We should also credit Berry as well.
Callahan is great and all, but he's nothing without massive investments into the offensive line in the form of Wills and Conklin while also restructuring the contract of Hubbard.
This is what we mean in a unified vision. Stefanski was sold on Callahan's vision of the offensive line and Berry has brought in the players that will be maximized by their vision. Should also credit Stump Mitchell for incorporating different styles in the running game instead of all zone blocking all the time.
I agree that it is great to have them all on the same page, but no way is Callahan nothing without massive investments. He's been just huge on his own. and that's demonstrated by the across the board improvement of every single lineman from last year to this year. I'd give RB coach Stump Mitchell credit for getting a lot out of Chubb, but Mitchell was here last year as well, and that didn't seem to help the performance of the offensive line. That didn't change until Callahan.
Hubbard was a pile of poo last year -- he had a PFF grade of 50.6, gave up a team-high 38 QB pressures and six sacks, and had eight penalties. He was one of the reasons we went out and got Conklin. Wyatt Teller had a PFF grade of 56.7, gave up 16 QB pressures in 11 games and had a run-blocking grade of 48.2.
Every team in the NFL uses Pro Football Focus data in some capacity, so it makes sense to see what PFF analysts have to say about how the Browns performed in 2019.
www.cleveland.com
But this season, under Callahan, Hubbard has a grade of 74.0, and Teller at 94.0 has the highest grade of any lineman in the entire NFL. That's just a
ridiculous level of improvement from those two guys year to year. Seems to me the offensive line coach has to be the major person to credit for that.
NFL and PFF player stats for Cleveland Browns T Chris Hubbard on Pro Football Focus.
www.pff.com
PFF's exclusive metrics provide Guard (G) position rankings, grades, and snap counts.
www.pff.com
Conklin also is playing better than he did last year (albeit for a different team) His PFF grade went from 77.9 to 85.4.
NFL and PFF player stats for Cleveland Browns T Jack Conklin on Pro Football Focus.
www.pff.com
Bitonio went from 74.2 to 77.9
NFL and PFF player stats for Cleveland Browns G Joel Bitonio on Pro Football Focus.
www.pff.com
And Tretter went from 72.0 to 80.4
NFL and PFF player stats for Cleveland Browns C J.C. Tretter on Pro Football Focus.
www.pff.com
That's kind of insane when you think about it -- every single starter playing better. The bonus in this is that we are
finally in a position to draft/acquire OL and develop them for a specific scheme, and not shove them in as starters before they are ready. Hubbard went from being horrible to stepping right in for Conklin when he's been hurt. That's huge. There were good reports on Nick Harris when it looked like we might be without Tretter, and he's another example of a guy built for this kind of wide zone blocking scheme. And we got him in the 5th round.
We'll probably draft 1-2 OL in each draft moving forward who can excel in this scheme, and develop them. Those Denver Bronco offensive lines of the mid/late '90s and 2000's were built that way under Alex Gibbs and his zone blocking scheme. They acquired guys that fit that scheme, often in lower rounds, and then dominated with them. That's how you build depth, and also how you develop the guys who will replace starters who retire or become too expensive.
What's kind of frightening for our opponents -- but very nice for us -- is that we shifted over to wide zone blocking just this year, and that's usually something that teams/players get better at the longer they do it. For us to have this much success with that scheme early on....just
damn.