Braylon actually wasn't that bad last year. I know he dropped a ton of balls, but he went through a slew of quarterbacks, and played a rough schedule. Baltimore and Pittsburgh are going to be part of his schedule regardless, but games against Indy, Tennessee and the NFC East is a much rougher draw than they have this year.
Edwards started the season out against a Dallas team that was firing on all cylinders early last year, then Pittsburgh and Baltimore. He caught eight passes for 73 yards combined in those three games. He then went 3/22/1, 5/154/1, 4/58, 2/64, against CIN, NYG, WAS and JAX, and wrapped it up with 4/86/1 against Baltimore before Anderson went out. That's much more respectable.
In summary, that's 26 catches for 457 yards and 3 TDs against Dallas (#5 against the pass), Pittsburgh (#1), Washington (#7), Baltimore (#2) twice, the Giants (#8), Jacksonville (#24), and Cinci (#15). That's about the hardest imaginable schedule, and he projects to 52 catches for 914 yards and 6 TDs against it.
As for the quarterbacking this year, though, it looks fairly likely that it will be Quinn, who played three games last year. The first week they played together, Edward laid a one catch egg, while Quinn completed 23 passes. Of those passes, 13 went to the tight ends, and seven more to the running backs. That's more of an indictment of Quinn, or the coaches' confidence in Quinn, than Edwards. Note that 10 of those passes went to Kellen Winslow, too. And their next game together, Edwards caught 8 for 105. The following week, Edwards had 5 for 85 in a game started by Quinn and finished by Anderson.
But wait there's more. Anderson got hurt, too, in his first start back from injury. Enter Ken Dorsey. Who threw for 374 yards total in just over three games. How is Edwards supposed to score with that kind of QB play? And against Indy, Tennessee, Philly, and Cinci, to boot. In Dorsey's first full game, Edwards again struggled with his new QB, and caught just 3 of his 14 targets. Ouch. But the next game, Edwards managed a 5 catch (on 5 targets no less) 102 yard performance against Philly. And the following week, he caught 4 of 7 targets from Dorsey for a miserable 32 yards, before Dorsey went out and was replaced by Bruce Gradkowski. The same Bruce Gradkowski who, in the final game against Pittsburgh, attempted 16 passes and completed a grand total of 5 of them. For 18 yards. Total. In the whole game. And threw two picks.
Oh, and did I mention how brutal the schedule was against those teams with all the QB changes? They played against Denver (26th, but Quinn's first game), Buffalo (#13), Houston (#17), Indy (#6), Tennessee (#9), Philly (#3), Cinci (#15), and the Steelers (#1).
Just to drive that point home, Cleveland played ten games against the top ten pass defenses in the league last year. And six of those were against the top 5. They played thirteen against the top half of the league, and zero against the bottom third. The average defensive ranking of the teams they faced in the first half? Fourth. The average overall? Ninth.
This year, the Browns still play Pittsburgh and Baltimore twice each. But they also play five games against the bottom seven pass defenses in the league from last year (KC, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, San Diego) and only one non-division game against a top ten pass defense from last year (Oakland, #10).
Their schedule is much easier. Their quarterback situation should be much more stable. Edwards is the only guy in town. Did Edwards drop a lot of balls last year? Sure. But he had everything go against him last year, too. Which seems more reasonable, that Edwards had a completely fluky year in which he caught 16 TDs in 2007 and will never do better than the 3 TDs he caught in 2008, or that Edwards is an extremely talented guy who had trouble last year because of a ridiculously tough schedule and a slew of quarterback changes?
eSean Jackson...I actually cant believe he hasnt been mentioned once yet. Glad I got him like 78th overall
