THE AFC NORTH’s BIGGEST THREATS TO THE CLEVELAND BROWNS
this video is brought to you by patreon.com worst take get access to exclusive live streams and Discord servers onscreen shoutouts and early access to some videos when you join out help make sure that we can continue to make content like this by supporting the patreon links are in the description down [Music] below I did a video last week where I talked about how there was an opportunity being created an AFC North That’s Unique for the Cleveland Browns cuz for years the Browns have been rebuilding while other teams have been taking advantage of whatever window they built up to this year it seems like the Browns are the one team that is in the point of their plan to take advantage of their window to the fullest extent while other teams Pittsburgh Cincinnati and Baltimore for one reason or the other look like they’re either trying to build a window Pittsburgh or at the tail end of their window where they have to start to pay guys like Baltimore and Cincinnati you look at Cincinnati they have to figure out what to do with t Higgins they have to figure out what they’re going to do with Jamar chase after they paid Joe burrow they have to figure out what they’re going to do with some of these defensive pieces is Trey Hendrickson going to get an extension or they going to have to replace him in a draft right they have all of these questions to answer about their core because you know your windows are meant to last for maybe two or three years and after that you kind of got to reload into another window right same thing goes for Baltimore as we see that they lost a lot of guys on the defensive side the other part of your window being kind of messed with is your success creates a vulture effect by other NFL teams which means yeah that defensive coordinator you got he’s great yeah we’ll take him we’ll make him a head cut right that’s what happened to Baltimore they lost their defensive coordinator now they’re on their third defensive coordinator in 5 years um and who knows that that guy’s going to be able to work with what they have as well as the last guy also you’re losing some pieces on the defensive side of football as far as Personnel goes Pat queen that could be a huge loss he was one of the best Playmakers on that Ravens defense now just because I have these criticisms of those AFC North teams does not think mean that I think that they are void of talent and that’s what this video is going to be about this video is going to be about what these AFC North teams have that maybe hasn’t been talked about a ton right this isn’t going to be a video where I’m going to talk about Lamar Jackson’s ability to run or Joe Burrow’s ability to throw or TJ watt’s ability to get to the quarterback we all know that those are factors in the AFC there’s a million people who have made a million videos about those guys being good especially in the context of this division that isn’t what I’m going for what I’m going for things that are a little bit more under the radar more under discussed that are still very important things to talk about when it comes to the dynamic of this Division and what it’s going to look like in 2024 and kind of specific to that so let’s start with Pittsburgh Pittsburgh has talked a lot about the quarterback position a lot about Justin fields and Russell Wilson I don’t think those are the two most important names at all on the Steelers offense the two most important names on the Steelers offense it’s going to be George pickings it’s going to be Jaylen Warren and the question is will they treat these guys as the Blue Chip players that I think that they could become George Pickins everybody knows he’s a very talented player everybody knows that he has tremendous upside but when it comes to Pittsburgh utilizing him when it comes to Pittsburgh treating him as a player that has that upside it just hasn’t happened similarly with Jaylen Warren a lot of people who watch this closely think that Jaylen Warren is by far the best back on Pittsburgh’s roster but yet it feels like Pittsburgh tries to make NA Harris still happen they try to make other running backs still happen and not necessarily Jaylen Warren I think the story of Pittsburgh’s offense is going to be heavily riant on how they use Jaylen Warren and how they use George Pickins those are the two best players on that offense those are the two most useful players we’ll see what happens with a guy like Pratt FR move but we have seen um their offensive coordinator their new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s movies he’s not going to use the tight end so like it’s there’s no point in being shocked by that but Jaylen Warren and George pickings how he uses those guys and how effectively they use those guys will be the most important when it comes to Pittsburgh’s defense again a lot of press goes to cam Hayward deservingly so and TJ watt deservingly so those are two excellent players but the player that really sets the tone for everything that Pittsburgh wants to do and the player that if this guy is playing at a high level changes how good the SE or how high the ceiling is for the Pittsburgh Steelers is think of Fitzpatrick for many years you can tell the story of Pittsburgh’s defense and what kind of year it’s going to be for their defense based on how their fans talk about how they’re using Minka Fitzpatrick right if they’re talking about Minka being able to fly around be a free safety be a playmaker Pittsburgh is going to have one of the best seven defense one of the top seven defenses in the NFL if they’re talking about Minka