ON THE GROUND IN THE POUND- 2010 CLEVELAND BROWNS RUNNING BACKS

by Ryan Burns, FootballSickness.com

Right off the bat, let’s concede an uncomfortable but very real truth about the Browns’ backfield in 2010: nobody outside of Berea has any idea how the football will be distributed among what is suddenly a deep and talented group that includes Jerome Harrison, Montario Hardesty, Peyton Hillis, James Davis, and Josh Cribbs, among others. I watched every snap of their 2009 season (I’m a glutton for punishment), and the conclusions one could draw from those games and the ensuing offseason are many and varied.  They finished 8th in rushing, but it was skewed by a four-game hot streak to close the season (against less-than-championship competition). Then they brought in Mike Holmgren, presumably in part to address a perpetually lackluster offensive program. What changes will be made? What’s real? What’s smoke?

I thought an exercise in simplification would be useful here. Allow me to provide your fantasy noise-canceling headphones, if you will, and boil it down to the facts that matter from a fantasy perspective:

1.  Jerome Harrison put up 142.5 yards per game over that 4-game win streak. You don’t do that by accident or without big-time talent. “The Ghost” has spent the better part of his Browns career languishing behind lesser-abled runners for a supposed lack of blitz-pickup ability (don’t get me started). Jerome Harrison led the nation in yardage as a Wazzu senior, ahead of the more celebrated Reggie Bush, Maurice Jones-Drew, Joseph Addai, LenDale White and DeAngelo Williams. He also has a career per-carry average of 4.8 yards. In the NFL. That’s a lot. Do not forget this.

2.  Montario Hardesty was reportedly coveted in this year’s draft by several teams, and the Browns traded multiple picks to move up into the second round to draft him. Eric Mangini and staff have spent all off-season since the draft openly drooling over Hardesty in the media, telling tales of his Will Hunting-like ability to pick up the offense and his technical prowess in all phases of the game. Do not forget this, either.

3.  The Browns had absolutely atrocious quarterback play last year. The combination of (mostly) Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson spent ’09 missing broad sides of barns and falling out of boats and managing to miss the water. The offense, as a result, lacked any semblance of imagination or explosiveness. Late in the year, Mangini just had to give up and pound the rock. That’s when good things started happening. This offseason, they signed Jake Delhomme to play quarterback and keep the seat warm for Colt McCoy. He’ll be better than the Great Cleveland Quarterback Crapocopia of 2009, but they’re going to run the ball. All day.

4.  Joshua F. Cribbs is the X-factor here. 55 carries for 381 yards, a 6.9 yard per carry average and a touchdown for good measure. That’s what Cribbs produced out of the Browns’ rather vanilla version of the Wildcat last year. Coaches tend to notice things like “it’s a first down every 1.4 times he touches the ball!” There have also been multiple stories out of Browns’ camp that they’ve added new wrinkles to take advantage of the former Kent State quarterback’s unique skill set.

5.  That offensive line is LEGIT. ManBearTackle Joe Thomas is the best in the game, and 2nd-year center Alex Mack is a monster who started to absolutely handle everyone they put in front of him in the second half of ’09. They solidified the right side this offseason.  Eric Mangini is not going to start chucking it around (especially with Old Man Jake and a bunch of shaky-kneed youngsters in the receiving corps). They’re going to open holes. Big ones, and lots of them.

Now, what does all that mean? I already told you, I don’t know. Neither do you. Neither does anybody who isn’t paid with checks signed by Al Lerner, and I’d be willing to bet the vast majority of those folks have no clue either.  Both Harrison and Hardesty have outstanding ability, but each is subject to question marks.  They are also clearly complimentary to one another- Hardesty is a banger who will get the between-the-tackles work, while Harrison is a home run threat every time he touches the ball.  Josh Cribbs is going to touch the football, plenty.  So where does that leave you?

Here’s how I break it down, again attempting to keep it simple:

A.  Let’s get the easy one out of the way: you don’t want Josh Cribbs except in DEEP PPR leagues. He won’t catch or carry it enough to warrant a roster spot. He will, however, carry it just enough to frustrate you if you own Hardesty or Harrison. They'll run some goal line wildcat again.

B.  Montario Hardesty is the best bet to get the most carries if he can remain healthy (no guarantee with a guy who missed parts of three college season with injury). When Mangini had Thomas Jones and Leon Washington, Jones was the overwhelming workhorse when it came to carries. Leon was still valuable in fantasy because he was a big play threat as a third-down and receiving back. It won’t be quite as lopsided in this case because Harrison is vastly superior to Washington as a traditional running back, but the analogy stands. And Hardesty’s getting the traditional goal line carries.

C.  Harrison is still a guy I view as a low #2/high #3 RB, with #1 upside should anything happen to Hardesty. He’s just too talented not to see the ball, and again, they’ll be keeping it on the ground as much as possible. Hillis and Davis, the talented former CJ-Spiller backfield mate who blew up in pre-season in 2009 simply won’t get it enough to be relevant unless something happens to one of the two primary guys above, but both are names to know in such an event.

It should not shock anyone that in the land of the running back by committee there will be teams, usually those emphasizing a commitment to the run, produce multiple viable fantasy backs- think the Carolina Panthers, Baltimore Ravens, and New York Giants of recent years.  Time to add the Cleveland Browns to that list.  

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