Black Monday - Tracking Thread

[MikeO]

What pieces does CLE have in place besides LT... KR?

It's hard enough transitioning from college to the NFL.  If you're going to make that jump, best to go to a team that has some good pieces in place (with "pieces" being either good players, or a very high draft pick in a good year).  If he wants to come over this year, PHI and SD at least have some football players on their teams.

Anyway, it's not like Kelly will be scrounging for pennies if he stays in Eugene.

1) Trent Richardson
2) An above average defense
3) The bar is set low, if he wins 7-9 games they will build him a statue in that city
4) You are going to a new owner and you are his first major hire he will give you as much time as needd to win because he won't want to fire someone quick.
5) The AFC North is a division in flux. Baltimore and Pitt are on the way down. Cincy is solid but nothing spectacular. I would rather be in the AFC North than the NFC East which is killer . And SD might be moving to a new city in a year or two I would avoid that franchise like the plague

[Landshark]

Cleveland owner has very deep pockets and that is a good job right now. Waiting around hoping for Det or Carolina might not be wise. I could see Detroit bouncing back next year and Carolina has a crazy owner I don't think anyone wants to work for.

Not to mention that the NCAA has been investigating Oregon and could drop the hammer soon.  Chip Kelly is pulling a Pete Carroll stunt.

[MikeO]

Buffalo hired Doug Marrone

[MikeO]

Looks like the Browns f'd up their coaching search.

Interview Bill OBrien, but Bill says he will stay at Penn ST. Interviewed Marrone who they liked. They really wanted Kelly from day 1 though. They interview Kelly after the Fiesta Bowl, can't agree to terms with him that day but hope they can. Kelly is now set to sign with Philly. Marrone, the Browns back-up plan, signs with Buffalo.

Browns miss out on their #1, #2 and #3 options.

[Spider-Dan]

CLE is not a good job.  (Richardson hasn't even done anything yet.)

BUF has many good players on defense and has Spiller, Jackson (trade bait), and Stevie Johnson on offense.  Not surprising that Marrone would pick BUF over CLE.

[MikeO]

CLE is not a good job.  (Richardson hasn't even done anything yet.)

BUF has many good players on defense and has Spiller, Jackson (trade bait), and Stevie Johnson on offense.  Not surprising that Marrone would pick BUF over CLE.

Its easy to pick when one team hasn't offered you anything! lol, Cleveland still waiting on Kelly!

And if you don't see the talent that is Trent Richardson I don't know what to tell ya. I mean Miami passed on Trent and Blackmon ya know! 

[MikeO]

Something else to remember, the man running the Bills now Russ Branden is from East Syracuse, NY and close with Marrone. Branden is also  a Syracuse grad like Marrone. That he hired his friend and not the best man for the job.

Time will tell but that is what many think happened

[EKnight]

CLE is not a good job.  (Richardson hasn't even done anything yet.)

1317 yards from scrimmage and 12 TDs as a rookie. That's hardly not done "anything," and it's better than any back in Miami did this year. -EK

[miamid45]

Richardson is an excellent player... a top 10 back in my books.

[MikeO]

Reports Chip Kelly is STAYING at Oregon.

Classic case of a college coach using NFL teams to get more money out of his school. In 2 years now he has meet with TB, Cleveland, Philly, and Buffalo and turned down all 4 jobs. Clearly not intending to take any job it seems!

[masterfins]

Buffalo hired Doug Marrone

Sorry to see Marrone leave Syracuse, he was really turning that team around.

[Spider-Dan]

Richardson might turn out to be a good player, but his 2012 season was journeyman-like: 18th in rushing yards (37th in YPC), 18th in yards from scrimmage.  His one good stat was TDs (he finished 7th with 12 TDs), but given his anemic YPC (he only had 1 receiving TD) and the fact that CLE didn't have another player in the top 50 of TDs scored, I'd guess that CLE just fed him over and over every time they got near the red zone.

Right now, today, Richardson is definitely not a player that makes you sign with a team.  I'd take C.J. Spiller over Richardson straight up; Spiller finished 8th in rushing yards and 5th in yards from scrimmage even while platooning with Fred Jackson.

[EKnight]

18th in rushing yards as a rookie, coming off knee surgery a month before the season started on a team with zero other offense, so the D can stack the box on every down is hardly "journeyman." He ran behind the 20th ranked O line in the league as well. But even if you feel that way, most other people feel like he's a VERY good back- and either way, that's hardly "he hasn't done anything." The second half of the year- when many rookies "hit the wall" he got healthy and ran for 602 yards and 7 TDs in 8 games. Incidently, Spiller ran behind the #8 ranked O line, and when he was hurt or getting a rest, Jackson did just fine (6.4 yards per carry), so I'm not sure how much "better" Spiller would be. -EK

[Spider-Dan]

18th in rushing yards as a rookie, coming off knee surgery a month before the season started on a team with zero other offense, so the D can stack the box on every down is hardly "journeyman."

Sorry, but 18th is definitely "journeyman"; you can make excuses (valid or not) for his journeyman-like performance, but that doesn't somehow push it up the scale.  3.6 YPC is actually sub-journeyman.

But I do agree that when you have a rookie starting on a bad team with very little help, you should probably give him some more time before declaring him an unsalvageable failure.  That's why I said that Richardson might still turn out to be a good player.

[MikeO]

Back to the original topic...

Gruden's name has been shot down in Cleveland as they don't want him but he has been mentioned in Philly now. Looks like Jon is floating his name out there. Philly would probably love him but I am guessing this is Jon just wanting some attention and not sure if its serious.

Marc Trestman is being mentioned in Cleveland as the front-runner

Mike Sherman possibly to get looked at in Chicago.

Bruce Arians to SD was a lock before his health issues it appears. Don't know where SD goes now or if they wait and see whats up with Arians