That's Right! Brandon McDonald to Have a Breakout Season!

Many Browns’ fans who view this article will see that I have singled out cornerback Brandon McDonald as a break out player and will think, “Has this guy lost his mind?!”

You might be tempted to click onto a different link or call someone over to your computer and say, “You’ve got to read this. Some guy is blogging that Brandon McDonald...BRANDON MCDONALD...is a decent football player!”

I know, I know, I saw it too. He struggled mightily last year.

But hear me out. I think the guy has some potential.

McDonald is in his third year in the league, his second as a full-time starter. The growing pains that come with being a first year starter at cornerback are often painful.

Playing cornerback in the NFL can be damaging to the ego to even the most grizzled veteran. When a cornerback makes a mistake, everyone at the stadium (or watching at home on the television set) knows it.

Maintaining confidence, a characteristic necessary to become a solid professional cornerback, is not always easy.

But the good thing is, McDonald has had a chance to get on-the-job training after being thrown into the fire, and is now poised to take the next step to being a very solid defensive back in this league.

Last season, McDonald showed the ability to fight through mistakes made on previous plays, a necessity for the position.

Among his physical assets, he has very good closing speed and decent size at 5’11”, 185 pounds. He is athletic and has smooth hips, two characteristics you look for in a cornerback.

Coming into the league, there were questions about his tackling ability and toughness, but he has eased some of those concerns with 74 tackles in 2009.

He has a very good vertical leap and will go get the ball at its highest point.

McDonald finished last season with five interceptions (tied for tops among cornerbacks in the league) and had 17 pass break-ups. Those are outstanding statistics by anyone’s standards.

McDonald has the skill to play either man-to-man or zone coverage. He played both safety and cornerback in college, and that has translated into excellent ball-hawking skills in the zone.

In his first year as a starter he had a tendency to take risks and was beaten a number of times on double moves.

But it must bear noting that although McDonald appeared to get beat in coverage on numerous occasions, not all of them were necessarily his fault.

Sean Jones, last years’ starting strong safety, got caught peaking in the backfield and trying to make the big hit a lot last season.

So while McDonald and Eric Wright appeared to lose their man, many times it was Jones who failed to pick up receivers over the top.

Go back and watch the tape to see how many times Browns cornerbacks were waiving for help from Jones.

Jones has left the Browns via free agency, and either Mike Adams or Abram Elam from the Jets take over that spot in 2009.

Neither is quite the hitter that Jones is, but both are more athletic.

Another significant factor that caused headaches for Browns’ cornerbacks last season was the team’s complete inability to rush the passer.

That failure put a lot of pressure on their defensive backs to hold coverage for far too long.

The Browns were very active in the offseason bolstering their front seven through the draft, free agency and trades.

There is much more depth this season, especially at linebacker. The team simply did not have the personnel to play the 3-4 defense in 2008.

Perhaps the most important factor in the development of McDonald will be the addition of Rob Ryan as the Browns’ new defensive coordinator and Eric Mangini as the new head coach.

Ryan is an aggressive defensive coordinator who can create schemes to get after the quarterback.

He also emphasizes stopping the run in order to put teams in third and long situations.

Because the Browns failed miserably in both of these areas, their cornerbacks were all too often put in a position to fail.

If Ryan is successful in improving those issues, and his past success suggests that he will be, McDonald’s life will be a lot easier.

Additionally, Mangini was a former defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator. He worked near miracles with a Patriots defensive backfield that was annihilated by injuries when he was there.

He even managed to turn wide receiver Troy Brown into a solid contributor at defensive back, making the switch mid-season.

Mangini has shown the ability to make average defensive backs good, and good defensive backs great.

As a result, quit your laughing and look for a break out season from Brandon McDonald.