With one of the most important days of the NFL offseason looming, the Cleveland Browns were already prepared to strike. It might not have come as a surprise to Browns fans that a large effort was made in acquiring Jarvis Landry from the Miami Dolphins. What was a surprise was the actual execution of the deal itself. The cost was certainly a good one. CBS Sports reported that the Browns overtook his contract for a 4th round and 7th round pick. A steal for one of the more prolific receivers in the NFL.
Oh, and the Browns weren't quite finished there, unbeknownst to them. John Dorsey received an unexpected call from the Buffalo Bills in regards to their quarterback Tyrod Taylor. In no time at all, a deal transpired to send Tyrod Taylor to Cleveland for a 3rd round pick. Highway robbery, if you ask me. But for some odd reason, many Cleveland fans are doing their best to complain about these deals. Not all or most, but some fans remain unimpressed. That's where I come in, to convince those fans that these trades only mean good things for the Cleveland Browns.
The common shot at Jarvis is his yards per catch (YPC), which aside from being absurd, is also highly exaggerated. Last season, with Jay Cutler throwing him the ball, Landry caught 112 balls (!!) with 987 yards receiving. That comes out to an average of 8.8 YPC. For some people that isn't impressive enough. Think about it this way. A first down takes ten yards to achieve. Landry is averaging 88% of that total per catch, 62% of it per TARGET, meaning that simply by throwing at Landry, you're likely to gain 6.2 yards, that coming in a down year.
Over the course of his career, Landry averages 10.1 YPC and 7.1 yards per target. Say Landry is targeted on every first down. The remainder of the Browns offense would need to only average 2.9 yards on the remaining THREE DOWNS in order to achieve 100% of all first downs. Now, I recognize this is way oversimplifying the math of football stats, but I think more people need to recognize that these numbers aren't falsified. A good coach with the proper understanding of his players should be able to maximize their usage, especially a coach who has Jarvis Landry, Josh Gordon, Corey Coleman, Duke Johnson, David Njoku, and Saquon Barkley at his disposal and Tyrod Taylor as his distributor.
Speaking of Tyrod, certain fans are either upset a third-round pick was given up or their upset because Tyrod is "too conservative" in his decision making. It is difficult to decide which claim is more laughable. Two seasons ago when Teddy Bridgewater went down with injury, the Vikings gave up a 1st and conditional 4th round pick to acquire Sam Bradford, an unimpressive near journeyman quarterback with his own checkered injury history. That's not to make Bradford seem bad, but I truly don't believe people are giving the Browns credit for the value they got out of Tyrod.
Over the past three seasons, while playing for the BILLS, Tyrod has accumulated 65 touchdowns on only 24 turnovers. That's just under 22 touchdowns and 8 turnovers per year. For comparison, Green Bay Packers and former Browns quarterback DeShone Kizer committed 31 turnovers in a single season. That means that had the Browns had Tyrod at quarterback, 23 drives would not have ended early with a short field or in our own end zone. If a third those drives ended in touchdowns, that's 56 additional points for the Browns or 4.5 more points per game, maybe even one or two wins to go along with them. So yes, maybe Tyrod is a bit more careful with the football than Browns fans may be used to, but having the ball in our home teams hands is actually a good thing.
The reality is, these two pieces will do wonders for the Cleveland Browns offense. In fact, our offense should be downright scary. The pieces are all there, especially if a running back is selected in April now that Crowell is leaving in free agency for New York. Now, the Browns just need a coach who can utilize all those pieces into a coherent offense. For some coaches, it may be difficult to balance so many weapons but if there's one thing, Todd Haley, Browns Offensive Coordinator, is used to doing it's balancing weapons. He learned that from his time in Pittsburgh while managing Ben, Brown, Bell, and Bryant. As for the rest of the NFL, consider yourselves on notice. The Browns are coming for a handful of wins next season.
