second-, and fourth-round selections this year and first- and fourth-round picks in 2012 -- rather than Jones.

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/inde..._21_spots.html

[golfer704u]

Sigh....another "our defense is good" thread? Really? Did you look at the list of QB/RB tandems we have faced this year that I posted? Did you then include that Big Ben was on a pogo stick instead of two legs?

Our defense is now where near good. We are young, and I like a number of the young players. But the scheme sucks and we aren't good.

[OconRecon]

It's more of "our defense is decent and young, and will improve". I'm not saying leave it as-is, but the main problem this year is no O. We're not losing 35-3, we're losing 6-3.

[golfer704u]

Originally Posted by OconRecon

It's more of "our defense is decent and young, and will improve". I'm not saying leave it as-is, but the main problem this year is no O. We're not losing 35-3, we're losing 6-3.

Correction noted THAT I won't disagree with as much.

nut again, we are only losing 6-3 because we are playing QBs who will be baggin groceries in a year or two.

[Masters]

You play who you play. We don't know what this CLE D would have done against "top QBs" had they faced them. I just watched the KC D make Rodgers and the GB offense look average, and KC's D isn't great, plus missing parts. Saying look who they played means nothing when they didn't play those you want to say they would have looked bad against. This D is better than it has been, but still blows against the run, which they need to fix. Get a healthy Ward, someone else at DE besides Mitchell, and Taylor with a year under his belt, I expect the run D to improve a lot.

[Masters]

Originally Posted by golfer704u

Correction noted THAT I won't disagree with as much.

nut again, we are only losing 6-3 because we are playing QBs who will be baggin groceries in a year or two.

I'd take a bet that Hasselbeck, Skelton, Smith, Schuab, and Bradford won't be bagging grocieries two years from now.