Fitzpatrick having to play slot having to to make up for other positions not being very strong having to play more Corner than safety then you know that it’s going to be year where Pittsburgh’s going to be pretty up and down on the defensive end there will be games where the defensive line just flat out dominates but there will also be moments where M Fitzpatrick and not being able to use M Fitzpatrick properly starts to show its head and and really affect the the level of coverage that you get from that Pittsburgh Steelers defense a lot of what goes on with Pittsburgh relates to how they use MAA Fitzpatrick it seems like that’s the one thing that puts them over the top when they’ve had Elite defenses has been because M has been one of the best players on those defenses when the defenses have been a little underperforming for Pittsburgh you can draw a straight line of M Fitzpatrick doing stuff that they don’t love him doing because the Personnel was not great there now will this be a situation that pops up I don’t know but I don’t think they were suff they’re sufficient enough at corner to where it there’s no chance of it popping up but a lot of this is a bet on Pat Queen which is the next thing about Pittsburgh that I’m going to talk about this is a gamble on Pittsburgh’s part to go after Patrick Queen because the big question about Patrick Queen is hey was it roquan Smith that made you good or was it just you developing into a better player over time that led to your improvement right because Pat Queen early in his career career had some issues really seeing the the game well now my theory on this is is that it’s a little bit of both roquan Smith while I will stand on it I do think he’s overrated like people talk about him as the best linebacker in NFL I don’t think he’s close to Fred Warner in that conversation but what roquan Smith is is one of the best security blankets in football right you don’t have to worry about missing on a gamble or missing when you go with your instinct because you have ran Smith back there and he’s gonna clean up any mess that you make downfield he’s not ran isn’t necessarily the playmaker people make him out to be but he’s the best mop in all of football that’s what kind of the role that roquan plays the question is for Pittsburgh do you have a mop right and this is a question I have with Cleveland right with J somebody who likes to trigger downhill a lot do you have a sufficient mop back there to kind of give that security blanket to a player who likes to trigger downhill Pat Queen kind of similar to jok a very instinctive player a player who likes to be aggressive and Trust his instincts and in order for that to happen you need to have somebody who can hold it down there at one of the other linebacker positions now if that’s how they use Pat Queen I think he’ll be successful I think they have enough back there with their mismash of linebackers in Pittsburgh to make that happen um where I do think Pittsburgh can get in trouble if they fall in love with the idea of him being a Mike linebacker I don’t think that role suits pack Queen at all Pat Queen to me is C Ball get ball and not necessarily somebody you want to be put in a more cerebral spot um but we’ll see will that gamble pay off with Pat Queen if it does it takes a lot of pressure off Minka if that pressure is off Minka that sets everything in line for the Pittsburgh Steelers to have a much improved defense and they did last year but those things had to happen they’re also betting on Pat Queen being really good in coverage which was something he struggled at pre roquan in Baltimore um but really did succeed at in the two years that he played with roquan again another question of if a young player just developed or if that development was all due to a veteran player showing up I tend to lean in the development side for Pat Queen but we will see what happens in that situation let’s talk about Baltimore all right what does Baltimore bring that’s a problem for the Browns now they did gamble on Derk Henry and if I don’t mention Derrick Henry want to talk about the Baltimore I think a lot of people are going to freak out because you see Baltimore this run heavy team and then Derrick Henry and a lot of people put those pieces together say instant fit it’s going to be perfect um but there are a lot of small things in that fit that I worry about going well it’s kind of the same math if I go back to 2019 that people did with Odell Beckham and Kevin stefansky in Baker Mayfield right A lot of people assume that Odell Beckham would be a great fit in a Shanahan kubak style offense with Kevin stefansky because of his precision as a route Runner right he is one of the most precise route Runners the guys who succeed in those offenses are Precision route runners people may forget this but early in Odell Beckham’s career he was being compared to Jerry Rice Jerry Rice is one of the original West Coast offense Precision route Runner Yak guys like he it seemed like on paper a perfect fit for Odell to slide into that offense and be great but what went wrong in Cleveland with Odell Baker and Kevin stefansky is that there was a lot of little things that just match up right where Odell liked to get the ball it’s not where that’s not where Baker Mayfield liked to throw the ball those weren’t the route combinations that Baker Lov the parts of the offense that the Browns wanted Odell Beckham to occupy weren’t necessarily the same parts of the offense that Odell was asked to occupy like just small stuff the death of the route that they wanted Odell to run all of these little things they added up