{"id":2697,"date":"2024-11-14T11:12:15","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T11:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697"},"modified":"2024-11-14T11:13:45","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T11:13:45","slug":"five-browns-thoughts-jameis-winston-back-in-new-orleans-a-new-lt-situation-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697","title":{"rendered":"Five Browns thoughts: Jameis Winston back in New Orleans, a new LT situation and more"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Nov<\/p>\n

With the Cleveland Browns back to work following their Week 10 bye, here are some thoughts on the quarterback position, the significance of the games ahead and some storylines to track.<\/p>\n

Jameis Winston returns to New Orleans<\/h2>\n

Winston spent four seasons with the Saints. He stressed that he was \u201cgrateful\u201d for that time, but he wasn\u2019t particularly sentimental in his weekly meeting with local reporters ahead of the Browns\u2019 trip to New Orleans.<\/p>\n

As a pending free agent and the Browns\u2019 starter for now, Winston knows his focus must be on the present. And though the team\u2019s future at quarterback remains open, Winston also knows the only way he can put himself in that discussion is to perform well \u2014 this week and in the games that follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful for this moment,\u201d Winston said. \u201cOpportunities only come so often. So definitely it\u2019s a privilege to lead the Cleveland Browns organization and be a starting NFL quarterback, and I take pride in that. I\u2019m going to continue to do my very best.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers moved on from Winston following the 2019 season, he landed in New Orleans as a backup to Drew Brees. He said his mission then was to \u201ctake all the superpowers\u201d that Brees and then-Saints coach Sean Payton had and apply them to his own game. At the time, the move to New Orleans set up as a brief detour for Winston on his way back to a starting job.<\/p>\n

Though Winston eventually replaced Brees and had arguably the best stretch of his career in 2021, a torn ACL ended his season at Halloween and he\u2019s started just five games since \u2014 the last two this year in Cleveland following Deshaun Watson\u2019s season-ending injury.<\/p>\n

Now Winston is 30 and getting a chance to start again before potentially hitting free agency. But with the Browns at 2-7, he\u2019ll likely have to impress quickly or the team could move on to second-year quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson. The Browns have two games before they play Payton\u2019s Denver Broncos on Dec. 2, and those two could either propel the Browns to a successful back half of the season or chart the path toward lots of young players getting opportunities to play in December, not just at quarterback.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne play at a time,\u201d Winston said. \u201cWe cannot fall victim to what\u2019s behind us. We cannot press too far into what\u2019s ahead of us. We have to focus on one day, one play, executing it perfectly, one play at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

We know Winston is going to bring perspective and energy. Can he also bring the kind of sound, winning football that Browns coach Kevin Stefanski wants to see from his quarterback? Sunday will bring us closer to answering that question.<\/p>\n

Can Nick Chubb get it going vs. Saints?<\/h2>\n

The Saints started 2-0, then had a bunch of injuries and bottomed out with backup quarterbacks playing and the defense depleted. The Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen at the start of last week and then beat the Atlanta Falcons under interim coach Darren Rizzi to move to 3-7.<\/p>\n

Maybe the best way the Browns can help Winston is to get the run game going. Chubb is averaging just 2.7 yards per carry in his return from knee surgery, which is not even half of his average per carry over his first six seasons. The Saints rank last in the league in defensive expected points added (EPA) per rush (-0.7), per TruMedia, and Chubb ranks last in EPA per rush (-0.31). With the Browns having a week to self-scout and Chubb having three games back, it makes sense that Cleveland tries to establish a run game and then look to throw off play-action.<\/p>\n

The Saints lead the NFL in passes defensed with 53 and rank fourth in interceptions with 12. Winston is coming off a three-interception game versus the Los Angeles Chargers and had three near-interceptions dropped in the Browns\u2019 wild win over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 8. That\u2019s always been the knock on Winston, and maybe the reason he hasn\u2019t played at a consistently high level. He can throw it as well as anyone. He just too often throws it to the other team.<\/p>\n

Pro Football Focus grades Winston as having made turnover-worthy plays on 5.1 percent of his dropbacks this season. That\u2019s not far off his career average of 4.8 percent, per PFF. His career worst in a season he played regularly was 5.4 percent, and 2021 was his best with just 3 percent of his dropbacks being deemed turnover-worthy.<\/p>\n

Defensive interceptions lacking<\/h2>\n

Interceptions change games, and sometimes seasons and careers. Of all the stats that help tell the story of how the Browns have slipped to 2-7, one that\u2019s not atop the list but stands out as interesting is that the team only has one interception on the season. That was by Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah in Washington in Week 5. The Browns\u2019 defense is built on putting constant pressure on quarterbacks and forcing game-changing mistakes, and the latter just hasn\u2019t happened often enough.<\/p>\n

Rarely playing with the lead has limited the defense\u2019s opportunities to make the huge play, but the Browns have also dropped a bunch of passes that should have been interceptions. Cornerback Denzel Ward leads the NFL with 14 passes defensed. At least five of those could have been interceptions, and at least two were in his hands long enough to make Ward believe he\u2019d made the interception before the ball fell to the turf.<\/p>\n

