First Half Performance Reviews -- Quarterback and Running Back

Before we moved forward, we have to look in reverse. Let's start with the backfield.

Nick Chubb (Photo - Cleveland Browns)

The Browns are 2-7 and this is no place to be. We know thought experience. The entire offseason rhetoric was about getting enough wins in the first half of the schedule to compensate for a brutal back half. Well, the wins didn’t come in nearly any volume we expected and the back half of the schedule is still just as brutal as we imagined.

But believe it or not, the Browns can’t skip the rest of their schedule and simulate like a video game, so we need to take stock of some very important developments for the future of the roster and we do so by taking a look in the rear view mirror to see who performed well and who did not. Then take a look forward to project what we want to see in the final stretch of football in 2024.

Let’s start some performance reviews with an eye on the skill position players.

Cody will handle the data for us and Andrew will answer the looking forward angle.

QUARTERBACKS

Deshaun Watson (Photo - Cleveland Browns)

Data Profile

Through Week 10, the Browns passing offense as a group as performed a less-than-desirable result, ranking 30th in EPA per pass play (-0.29) and 32nd in yards per pass play (4.3). Looking at the quarterback room specifically, the Browns have the following statistics and rankings:

• Of the 48 quarterbacks in the league that have played at least 25 snaps, Deshaun Watson ranks 48th in total EPA, while Jameis Winston sits at 23rd and DTR at 35th.

• Among the same population, the Browns do not have a quarterback higher than 36th in completion percentage over expectation

• Watson and DTR both generated bottom-5 success rates at 34.6 percent and 30.0 percent, respectively.

Exceeded Expectations

n/a

Met Expectations

Jameis Winston

Dorian Thompson-Robinson

“Winston had one promising start and a rough one in Week 9 against the Chargers. That is about as at expectations as it gets for Winston based on his career. He wasn’t expected to come into the role as quickly as he did but there is enough promise from his time starting to keep him in the role after the bye week. Thompson-Robinson played a half of football in Week 7 when Deshaun Watson went down and his performance was uneven — again, about what we would expect given in-game replacement.”