Cleveland Browns: Creating the Blueprint for Optimal Offense in 2015

The goal for the Cleveland Browns in 2015 is to find an offensive identity and to stick with it for a full 16-game season. Bouncing from one scheme to the next, one quarterback to the next and one group of receivers to the next will not breed the continuity necessary for success, either short or long term.

Most teams try to build their offense around their quarterback, but that may not be the best approach for the Browns this year. For now, the starter is Josh McCown, but that could change prior to Week 1. It could also change at any point in the season—the Browns have proven to lack patience with their quarterbacks. 

No matter how much Browns head coach Mike Pettine believes that McCown will be the player he was when he filled in for an injured Jay Cutler in Chicago two years ago, his 1-10 performance as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers starter in 2014 still serves as the most recent benchmark for his abilities. 

McCown's career completion percentage is 58.8 percent; his completion percentage in 2014 was 56.3 percent. It looks like his 2013 season, in which he completed 66.5 percent of his passes, was an outlier.

Year	Starts	Atts.	Comp.	Comp.%	Yds.	YPA	TD	INT	Sack
2013	5	224	149	66.5%	1,829	8.2	13	1	11
2014	11	327	184	56.3%	2,206	6.7	11	14	36
Career	49	1,664	978	58.8%	11,033	6.6	61	59	148

Whether a result of then-Bears head coach Marc Trestman's tutelage or of some other unknown factor, McCown outperformed his averages in those five starts. It cannot even be explained away by his supporting cast—McCown had Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery as his primary receivers in Chicago and had Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans last year. 

Instead of a quarterback-centric offense, the Browns would be smart to try to be run-heavy, just as they did last year—or at least until center Alex Mack went down with a fractured leg in the middle of the season.

In the Browns' first five games of the 2014 season, they topped 120 rushing yards four times. They only broke 100 rushing yards four additional times in the 11 games that followed. And it wasn't for a lack of trying, either, with the Browns ranking eighth in rushing attempts per game at 29.8. 

So the key isn't just to run more, it's to have a more productive run game. Having Mack back healthy should help the Browns advance this goal. And the addition of Cam Erving in Round 1 of the 2015 draft and a fully ready-to-go Michael Bowie also means the Browns will have higher-quality offensive line depth in the case that Mack, or any of their starters, misses time with injury in 2015.

Also helping the run game is rookie Duke Johnson, who joins Isaiah Crowell and Terrance West as the team's committee of backs. Johnson, the University of Miami's leading rusher, also caught 65 passes for 642 yards and four scores in his two collegiate seasons. This makes him a favorite for third-down duties, where running backs are typically catching passes out of the backfield.

David Richard/Associated Press

Johnson's receiving abilities will also serve to make life easier for the quarterback, whether it's McCown, Johnny Manziel or Connor Shaw. Having a running back as a receiving outlet is useful for any quarterback, and it's something that new coordinator John DeFilippo is already heavily emphasizing in OTAs, according to ESPNCleveland.com's Tony Grossi.

Checkdowns might seem simplistic—even frustratingly so—but done right, they can gain significant yards after the catch. The speedy Johnson seems well-suited to such a role and could prove to be one of the Browns' most valuable members of their offense because of it.

But this doesn't mean the Browns have to run the ball 35 times per game, check it down to running backs and call it a day. The Browns will have a conservative offense, yes, but as Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer wrote on Tuesday, there will be opportunities to throw the deep ball:

"

We do know the Browns want to run the ball a lot to take the pressure off McCown. It will likely feature plenty of shifting and motion, and some elements of the West Coast offense and its short passing game. But DeFilippo also wants to push the ball down the field to the extent he can.

"

That's where receivers Dwayne Bowe, Taylor Gabriel, Andrew Hawkins and Brian Hartline come in. The deep reception could also be a specialty of tight end Rob Housler, as well.

Despite Bowe coming from the land of no deep passing (i.e. the Alex Smith-led Kansas City Chiefs), he is a proven deep threat, with a career average of 13.4 yards per reception. Gabriel averaged 17.3 yards per reception last year.

Hartline has a career per-reception average of 14.2 yards and Hawkins 12.2 yards. Housler's career average is just 10.8 yards, but that ballooned to 14.3 yards in 2014, though he had only nine catches.

Player	YPR (Career)
Bowe	13.4
Gabriel	17.3
Hartline	14.2
Hawkins	12.2
Housler	10.8

But, as Cabot noted, "the offense is a work in progress and not even the coaches know its identity yet. Part of it will depend on the personnel and who can do what." With phase three of OTAs just now underway, the Browns are in the early stages of finding out "who can do what," in Cabot's words.

Not all of these receivers are going to see significant playing time this year, especially with such a run-heavy slant to the offense. The cream, as it were, will have to rise to the top through the course of workouts and training camp to determine the receiving pecking order. But don't expect the Browns to field two 1,000 yard receivers this year, because that's just not how they are scheming the offense to work.

A simple offense, when executed correctly, can be an elegant and effective one. The Browns offense doesn't need to be cute or crafty this year. This is a new system, with a new coordinator, a group of new receivers and a brand-new quarterback. There is a new tight end and a rookie running back. Getting everyone on the same page won't require creativity as much as it will require patience.

Ultimately, the Browns need to limit mistakes, play up their strengths, minimize their weaknesses and strike a proper balance between running the ball and passing it. The offense must be conservative but at the same time not predictable.

If the Browns can maintain consistency on the offensive line, then success running the ball should follow, and from that will come the opportunity to strike with the occasional, opportunistic deep pass.