Cleveland Browns: Report Card Grades for Every Rookie Through Week 10

Back in April, the Browns concluded their 2011 draft to mixed reviews. 

Some thought GM Tom Heckert did an excellent job swindling future picks from the Atlanta Falcons via trade and evaluating talent for the Browns choices; others thought Heckert and the Browns didn't correctly prioritize and failed to address serious needs at several position groups.

And with the strike in full swing, many of us wondered if there would even be a rookie season in 2011 for our team's brand new additions. 

Luckily, the strike was resolved and there is an NFL season after all (though perhaps as Browns fans, we should have wished there wasn't).

The lack of a true offseason and an abbreviated training camp made it nearly impossible to evaluate rookies prior to the season, and tough to do so even after a few weeks of the season had come and gone. 

But now, as we approach Week 11 of the 2011 NFL season, we're finally beginning to get a true sense of how the Browns' draft picks have translated in the NFL. 

Following is a report card for the Browns 2011 rookies through Week 10. Note that this report card does not include UDFAs and that fourth-round pick TE Jordan Cameron and seventh-round pick Eric Hagg are also not included due to a lack of playing time. 

1. DT Phil Taylor

Considering that the Browns were a team that struggled heavily in the front seven in 2010 and were planning to install a new 4-3 defensive system under a new defensive coordinator in 2011, the prospect of starting two rookies on the defensive line looked pretty scary. 

It also didn't help that one of those two rookies was DT Phil Taylor, a player who many had misgivings about the Browns drafting with their first pick in the draft. 

But surprisingly, defensive coordinator Dick Jauron's front seven has come together well, and the once-controversial pick Taylor has been a big part of that. 

The enormous Taylor, whose size once raised serious concerns, has been a big part of that. Taylor has 31 tackles (21 solo) and four sacks on the season, pretty solid numbers for a guy in his first season in the NFL.

Concerns about Taylor's size were not entirely unwarranted, as it's become evident that he does have some stamina issues. However, we've also seen the road block like advantages of a 335-pound rookie on the defensive line. 

Taylor still needs to show more athleticism and improve his endurance and is certainly part of the problem in the Browns' inability to stop the run, but overall, he's done a pretty nice job in his NFL debut so far. 

Grade: B-

2. DE Jabaal Sheard

Second-round pick DE Jabaal Sheard had none of Taylor's issues of athleticism and endurance (if anything, he's undersized), but came with some character concerns when he was drafted. 

So far, we've seen no evidence of any character issues for Sheard, and plenty of evidence to suggest drafting him was a very wise move for the Browns. 

We don't hear as much about Sheard as we do about Taylor, but considering how well he has played thus far for a rookie, maybe we should. 

Sheard's aggressive style of play and nose for the pigskin have been evident in the fact that he always seems to be around the ball and has done a great job making up for any shortcomings in size with his athleticism and effort. 

Sheard has 29 tackles (22 solo), 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble and a recovery on the season.  

While there's not much glory in the DE position, Sheard somehow managed to stand out in his forced fumble and subsequent recovery against the Colts. It was at once comical and heavily reassuring to watch Sheard's crazed determination to be the guy who also recovered the fumble he forced.

While the whole play was visually, let's say, less than pretty, to see a player display such a sense of aggression for the ball and enthusiasm was terrific for Browns fans. 

Sheard has definitely made a number of rookie mistakes, but the operative word there is "rookie." He'll always have some shortcomings in size, but most of his mistakes in 2011 have thankfully been of the sort that are largely correctable with more experience. 

Grade: B

3. WR Greg Little

To the disappointment of many fans who called for the Browns to choose a marquee wide receiver in the first round of the draft, the Browns refrained from going that route until their third selection.

They could have had Julio Jones with their original draft slot, but they traded that (and thus Jones) to Atlanta for future draft picks. In retrospect, some feel that, given Jones' performance for the Falcons thus far this season, the Browns made a terrible error in passing on him. Others consider him well worth the plethora of future picks he secured for the Browns. 

What they did do in the draft at WR was select UNC's Greg Little late in the second round. Those of us who had been eying Little as a third-round selection for the Browns in our mock draft were thrilled. Others were concerned about his character and how raw he was. 

Some scouts saw Little as having raw talent on par with Jones and AJ Green, but felt his draft status was lesser because he looked like a better bet to be a bust.

What has become clear now, 10 weeks into the season, is that Little probably isn't really on par with Jones or Green, but he's also not going to be a bust. 

Little was pretty quiet in the early weeks of 2011 and seemed slow to get going, but has taken off notably since being handed the starting job a few weeks ago. To date, Little has 37 receptions and 379 yards, but has yet to find the end zone. 