into big problems over time for Odell Beckham and the Cleveland Browns and Baker Mayfield and Kevin stfy to the point to where you just didn’t have something that ever felt like it clicked I think something similar could happen with Derk Henry yes when you look at this broad Strokes on paper Derk Henry all he’s going to be asked to do is do what Gus Edwards was doing and who is Gus Edwards right he’s a lesser version of of Derk Henry if you’re looking from 10,000 out it seems obvious oh look at that run game that Baltimore has look at the pressure that Lamar Jackson puts on a defense in the Run game and then Derek Henry match made and heaven and from a certain point of view I understand how people get there but they’re just these small things that keep popping up when I think about that fit that make me wonder if this is going to work out how everybody thinks it’s going to work out right with Derrik Henry he’s somebody who likes to get the ball outside Zone likes to get the ball out of single back likes to get the ball in obvious rundown situations likes to get the ball going towards the edge downfield between the tackle in the tight end wide that’s not how the Ravens have run the football the Ravens have run the football in a stack pistol formation also with Derk Henry he has not really demonstrated him himself throughout his career to be the most versatile running back to exist like the thing with Derrick Henry is he struggled early in his career because he wasn’t being used correctly when you do use him in a specific way he is super effective but the thing I don’t think enough people ask themselves about derck Henry when they go oh well it’s just Ryan tanah Hill or this or that is this maybe the reason d Henry was allowed to dominate in Tennessee is precisely because he had a quarterback who did not provide very much pressure to opposing defenses and that allowed him to be ran so many times in this specific way because the offense wasn’t worried about fitting in the quarterback into the game plan what does Derrik Henry look like when the game game plan offensively is not built around him can he be someone like Aus Edwards who can take 10 carries a game or 15 carries a game not in the optimal spot that they wanted and still be successful or is he a running back that really needs his 10 to 15 carries look at the history of Derk Henry splitting carries and tell me that that’s somebody who’s going to be doing who’s going to do well or projects to do well in a running back rotation that is the one thing you can’t have a team built around Lamar Jackson and you can’t have a offense that’s built around Lamar Jackson and both Derk Henry that offense is going to be built around Lamar Jackson so what does that Doe to Derrik Henry now while I have my worries about Derk Henry the guy that I think will end up being the premier running back maybe in the next couple of years maybe this year cuz he’s coming off an injury on this Ravens team is Keaton Mitchell because he was absurdly great of a fit in Baltimore’s system right you talk about somebody who can do a lot with the little you talk about somebody who can have a wide enough range of skills to be able to be successful from a range of different deliveries when it comes to running the ball that is Keaton Mitchell and that is who I wonder if the Ravens are going to utilize more um throughout the year versus a Derk Henry I think there’s a lot of questions there that people are acting with derck Henry simply because the broad Strokes look brilliant on that move but if you zoom into that painting there’s a lot of cracks a lot of cracks that I don’t think a lot of people are asking the right questions about because we’re just assuming Baltimore run the ball Lamar Jackson run the ball Derrick Henry run the ball all good but we’ve made these assumptions before and we’ve sat here and been befuddled when it doesn’t work have to ask these questions have to ask these questions Lamar Jackson now one thing you don’t have to ask a question about is Lamar Jackson in year two of the top McKing offense while people have made fun or or dunked on Lamar Jackson for losing in the playoffs yet again and that being a serious concern about his long-term future when when it comes to the two games he’s going to play against the Browns guaranteed in the regular season let’s face it Lamar Jackson was good enough in year one or that tomming offense to win MVP what is he going to look like in year two this might be a situation where the Ravens on paper are our worst team but Lamar Jackson plays so good in the regular season it just does not matter so what does year two in that system Lamar Jackson look like during the regular season it could be excellent I mean people like this is the most ragged on dogged two-time MVP I’ve ever seen in my life and look I get the playoff criticisms of Lamar Jackson but people acting like he’s not guaranteed for regular season success is silly um let’s talk about Trenton Simpson and ran Smith because this is the flip side to that question with Pat Queen right if you feel like Pat Queen success was all about roquan Smith then it’s not hard for me to make the jump that you also believe that roquan Smith’s presence will make a pat Queen out of Trenton Simpson and I like Trenton Simpson Trenton Simpson was a very intriguing Prospect when he came out very good athlete another kind of J type where he’s a smaller linebacker but instinctive almost looks like a safety out there but he’s that new age kind of cover linebacker that they love is that I think Trenton Simpson is is good and like regardless of if he’s next to