Cleveland Browns 2015 Preview: Q&A With Tom Moore

To kick off the Cleveland Browns talk for the upcoming season, we sat down with Tom Moore, co-editor of our FanSided sister site Dawg Pound Daily to chat Johnny Manziel and all things Browns.

This is a part of our series of Q&As with FanSided editors across the network, leading up to opening day.

Without further ado, here’s our conversation…

More from NFL News

Joe Wedra: You know the first question has to be about the quarterbacks. What does Johnny Manziel have to do to grab the QB1 spot?

Tom Moore: Short of Josh McCown going down with an injury in training camp or during a preseason friendly, there is little reason to think that Manziel can wrestle the top spot away.

While McCown is what he is at this point, Manziel is, in large part, repeating his rookie season after taking what amounted to a voluntary redshirt year in 2014. He spent a larger part of the off-season getting his head right and now he needs to spend time getting his football body right. McCown will be getting the reps with the first-team offense, leaving little practice time for Manziel to make an impression on offensive coordinator John DeFilippo.

Despite his rookie season being a complete disaster on every level, Manziel’s stature has only continued to grow in the eyes of some Browns fans and media members. This year will be similar to last year, when the debate raged over how the athletic Manziel was a better option than former starting quarterback Brian Hoyer. While it is true, as Manziel’s supporters are quick to point out, that Manziel can make every throw that McCown and Hoyer can make, doing it in practice doesn’t automatically translate to doing it on game day.

While it is obvious that you need to be athletic to play quarterback in the NFL, there is so much more to the game than just running around and making plays when things break down. Manziel needs to show his coaches, his teammates and, almost as importantly, himself that he is able to take on every aspect of being a starting quarterback in the NFL.

With only a little more than three months until the season opener, it seems highly unlikely that Manziel has the time to accomplish all of that.

JW: What role does RB Duke Johnson have in the offensive game plan this season?

TM: When the Browns selected Johnson the early narrative was that he would be a third-down “change of pace” back. But the more you look at what Johnson did at Miami, you start to wonder if he will be pushing incumbents Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell for the starting slot at some point this season.

One area that Johnson will most certainly be a factor in is the passing game. Last season, the Browns primary running backs (we’re including Ben Tate in this group) combined to catch just 29 passes and, overall, the Browns were last in the NFL in throwing the ball to their running backs.

Johnson had 38 receptions for the Hurricanes last season, and with DeFilippo wanting the offense to recommit to throwing the ball to the running backs, Johnson should make an immediate impact.

Last year the Browns shifted their running backs around depending on the weekly matchup and that should continue this year. But if Johnson can show that he can be a three-down back, that philosophy could change at some point come the fall.

JW: 1st round selections aside, who is the draft pick who will make the most impact immediately in 2015?

Nate Orchard, the team’s second-round draft choice out of Utah.

Orchard was primarily a 4-3 defensive end in college, but the Browns will be looking for him to make the transition to a pass-rushing outside linebacker.

That can be a difficult transition to make as fellow linebacker Barkevious Mingo can tell Orchard, but Orchard’s 18.5 sacks and 28 quarterback knockdowns last season say that he may have what it takes.

As head coach Mike Pettine pointed out when asked about Orchard, sometimes you simply don’t have to overthink things when looking at a football player. If you want someone to attack the quarterback, you pick a player who has shown that he knows how to do that.

JW: Give us a final prediction for the 2015 Cleveland Browns.

TM: Wow, this is a tough one.

Unlike previous regimes, the Browns now have a definitive picture of what they want this team to be — one that plays suffocating defense and ball-controlling offense.

The best example, for non-Browns fans, is last season’s game against Indianapolis. The defense was swarming that day and making life miserable for Colts’ quarterback Andrew Luck, but just didn’t have enough to seal the deal. (And the offense didn’t hold up its end of the bargain.)

While the quarterback issue is always going to dominate the conversation, the fact that the Browns finished last against the run in 2014 is just as much of a problem. The Browns are putting a heavy focus on fixing the run defense, but the quarterback position remains in flux.

If the Browns are getting the Josh McCown that played in Chicago, and the defense takes the expected jump in the second year of defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil’s system, then 9-7 (dare we say 10-6?) is not out of the question.

But if the Tampa Bay-version of McCown shows up in the new Orange and Brown uniforms this fall, and the defense doesn’t make any improvement against the run, then the club’s seventh five-win or less season in the past eight could be on the horizon.

However, it is summertime in Ohio, which is the season of optimism for Browns fans, so we’re going to we’re going to stay positive and go with 9-7.

Home/NFL News