Little still looks very, very raw and has a long way to go in terms of honing his skills to the kind of precision required for a top-notch NFL WR.

He's dropped more passes than is acceptable, but he seems to be improving each week and proved he could come up big last week against St. Louis with a spectacular 52-yard catch. 

Little still needs a lot of experience and a lot more polish before he'll truly be a solid receiving target, but the prospects that he'll eventually get there are looking better all the time.

Grade: B-

4. FB Owen Marecic

At least so far this season, the low point of the Browns 2011 draft appears to be their fourth-round selection, FB Owen Marecic, who has been charged with the task of acting as the team's starting fullback and thus far really isn't getting the job done. 

To be fair, Marecic had some huge shoes to fill, those of arguably the league's best FB, Lawrence Vickers. As a rookie with no experience and the guy taking over for the man who many saw as the main reason Peyton Hillis was able to have the season he did in 2010, Marecic was really set up to fail. 

And while we have to take that into consideration, we also have to acknowledge that Marecic isn't doing much to dig himself out of the hole the Browns put him in when they thrust the starting job on him at the start of the season. 

I'm as displeased with Marecic's performance as the next person, but the team's issues at fullback are largely the fault of the Browns, not the man playing the position.

The Browns could have made Vickers a good enough offer to entice him to stay, and they passed. They left the job in the hands of a player who not only will never be Vickers, he hasn't even had the time and experience to prove he can even be serviceable at the position. 

At the moment, Marecic looks like he'll need to be replaced if the Browns ever want to resurrect their disastrous running game, but we can't say that for sure when he has only 10 games under his belt and thanks to injuries to Hillis and Hardesty, has had little help from the guy he's blocking for. 

Grade: D+

5. CB Buster Skrine

Interesting but disturbing fact: of the Browns draft picks graded here, fifth-round pick CB Buster Skrine is the only one among his fellow Cleveland rookies who is not a regular starter.

One could writer a whole book about what that says about the Browns, but as for what it says about Skrine, the answer is "not much."

The fact that Skrine is the only non-starter of the group is largely due to the fact that he plays in one of the few position groups where the Browns don't have serious issues.

The Cleveland secondary has, for the most part, been among the team's few bright spots this season, and Skrine, unlike many of the other Browns rookies, is actually right where he should be on the depth chart: high enough up to see playing time and gain experience, but not yet forced into a starting role he isn't ready for. 

Skrine hasn't seen quite enough playing time to be as closely evaluated as the Browns other rookies, but we've seen him enough to begin to get an idea of what he's capable of. Skrine has 12 tackles on the season (nine solo) in limited playing time, and has been decent on special teams. 

It's tough to say how he projects long-term with such a limited sample size of experience, but so far Skrine looks like a decent player who, while he may never become a regular starter in the secondary, has thus far played above his draft slot. 

Skrine has made plenty of rookie mistakes this season, and the Browns' struggles as a group on special teams do nothing to enhance the appearance of his value, but mostly it's just too soon to tell what Skrine has to offer. 

Grade: C+/Incomplete

6. OG Jason Pinkston

Much like Marecic, fifth-round pick OG Jason Pinkston was placed in the unenviable position of having to start for the Browns as a rookie at a spot where he probably shouldn't have. 

The Browns offensive line has been nothing short of disastrous in 2011, and Pinkston has unfortunately been a big part of that. 

However, as much as we all wish Pinkston did a better job protecting his beleaguered QB Colt McCoy, he's not nearly as responsible for the beating poor McCoy takes on a weekly basis as some of the older players on the line who have been just as bad. 

Granted, you can't quite blame the Browns for starting Pinkston as a rookie as much as you can blame them for starting Marecic. Marecic is starting because the Browns chose not to retain Vickers; Pinkston is starting because early injuries at the OG position left him the last man standing. 

You can certainly argue that the Browns should have done a better job addressing their depth issues on the o-line, but there is at least a limit to how much depth a team can carry on their roster. 

To me, while Pinkston is definitely struggling and has a long way to go before he's truly what you'd call "acceptable" at his position, he's actually done far better than he's gotten credit for.

He may not be doing a fantastic job as a starter on the o-line in general, but for a fifth-round rookie unexpectedly thrust into a starting role, he's definitely done better than many would if placed in that situation. 

I know many will feel my grade for Pinkston is too high, but I think it's fair considering how he's performed versus what we really could have expected given his natural talent and experience.

The Browns line definitely gets an "F" for their efforts (or lack thereof) so far this season, but Pinkston, given his circumstances, should not be graded that harshly.

Grade: C-