Assessing the LT situation<\/h2>\n

The Browns are sticking with Dawand Jones at left tackle. Jones was benched in October after starting the season at right tackle, and now he\u2019s playing ahead of longtime starter Jedrick Wills Jr. on the left side.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Wills made a few headlines when he told reporters that he made a \u201cbusiness decision\u201d not to play against Baltimore in Week 8 because he didn\u2019t feel healthy enough to perform. That\u2019s when Jones made his first start on the left side since his second year in college, and the following week Stefanski announced that Jones would keep the starting job.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Stefanski said Wills used a \u201cpoor choice of words\u201d when he said he made a business decision to sit out against the Ravens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not how he meant it,\u201d Stefanski said. \u201cI talked to Jed. He did not feel like he was 100 percent and could help us. But he (just made) a poor choice of words and he understands that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wills was hurt in early November 2023. At the time, the team announced he had a torn MCL, and there was hope he\u2019d be able to return in mid-December. Instead, he opted for surgery and missed the entire offseason. He\u2019s only played sparingly this season and is now on the sideline, though Stefanski said the team will keep Wills active for games in case he\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n

To me, what Wills said was not the biggest problem. It was, as Stefanski said, something that could have been worded differently. More than a year later, Wills still isn\u2019t healthy and doesn\u2019t have a contract for next season, but the Browns have $11.8 million in dead money committed to the salary cap for Wills in 2025 based on contract restructures they did in both 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Five<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Why isn\u2019t Wills healthy?<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t categorize it as a setback,\u201d Stefanski said. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t recovered how quickly he would want it to, and there\u2019s obviously times that you maybe tweak an injury, or you feel it again and those type of things. But yeah, it\u2019s been a tough rehab for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The handling of the tackle position has been poor from the spring until recently, and now it\u2019s another spot that\u2019s completely unsettled. Since 2020, Wills and Jack Conklin have been the team\u2019s starting tackles when healthy. Conklin\u2019s salary-cap number for 2025 is $19.4 million, which means he\u2019ll be released unless he and the Browns agree to a restructured deal.<\/p>\n

How will the team close the season?<\/h2>\n

The Browns had the full active roster available for Wednesday\u2019s practice. With two games in the next seven days and the roster thin at some spots due to previous injuries, trades and questionable personnel decisions, availability will be key if Cleveland hopes to put some wins together and improve its overall quality of play in the back half of the season.<\/p>\n

The Browns host Pittsburgh (7-2) next Thursday night. They\u2019ll then get a 10-day break before a Week 13 Monday night game at Denver, which comes six days before another game against the Steelers in Pittsburgh. What the Browns are playing for and can accomplish over the next eight games is a matter of interpretation and probably varies from position group to position group. But it\u2019s not a stretch to think the Browns\u2019 performance versus the Steelers could weigh heavily into the thinking of ownership when it comes to big decisions that will be made at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

This is a team that obviously misses the three first-round picks it gave up in the big swing (and bigger miss) on Watson. But if playing spoiler versus division opponents and performing better in multiple areas down the stretch ends up costing the Browns draft position in April, maybe it will change the temperature and big-picture evaluation of things. We all think this defense is still capable of producing big performances. Given the right opportunities, maybe it will.<\/p>\n

Right now, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any plan for the Browns to move on from Stefanski after the season. What happens in the front office or across the coaching staff remains to be seen, but I strongly believe the plan is for Stefanski to be back as head coach for 2025. With eight games left, that\u2019s subject to change like everything else. Certainly, no one\u2019s job should be totally safe. But just past the halfway point, there are chances for many involved to change how things might be viewed based on the disappointments of the season\u2019s first two-plus months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Will Winston prove he’s the answer at QB for Cleveland down the stretch? Also, can the team get Nick Chubb going on the ground this week?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[202],"class_list":["post-2697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cleveland-browns","tag-cleveland-browns"],"yoast_head":"\nFive Browns thoughts: Jameis Winston back in New Orleans, a new LT situation and more - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five Browns thoughts: Jameis Winston back in New Orleans, a new LT situation and more - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Will Winston prove he's the answer at QB for Cleveland down the stretch? Also, can the team get Nick Chubb going on the ground this week?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-14T11:12:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-14T11:13:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/browns-28.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697\",\"name\":\"Five Browns thoughts: Jameis Winston back in New Orleans, a new LT situation and more - Breaking News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/browns-28.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-14T11:12:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-14T11:13:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/browns-28.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/browns-28.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Five Browns thoughts: Jameis Winston back in New Orleans, a new LT situation and more\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking News\",\"description\":\"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\",\"name\":\"MrKen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrKen\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Five Browns thoughts: Jameis Winston back in New Orleans, a new LT situation and more - Breaking News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Five Browns thoughts: Jameis Winston back in New Orleans, a new LT situation and more - Breaking News","og_description":"Will Winston prove he's the answer at QB for Cleveland down the stretch? Also, can the team get Nick Chubb going on the ground this week?","og_url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697","og_site_name":"Breaking News","article_published_time":"2024-11-14T11:12:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-11-14T11:13:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/browns-28.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"MrKen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrKen","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697","name":"Five Browns thoughts: Jameis Winston back in New Orleans, a new LT situation and more - Breaking News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/browns-28.png","datePublished":"2024-11-14T11:12:15+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-14T11:13:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/browns-28.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/browns-28.png","width":1080,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=2697#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Five Browns thoughts: Jameis Winston back in New Orleans, a new LT situation and more"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/","name":"Breaking News","description":"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15","name":"MrKen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrKen"},"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2700,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions\/2700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}