2025 Offseason Thread

[Davesta]

Who’s gonna be the starting QB for the Browns coming to the Bank in Week 2?

Y’all rather see the Dragon or WristUp?

 

[redrum52]

I think the 45 goes hard tbh. Although I’d like to see the 15 he wore in college. 45 looked awkward on Ferguson, I think only certain body types can pull off certain numbers.

This has to be some form of autism.

Me and my boy both agreed that number worse than Faalele in pass pro

 

[allblackraven]

And miss out on a vintage “remember when this dude wore this weird number” story?

Does it count as vintage if he only wore it for a minute?

 

[rossihunter2]

ankle flexion is crazy

 

[JoeyFlex5]

ankle flexion is crazy

1. That scares me

2. Maybe the most important trait for an edge rusher and he’s got it

 

[Rusfan]

ankle flexion is crazy

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone run at a 90 degree angle

 

[rossihunter2]

I think Cooper Rush will end up being a competent backup so I’m not too worried about him, but I do think it’s wild that the ghost of Josh Johnson and Tyler Huntley are so much more effective in this offense despite being complete dogshit types of players. Makes me wonder why we went so opposite on the type of depth QBs we had been running out there.

we were definitely interested in the veteran backup market
was reports we were interested in daniel jones before he signed with the colts which makes a lot more sense stylistically

there's not that many mobile guys in the league right now (who aren't starters) - but i think we should definitely look at drafting one to develop next season

jalen milroe would have been a great option but obviously the 3rd round is too early to take a developmental backup QB - but i feel like we're in the situation now where we almost should take a developmental QB on day 3 every year until we find one

 

[rossihunter2]

I clearly wasn’t paying enough attention, but Buchanan had the green dot tonight. Impressive for a rookie.

the fact that he had it over simpson also says a lot
i dont think he's physically ready to start this year but he might be a real option in his 2nd year

 

[rossihunter2]

Please ask your source why in God’s name we haven’t gotten rid of Leary

we need a guy to take most of the preseason snaps and he's cheap

 

[rossihunter2]

I think we’re gonna have a 6th round steal in Aeneas Peebles, and I think wester might be the real deal as a punt return weapon. Mike green looked unstoppable early on. Starks looked solid in his few snaps. If Loop gets it together, then our draft looks crazy, all those 6th round picks might have actually netted us a few guys.

and it's a shame that kone got injured because the play he got injured on was a fantastic rep

gonna review the tape so i can get a look at how carson vinson did too - he's so toolsy as a developmental tackle
and obviously emery jones is now looking like a guy who's not gonna play at all in year 1 (even if he's healthy, he's missed too much to ever be activated unless we have injuries at OL)

 

[rossihunter2]

Also not to be annoying about Loop, but why do I care that his toe dragged or whatever. He missed the kick.

Ultimately he just seems like Jordan Stout as a kicker. Will flash, but it is just bad because he's not consistent. 1 or 2 on FGs and his kickoffs were pretty bad. Couldn't seem to not hit it too hard.

the kickoffs are a brand new skill that they don't have to do in college
other rookie kickers are also struggling with it

you talk about loop as if he's exactly what he's going to be for his whole career which seems naive to me

missing kicks is bad, but the way you miss kicks matters when you're talking about development of a young guy

stout's in year 4 and at the end of his rookie deal, he's at a completely different point in his development - it would be reasonable to think he might just be what he is right now

 

[rossihunter2]

Get ready for like 4 more of these over the next month lol. Post preseason game 1...

QB (2): Jackson, Rush
RB (4): Henry, Hill, Mitchell, Ali
WR (6): Flowers, Bateman, Hopkins, Wallace, Walker, Wester
TE (4): Andrews, Likely, Kolar, Ricard (FB)
OL (9): Stanley, Vorhees, Linderbaum, Faalele, Rosengarten, Noteboom, Vinson, Cleveland, Bullock
DL (5): Madubuike, Jones, Washington, Jenkins, Peebles
OLB (6): Van Noy, Oweh, Robinson, Green, Isaac, Ojabo
ILB (4): Smith, Simpson, Buchanan, Hummel
CB (6): Humphrey, Wiggins, Alexander, Awuzie, Armour-Davis, Tampa
S (4): Hamilton, Starks, Kane, Brade
ST (3): Loop, Stout, Moore

Emery Jones' health still seems to be the major catalyst here and could push someone like Ali or Ojabo off if they want him to get reps if and when he's back.

