Cleveland Browns-Special Teams and more

We wrap up our review of the Cleveland Browns with a look at special teams,coaching and the front office.

Kicker:
Billy Cundiff replaced the rock of the franchise in Phil Dawson as the Browns booter and did well enough.
Cundiff didn't have Dawson's range,but nailed 21 of 26,missed just one inside of 40 yards,was accurate on all extra points and didn't miss a field goal that cost a game.
All things considered after losing Dawson,Cundiff was good enough..
Grade:B+

Punter:
Spencer Lanning started the season strong and threw for a touchdown off a fake field goal,but cooled off afterward.
Lanning's average of 43.8 looks better than it actually played and the Browns will challenge him in camp.
Grade:C

Return Game
Travis Benjamin was electric in the return game before being injured,but his replacements were just pedestrian.
Fozzy Whitaker took most of the kickoffs and barely averaged over touchback level.
The punts were divided among many with Davone Bess botching a comeback attempt against the Chiefs with a fumbles.
Grade:C+ with Benjamin D without

Coaching
Rob Chudzinski made his share of mistakes as a rookie coach,but especially in the first half of the season showed a willingness to gamble and try new things.
In hindsight,the more reserved Chudzinski might been protective of his job security with the behind the scenes issues.
The team did seem to slack off in effort over the last month,so that had an effect on the team and grade.
For all the hurrah about the hirings of Norv Turner and Ray Horton as coordinators,I really didn't see the massive upgrade.
Turner did manage to figure out Josh Gordon was the only playmaker and was able to use Jordan Cameron effectively,but was stuck with Brandon Weeden and for his reputation as a QB fixer was unable to do anything with Weeden.
Horton's defense looked very good early,but retreated as the season moved forward and was awful in final drives of the half and game.
Neither guy rated as awful,but not up to the hype.
Grade:C

Front Office

The Browns get kudos for moving Trent Richardson while he still had value and gaining a first rounder.
I wrote at the time,waiting would devalue Richardson,so striking when they could gained them a higher pick.That move is the one decision that the Browns can point to as a great one.

The free agent signings were a mixed bag.
Paul Kruger was fair in his first year as a Brown,but he's being paid to be a difference maker,not be an average player and he did not come near to playing up to his contract.
Desmond Bryant played very well before being injured,while Quentin Groves was hurt early in the season.
Brian Hoyer looks like he could be a find and Jason Campbell got them through the season after injuries,so adding them looks decent enough.
However, refusing to sign a second QB after the Hoyer injury handicapped the team and signing an injured player off the Green Bay practice squad (Charles Johnson) forced the team to play one player down for a few games didn't look good.
Handicapping the coaches with the glacial Willis McGahee at running back and forcing Chris Ogbonaynna out of position didn't help things either.
The trade for Davone Bess (flipping 4th rounders and then trading a 5th for a 7th) was a disaster on the field (led the league in dropped passes) and off (I don't need to go into that) and giving him a guaranteed contract that only the crazy behavior might bail them out of makes them look even worse...

The draft was a disaster as the Browns received little production.
Some of that was due to dealing for picks in the 2014 draft,but the selections didn't turn out either.
Barkevious Mingo showed tons of ability as a speed rusher and started strong,but was a huge liability in pass coverage.
Mingo missed camp with a bruised lung and I think a full camp with be a truer test in 2014 for the LSU product.
Leon McFadden was a non-factor unless you consider his pass interference call that set the loss to the Patriots up a factor.
Add to that,the Browns could have taken Tyrann Mathieu and you really wonder.
Cleveland did get two decent players in the late rounds as Garrett Gilkey and Armonty Bryant both showed some possibilities for future play.

Grade:C- only because of the Richardson deal,if that is taken off the table,I would have given a D.