Trading K-Love “is not even remotely a consideration”
August 25, 2016Browns bid farewell to Barkevious Mingo
August 25, 2016For the first eight years of his NFL career, Cleveland Browns cornerback Tramon Williams was one of the Green Bay Packers top defensive backs, helping the Pack win the Super Bowl in 2011 while being named a Pro Bowler in the same season. But since he signed a three-year, $21 million to join the Browns prior to the 2015 season, things have been much different for the cornerback. This offseason, things seemed to have taken an even bigger decline.
Cornerback Jamar Taylor, who was acquired via a draft day trade with the Miami Dolphins in this past year’s draft, has taken over the second cornerback spot alongside Joe Haden, thus demoting Williams. Be that as it may, the 33-year-old isn’t too happy. As a veteran, however, he knows that he must act like one and is saying all of the right things.
Here’s Williams from cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot:
“I’ve been a starter in this league for about eight years now,” Williams said. “So I think if you went to another job and you’ve been the main guy for a long time and all of a sudden they tell you, ‘We’re going to just try out another guy right now,’ you’re going to feel some type of way. But at the same time, you have to deal with it, and you have to be a professional about it. So that’s all I’m going to do.”
The fact that Williams is suffering from a toe injury isn’t helping him either. He wants to be out on the field, trying to earn that starting nod, but with the injury, some of his practices have been cut short lately and he may not even get to play Friday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“It’s going to be one of those day-to-day things and you just go on how I feel. I definitely want to be out there but at the same time all you can do is what you can control. And if they want to give a different look, then that’s what they want to do.”
Cleveland struggled last season, like they have for the majority of their time since they returned to the NFL in 1999, but Williams’ struggles didn’t help much coupled with the litany of injuries sustained by Haden. Due to this and the fact that the team has a completely new coaching staff, heading into the third game of the preseason, the cornerback will likely come off the bench for the first time in his career. Replaced by a 25-year-old, Williams is obviously less than pleased but he knows that the coaches want to give each player a chance.
The 2015 season may have been one that Williams is not used to, including playing on a 3-13 team and having a coaching staff that didn’t always listen to what the players wanted. While he has been demoted and fighting to earn the starting spot back, he is trying to figure out why Taylor is currently playing in front of him.
“It could be (my age). I’ve been in this game long enough to understand that once you get to a certain age, that they start to look at you in kind of a different way, but at the same time, is that what you really see on film? I know I’m not slowing down any. I’ve worked too hard for that. But I don’t know.”
Being on a losing team was a culture shock for Williams, who was used to winning and competing for not only a playoff spot but a Super Bowl as well when he was in Green Bay. But outside of winning, Williams is also used to starting, doing so as a full-time starter for seven consecutive seasons.
“I’ve been a starter in this league for about eight years now. So I think if you went to another job and you’ve been the main guy for a long time and all of a sudden they tell you, ‘We’re going to just try out another guy right now,’ you’re going to feel some type of way. But at the same time, you have to deal with it, and you have to be a professional about it. So that’s all I’m going to do.”
If the veteran wants to start at cornerback and be a leader on what has turned into a young team for the most part, he must adapt to the way things are in Cleveland and be positive. If anything, that the new Browns coaching staff is rewarding those who are working the hardest and producing at the highest level as opposed to those who are compensated the most should be refreshing for Browns fans as competition always rewards the consumer.
22 Comments
33? The Sahimetric Computalator disapproves.
Rather have a 33 year old benched corner be less than pleased than have a 32 year old $9m wide receiver be content with his inactive status.
#babysteps
and .. looks like Browns trading Mingo to the Patriots. I’m guessing for a very low salvage pick before they cut him. So let the haters who despise Mingo start howling how Belichik will figure out a way for him to make an impact.
hi HARV … yep , Mingo should be a pro-bowler by next year … he under-achieved here … he had his chance.
Jamar Taylor has played well & earned his spot … that’s the way it should be.
Ben RM is disappointed in Williams’s play.
I already had a guy come into my office and say that exact same thing.
Yep. Best player plays. Nobody is gifted a spot.
Browns fans need to understand… if Mingo becomes ANYTHING resembling relevant, it isn’t because the various Browns regimes failed. It’s because Bill Belichick is one of the best defensive coaches of all time.
Sashi loves 7th rounders like Grant loved 2nd rounders.
Looks like it’s a 5th rounder. Way more than I thought they could get for Mingo.
if Sashi gets a 5th rounder for a special teamer with extreme local fan baggage, Mike Lombardi should come back here and shine my shoes. This may sound like a non sequitur but I’d just really like Lombardi to shine my shoes.
I, on the other hand, could not be pleased more. Williams was a disappointment last season and he hasn’t looked better this spring. Maybe its the scheme and not his age, or maybe he was never as good as he looked in Green Bay due to other factors. All I know is that he hasn’t been good as a Brown.
I confident Wrong Way Mingo won’t let us down.
Mingo isn’t entirely without talent, he just only has a very narrow range. (when healthy, which is an issue for him) It’s easier to make use of guys like that when the other players around them are of a decent quality. He could be a good situational pass rusher in the right scheme and with the right teammates. Sheard on the other hand was a regime-change casualty that Belichick was smart to swoop in and claim.
Still, it seems like Belichick doesn’t end up being wrong on these kinds of reclamation projects as often as would be fair to the rest of us…
Fleecing Philly is one thing, but mucking around with Belichick…this is the HBT’s first big real test…
I felt Mingo was a useful rotation piece as one of the better run defenders on the team, that said if you can’t get a cheap extension in his last year may as well trade him…
I would say, though, that Mingo has never ACTUALLY showed any talent as a pass rusher. I know the Browns haven’t really used him that way, but I can see why. If an offensive lineman can get a hand on him, that’s the end of his play. He is incapable of fighting off a block. To quote myself, this is my opinion of the guy:
But it seems like the Browns always needed him to be more than what he was in their scheme and he was never really free to just do what he’s good at. I think he was miscast as a 3-4 OLB from the start and as a 4-3 end for certain packages he can be useful on a limited basis. One-dimensional speed rushers aren’t top-10 picks, though, so that one’s on the Browns. I’d be irritated they aren’t going to attempt to use him differently except he’s a FA at the end of the year and they’ve drafted Ogbah. (who I sure hope ends up not being basically the same guy)
Watch the full 11 minute video of the interview, not the 29 seconds MKC chopped out for her click bait piece. There is no issue with Williams.
http://www.ohio.com/blogs/cleveland-browns/cleveland-browns-1.270107/video-browns-veteran-tramon-williams-discusses-shake-up-at-cornerback-1.706957
I think, at best, he could be used as a Bruce Irvin type of situational pass rusher who puts up 5-6 sacks per season and has a place in the league, but I’m not confident that is a real possibility. I just don’t think he has any pass rush moves and his size makes him susceptible to being eaten up by not just offensive linemen, but tight ends too. If they get their hands locked on Mingo, the play is over and they’re going to move him wherever they want.
Wow. That’s incredible, and incredibly embarrassing and infuriating. Thanks for sharing this.