8.02.2005
2005 Fantasy Football / Offensive Coordinator Preview - Cleveland Browns
INDEX
Maurice Carthon
-entering first season with the Browns
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This one's going to be brief and there's one obvious reason for that: fantasy stars don't come from 3-13 football teams. Chris Chambers only had a 28th best, 898 yards last year. Kevan Barlow gained a 25th best 822 yards last year. And Cleveland had, well, a disappointing running back by committee and a team leading WR who scored just two touchdowns all season.
Romeo Crennel hired former Giants fullback and two-time Super Bowl Champion Maurice Carthon to run the Browns offense this season. Carthon spent the previous two season in Dallas with Bill Parcells, where he managed an offense that finished 15th and 17th in total yards. In part because Carthon is rooted in the ground game, and in part because the Cowboys have had trouble throwing the football, the Cowboys totaled 963 rushing attempts in the two seasons under Carthon and Bill Parcells. And judging by the way the talent is lining up in Cleveland for this season, it looks like the Browns will run the ball close to 500 times this year.
Leading the way will be a revamped offensive line led by free agent signees Joe Andruzzi from NE, Cosey Coleman from TB, and L.J. Shelton from Arizona. They will join center Jeff Faine and right tackle Ryan Tucker as a group that absolutely must step up and play well for the Browns. The pressure is on the line because this team will begin the season with a 33 year old pocket quarterback, three quality starting running backs, and a group of young, inconsistent wide receivers.
Between Lee Suggs, William Green, and Reuben Droughns, Cleveland will have the ability to run the football all season long. And they'll have to shorten games in order to protect their defense. The question is then, who will be their starting running back? Suggs reminds me a lot of Chris Brown, which is an odd statement because they both came out of the same draft class. Suggs shares that breakaway ability that Brown has displayed, but he also shares a high injury frequency. Reports early out of camp indicate that Green is impressing his new coaches with his work habits, but the darkhorse of the bunch appear to be Droughns.
The Browns, afterall, traded for the former Bronco RB/FB and he is the most consistent of the trio. Suggs is saying he'll start, and he probably has the highest potential of any of the backs, I just think at some point this season the Browns will eventually turn to Droughns. Either way, it doesn't matter. This running back competition is an afterthought in fantasy football since you'd have to use three picks to secure a position that has a ceiling of 1200 yards and 5 touchdowns.
- posted by jrf @ 8/02/2005 12:04:00 PM