First 5 names off are probably Urban (assuming PS here), Dalcourt, Longerbeam, Lowery, and Kirkwood

I wouldn't be shocked if they start taking a look at a veteran S because I don't think they're too enamored with Brade, and the Kone injury potentially opens up a secondary spot.

Only real question I've got now vs what you have already after preseason game 1 is Dalcourt/Samac vs Ali
and as you say, there's also the hypothetical 11th DB veteran safety (think brade's probably safe on the 53 because of special teams)

reports on lowery were good early but the fact he entered the game with the other deep backups and didn't get any play with the 2nd team DB rotation suggests he might be a lot lower

kirkwood and wade definitely the next 2 on at WR but i dont think either have any real shot at the 53 but certainly expect them to make the practice squad

I think you're right that Emery Jones being on the 53 wouldn't kick off another OL, it would kick someone off at a different position

 

[rossihunter2]

For Ali, special teams and they value having a between the tackles runner in the fold since Hill nor Mitchell are neither that guy necessarily. He’s my 53rd guy on here so it’s razor thin.

the kick return value gets him on for me
and made easier by Kone's injury

 

[rossihunter2]

Jones and/or Longerbeam getting healthy would probably shift that in the other direction for me. But if they're not on the field currently...

idk that longerbeam changes anything based on the earlier offseason reporting of how he was doing

but jones certainly would

 

[rossihunter2]

I think he had the biggest impact in the second half, he made so many stops from the moment he stepped on the field.

I worry that he can’t generate push so he kinda has to penetrate or work laterally, and that may limit his opportunities, but what I saw last night was a guy who clearly works, he’s gonna figure it out. Might not be this season but by year 3 he’s gonna be an impact player

looks like a guy who will be part of the DL rotation for sure

 

[rossihunter2]

Same. I thought Buchanan was gonna show something but I really didn’t even notice him. Damn shame about Kone because he was looking like a 6th round gem early, Starks and green both looked very good. Didn’t notice any rookie OL at all other than Vinson who I can’t recall having any bad snaps and looked pretty solid, and Peebles was consistently pretty excellent and constantly at the ball. Obviously Wester did what he did. Too bad we can’t see emery jones.

Obviously the draft class is gonna hinge on the first 2 picks, if those guys pan out then it’s a slam dunk, but if Tyler Loop pans out and those other guys that played well last night, also continue playing well, then this will look like a stellar draft class. 5 picks in round 6 and 2-3 of them playing meaningful football is awesome.

the fact we're already hopeful about impacts from late day 3 picks is a good sign that they'll be able to give us something by the time their rookie deals are up

 

[rossihunter2]

I was actually surprised coming away feeling better about Vorhees than Faalele last night. Felt like Faalele ended the season on a high and it looked like it would parlay, especially with him transforming his body, but it didn't seem to look like it in his short run last night. Vorhees was a lot better in space than I had ever seen.

faalele had a shocker for sure - we've seen enough film from him last season that i'm not going to worry about it right now
but will be interesting to see if the trend continues - and especially because it seems like cleveland's been playing mostly LG and no RG this offseason, and he also didn't have the greatest game on Thursday either i think

 

[rossihunter2]

worth noting also, a lot of our early run game woes were related to tylan wallace losing solo blocks in the slot

and on a related note, Kolar just looked a lot better than the Colts he was up against, like he was a different class of player playing down a level

 

[rossihunter2]

That Mike Green tape is chef's kiss for game 1. Some teaching moments for sure, but the main takeaway was that I felt like I was seeing an actual pass rusher for the first time in a long time. Variety of moves, could convert via speed or power, and a non-stop motor. Bodes well for his future.

and showed off an elite trait which is the ankle flexion and bend

obviously he was doing it against 2nd team OTs (including the RT who's also a rookie) but you want to see guys like that dominate against lesser talent

also good to see isaac also consistently winning vs the same tackles

it's nice that the group of Green, Ojabo and Isaac (who all look like almost certainties to make the 53 now to me) are genuine guys with juice in a DPR kind of role

 

[rossihunter2]

Peebles also had at least 1 rep where he pushed and then swam the Colts starting RG for a pressure