ran Smith or not I think he’s going to be good but we all know the credit is going to go to roquan Smith for any success that he has next to him especially if like Pat Queen does not play well in Baltimore but how’s that going to work it’s going to be a young player replacing a very pivotal role um and like will this change how they use some of their other Playmakers on defense Kyle Hamilton has been one of the more interesting players in the NFL and how the Ravens use him I think he’s one of the Ravens like best weapons on their defense will this lead to just more use of Cal Hamilton I think that will make them as good as they were last year or close to as good as they were last year if Kyle lives up to his potential um but there’s a lot of different ways Baltimore can go about it that will be interesting but again they got a new defensive coordinator this year right they’ve been pilfered they have no T TJ they have no more Mike McDonald it’s a new defensive coord orator who knows how that guy uses these pieces let’s talk about Cincinnati and I think Cincinnati and Cleveland have had probably the two most boring off Seasons all year it probably goes to Cleveland Cleveland’s had a more boring offseason than Cincinnati because Cincinnati at least has had the whole contract stuff to argue about um the Browns haven’t really like they made some moves but they’re pretty set both these teams are in similar places the question with Cincinnati is is this defense going to be better I talk about this misconception all the time people like to equate Cincinnati success to tremendous offense I don’t believe that is true I think Cincinnati’s offense is proficient but it’s not the reason that they’ve had success I think the reason behind the success of the Cincinnati Bengals is it goes to their back-to-back Conference Championship uh performances that they had in 2021 2022 it’s on the defense it’s on the strength of that defense the Bengals offense has been pretty inconsistent like if you listen to bangal fans or people who cover the Bengals talk about them or just watch the Bengals you would notice this about them there’s a lot of times where that offense is hot and cold but what has always carried the Cincinnati Bengals through is their defensive performance what made the wheels kind of fall off and look we’re talking about a team that I believe they got last place but they weren’t a disaster they were over 500 despite losing their quarterback so don’t take don’t take this too much to heart Cincinnati fans that I’m saying this but what made the wheels kind of fall off for Cincinnati even before Joe burrow got hurt because the record wasn’t the greatest at the beginning of the season last year while Joe was working off of that calf injury it was the fact that the defense was not good right they had G they were giving up a lot of big plays their safety play just wasn’t up there their secondary play wasn’t up there their linebacker play was having an uncharacteristic down year they could not stop the run like to save their life in Cincinnati and that on top of not having Joe Burl just was everything that they could not have happened the question is did they make enough moves in offseason to improve that defense a lot of people are going to focus on the offensive line with Cincinnati but I feel like we’ fallen into this trap the last three years simply the way that Joe burrow plays football the way that the bank prefer to use Joe bro you’re just never going to get great offensive line play out of a quarterback like that I compet very simpar to what I talked about with deshun Watson even before he got traded to Cleveland um where the way deshun Watson plays just kind of invites your offensive line to not look as good as they actually are right I think a lot of deshun Watson’s offensive lines pre Browns weren’t as bad as what people made him out to be especially the later ones that he had in Houston but because of his play style it just it magnifies whatever holes you have in your offensive line and because you have a quarterback who takes a ton of hits who does not mind taking a ton of hits he does take a ton of hits which then also magnifies your your perception of how that offensive line plays and no matter who you have out there no matter how well they’re actually playing given what their assignment is you’re just going to think they stink the defense is where you have to worry about p uh Cincinnati and if that defense is great that Cincinnati team’s going to be pretty damn good but if that defense is not that Cincinnati team is going to have an obvious ceiling on their head so that’s going to be what it what I think determines it and that’s what I think you have to watch out for if you’re a Browns fan when you look at the rest of the AFC North let me know what you think in the comment section down below y’all have a great day have even better night peace [Music] oh [Music]
Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxSQZf38voCR7s4EMsc4TDw/join
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/WorstTake
Q n Colb: https://www.youtube.com/c/QnColb
CAVS BURNER: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcgfY8q4QRhK5aeHan22APQ
WORST TAKE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/c/QnColb
PAYPAL: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/QC2013
MERCH: https://teespring.com/stores/worst-take-store
TWITCH: http://twitch.tv/QUINCYCARRIER
________________________________________________________.
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Kwen_C
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worst_take/
#NFL #BROWNS