The offseason is made for decisions.
The Cleveland Browns will begin the evaluation process of their roster once the 2011 regular season reaches its conclusion and one of the decisions general manager Tom Heckert was asked about during a media availability session on Thursday was the future of quarterback ![]()
“He’s done some good things, he really has,” Heckert said. “The whole evaluation will be done afterwards and we’ll see, not just with him, but with everybody. When we sit down and do our evaluations, we’re doing everything, watching practices. We’ll do all that, just like we do every year.”
In two years with the Browns, McCoy has started 21 games. He is 6-15 as a starter with 400 completions in 685 pass attempts. McCoy has thrown for 4,309 yards and 20 touchdowns against 20 interceptions and carries a 74.5 quarterback rating.
This season, McCoy has lined up behind an offensive line that has had three different right tackles and five wide receivers see at least two starts. Two offensive linemen, ![]()
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“The receivers dropping balls, that’s a big thing,” Heckert said. “That’s not a good thing. That’s part of the (evaluation) process. Are there things where Colt could do better? Yeah. Are there things that we could’ve done catching the ball, blocking better? Yeah. You look at all that and we haven’t done that yet.”
In addition to evaluating the quarterback, the Browns’ personnel staff will look at running back.
After his 1,177-yard, 11-touchdown season a year ago, ![]()
“We haven’t had a healthy running back for a real long duration,” said Heckert. “It’s tough; it’s unfortunate he has been nicked up a little bit. That’s another one we’ll have to decide on when the season’s over. We just have to figure out which direction we want to go.”
When Hillis went down with the hamstring injury, second-year Brown ![]()
“I haven’t seen it yet this year,” Heckert said of Hardesty’s production level from college. “It’s hard to tell if it’s from the old injury or the new stuff. He’s done a good job, but I do think he’ll be better, especially physically, next year. We’ll see what we get.”
While he has some decisions to make on offense, Heckert has been happy with linebacker D’Qwell Jackson.
Jackson registered 13 tackles against the Pittsburgh Steelers last Thursday and leads the team with 125 total stops. After returning from injury-plagued seasons in 2009 and 2010, Jackson has recorded 3.5 sacks, one forced fumble, three fumble recoveries, three pass breakups and an interception this year. He has registered at least 10 tackles in six of the Browns’ 13 games.
Jackson’s 125 tackles are second in the NFL through 13 weeks.
“You can pretty much say he’s going to be here,” Heckert said without hesitation.
Another area of success for the Browns has been the defensive line, specifically with rookies ![]()
Sheard is fourth among NFL rookies with 5.5 sacks and ranks third in the league -- behind Detroit’s Cliff Avril and Baltimore’s Terrell Suggs -- with five forced fumbles this season. With one sack Sunday, Sheard would pass Browns Legend Michael Dean Perry for the second-most sacks by a Cleveland rookie since 1982.
Taylor ranks eighth among NFL rookies with 4.0 sacks.
“I don’t know if I’m surprised; obviously, we’re happy,” Heckert said. “They’re playing a lot of snaps too, which I don’t know if it’s always the greatest thing in the world, but we don’t have the greatest depth and that’s going to come, hopefully, with this year’s draft. They’ve played very well. It’s a tough deal and they’ve both done a really good job.”
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