I don’t expect Odell Beckham will have a big bounce-back season. Cleveland has other receivers who look comparable, and I don’t like the offense.
Kevin Stefanski has been successful running offenses the last two years (in Minnesota and Cleveland) but he’s not calling many pass plays. He’s looking to pound things out on the ground. He’s not looking to feed his wide receivers.
Over the last two years, Stefanski’s wide receives (all of them on both teams) have caught 300 passes (and average of 9.4 per game). That ties for next-to-last among teams, ahead of only the Ravens. That’s despite having capable quarterbacks (Kirk Cousins, Baker Mayfield) and plenty of good wide receivers.
STEFANSKI RECEIVERS (last 2 years) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Team | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
Atlanta | 541 | 6884 | 12.7 | 37 |
Buffalo | 503 | 6308 | 12.5 | 42 |
LA Rams | 502 | 5966 | 11.9 | 27 |
Arizona | 496 | 5477 | 11.0 | 26 |
Dallas | 480 | 6710 | 14.0 | 37 |
Houston | 467 | 6167 | 13.2 | 36 |
Pittsburgh | 466 | 5262 | 11.3 | 41 |
Tampa Bay | 463 | 6747 | 14.6 | 55 |
Chicago | 460 | 5119 | 11.1 | 27 |
Cincinnati | 448 | 5471 | 12.2 | 22 |
Jacksonville | 445 | 5595 | 12.6 | 38 |
Carolina | 440 | 5614 | 12.8 | 20 |
Seattle | 428 | 5809 | 13.6 | 48 |
Detroit | 407 | 5792 | 14.2 | 38 |
Kansas City | 406 | 5600 | 13.8 | 46 |
Green Bay | 395 | 5225 | 13.2 | 42 |
New Orleans | 394 | 4556 | 11.6 | 28 |
Miami | 393 | 4823 | 12.3 | 26 |
NY Giants | 389 | 4724 | 12.1 | 29 |
New England | 387 | 4625 | 12.0 | 20 |
LA Chargers | 381 | 5229 | 13.7 | 27 |
NY Jets | 381 | 4733 | 12.4 | 24 |
Washington | 373 | 4335 | 11.6 | 22 |
Tennessee | 354 | 5190 | 14.7 | 36 |
Cleveland | 348 | 4943 | 14.2 | 24 |
San Francisco | 334 | 4458 | 13.3 | 24 |
Minnesota | 333 | 4857 | 14.6 | 39 |
Indianapolis | 325 | 4216 | 13.0 | 26 |
Denver | 322 | 4473 | 13.9 | 23 |
Philadelphia | 312 | 3729 | 12.0 | 25 |
Las Vegas | 300 | 4209 | 14.0 | 26 |
Kevin Stefanski | 300 | 4456 | 14.9 | 28 |
Baltimore | 252 | 3148 | 12.5 | 34 |
On the plus side, at least there’s tended to be more big plays with this style of offense. Those runs set up big strikes off play action. Stefanski’s wide receivers over the last two years have averaged a league-high 14.9 yards per catch.
But Cleveland has other receivers who can also run those kind of patterns, and with them being less heralded than Beckham, they’re the kind of guys who more often are underestimated or left in favorable coverage situations.
—Ian Allan