It is important to note that former first round draft pick Corey Coleman was cut by the Buffalo Bills. The Bills will pay Coleman over three million dollars to not be part of the team. Most likely, there are some issues going on that are not being made public. Obviously the Browns just wanted to get rid of him – and now the Bills have come to the same conclusion.
Before I get to the details of this episode, let me say more on Josh Gordon. We have not seen much of Gordon on Hard Knocks. Here are some of my concerns about Gordon. If he has done the hard emotional work in order to say clean and sober, he would not be physically ready to play. He probably went to treatment and tried to stay in shape and do treatment too. While it is possible to stay in shape and do treatment, it is very unlikely that someone could do treatment and be ready to play in the NFL – even someone of his caliber. What I mentioned two weeks ago seems to already have happened. Though he may be ready to play in the first game, his hamstring is bothering him.
It would be best for the Browns to wait till next year for Gordon to be ready, or trade him. Many people would look at Gordon’s situation and figure that “he has learned his lesson.” Thus, they think he can just quit using. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Probably the worst three words ever uttered about drug use are “just say no.” For someone with a long history of using, getting clean and sober is a massive task. They may be able to stop for a brief period of time, but this does not last.
Unfortunately, Antonio Callaway falls into this category as well. I do not expect either of them to finish the season. Again, the Browns do not seem to be aware of this impending disaster.
Much of this episode focused on Devon Cajuste. In his conversation with Senior Offensive Assistant, Al Saunders, Cajuste said: “I feel last week was big jump for me.” He is referring to the blocking lesson he got from Tight Ends Coach, Greg Seamon. Saunders, referring to the change in Cajuste’s blocking, told Cajuste: “It was huge.” “And this weeks practice was outstanding.” “Being you is good enough.”
This was a great interaction. Cajuste has clearly been practicing his new blocking technique. And although he does get cut, he has clearly improved as a player.
Nate Orchard also ends up getting cut. Here in the final week, Orchard is getting some pointers from Myles Garrett. Orchard should have getting this kind of help from someone all along. If not from Garrett, then from one of the coaches. Athletes improve under great coaches. Compare the improvement of Orchard to the improvement of Cajuste in these five weeks of Hard Knocks. Orchard did get better. However, the coaching Cajuste got made a huge difference in his improvement.
My guess is that the Browns win about four or five games this year.