Is it psychotic behavior if you've willingly done this exercise unprompted on your own time, or just a typical Browns December?
These would be my five priorities--
1. Pick your coordinators: Woods' time in Cleveland has come, no late defensive surge should save him.. Similarly, it's also time for a change with Special Teams due to the equally inconsistent, and disappointing nature of those units... I don't think the Browns will be able to attract a high end DC with coaches knowing Haslam's fickle nature and Stefanski being a bad year away from being close to the edge.. You're likely looking more so at a list of assistants (Sean Desai, Eric Washington, Dennard Wilson, Chris Harris, Gerald Alexander) however Jerod Mayo and Jim Leonhard would be two guys I'd try to interview and be at the top of my list... Ultimately, Jim Schwartz makes the most sense given his track record and also being a guy the Browns have interviewed for the HC position in the past..
2. Retain your own: They started with the Conklin re-signing but still have several more, productive free agents: Clowney, Pocic, Anthony Walker, Takitaki, D'Ernest Johnson and Froholdt... Clowney, Pocic, Walker and Takitaki should be their priorities given their production and lack of depth at those positions.. I'd also be interested in bringing Deion Jones back to compete for a backup role..
3. Improve your explosiveness through the air: While Cooper and DPJ have done their best, the Browns really lack a deep threat or any kind of speed within their WR room.. Browns had hoped Schwartz would cut it and the injury to Jakeem Grant may have proven bigger than most realize... Finding a weapon who can stretch the field vertically and offer some speed is the one major addition this offense needs..
4. Sort through the defensive line: Clowney has been hurt, Winovich has been hurt, the rookies have been inconsistent, Togiai has been abysmal, Elliott has been bad and Bryan has been meh.. There hasn't been a whole lot of production in this unit due to middle round draft picks that haven't panned out and investing resources into your top two guys and not much after that.. Finding more depth at DE given Clowney's injury history and reshaping the iDL room is priority number one for this defense..
5. Sort through the safety room: The other part of a team that has been a mess is the safety spots... JJ3 has an out in his contract that the Browns will likely explore, Delpit has shown he's likely better as your third safety/nickel defender (or at the very least needs veteran competition in camp) and they don't have much depth behind them to step up... This spot seemed to be a key issue behind a lot of their defensive breakdowns, especially early on in the year..
Here's how that looks---
Coaches
HC: Stefanski
OC: AVP
DC: Schwartz
STC: Spin the wheel
Cut
John Johnson III
Restructure
Deshaun Watson
Those two moves alone give the Browns approximately $40M in cap space to spend (with the Conklin extension TBD on how much that eats into 2023 cap room).. There's more cap manuevers they can do if more cap room is needed...
Re-Sign
EDGE Jadeveon Clowney
LB Sione Takitaki
LB Anthony Walker
RB D'Ernest Johnson
OL Michael Dunn
OL Hjalte Froholdt
CB Thomas Graham Jr (camp battle for 5th CB)
CB AJ Green (camp battle for 5th CB)
DT Ben Stille (camp battle for 4th iDL)
P Corey Bojorquez (camp battle for P)
FA Additions
iDL Dalvin Tomlinson
WR Will Fuller
FS Rodney McLeod
SS Landon Collins
DE Carlos Dunlap
min. vet QB to compete for backup QB (Dobbs? Jeff Driskel?)
min. vet RB to compete for 4th RB spot (Ty Johnson? Boston Scott? Burkhead?)
min. vet iDL to compete for backup iDL spot (Maurice Hurst? Henry Anderson? Deadrin Senat?)
min. vet LB to compete for backup LB
min. vet DB to compete for last DB (Artie Burns? Sidney Jones? Trayvon Mullen?)
Draft Picks
2nd Round: iDL
3rd Round (own or compensatory): S
4th Round: OT
4th Round (from MIN): CB
5th Round: TE
5th Round: LB
6th Round: trade for 2024 pick
7th Round: P
Depth Chart
QB: Watson / Mond or Vet
RB: Chubb / Johnson / Ford / Vet or UDFA
TE: Njoku / Bryant / Draft Pick
WR: Cooper / DPJ / Fuller / Bell / Woods / Grant
LT: Wills / Hudson
LG: Bitonio / Dunn
C: Pocic / Harris or Deaton
RG: Teller / Froholdt
RT: Conklin / Haeg or Draft Pick
DE: Garrett / Wright / Thomas
NT: Tomlinson / Elliott or Stille or Vet
3T: Draft Pick / Winfrey
DE: Clowney / Dunlap
WILL: JOK / Fields
MLB: Walker / Phillips or Vet
SAM: Takitaki / Draft Pick or Vet
CB: Ward / Draft Pick
CB: Emerson / Graham or Green
Slot: Newsome
FS: McLeod / Draft Pick
SS: Delpit / Collins
10th DB: Bell or Vet
LS: Hughlett
K: York
P: Bojorquez or Draft Pick
