Every year, Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News puts together composite special teams rankings. He compiles the rankings by looking at 22 special teams categories, and where the team ranks from 1st to 32nd. The composite score then forms the final ranking.
The Cleveland Browns stuck with special teams coordinator Chris Tabor once again, despite overhauling the defensive staff this offseason. Gosselin's rankings have the Browns at 26th in the NFL for the 2016 season, down from 19th in the NFL the previous year. Cleveland’s cumulative score was 432, a far fry from the cumulative score of 362 they had for 2015. For perspective, the 1st-ranked team is the Eagles at 226.5, and the 32nd-ranked team is the Chargers at 514.
We couldn't find rankings for all of the 22 categories, but here is as complete of a list we could come up with for the Browns:
- Kickoff Returns: 28th (18.6 yards per return)
- Punt Returns: 26th (6.7 yards per return)
- Kickoff Coverage: 13th (21.3 yards per return)
- Punt Coverage: 14th (8.4 yards per return)
- Starting Point: Data not available
- Opponent Starting Point: Data not available
- Punting: 17th (45.3 yards per punt)
- Net Punting: 14th (40.3 yards per punt)
- Inside the 20 Punts: Data not available
- Opponent Punting: Data not available
- Opponent Net Punting: Data not available
- Field Goals: Tied (3) for 25th (21 field goals)
- Field Goal Percentage: 28th (87.5%)
- Opponent Field Goal Percentage: Tied (2) for 1st (70.4%)
- Extra Point Percentage: Tied (2) for 30th (92.0%)
- Points Scored: Data not available
- Points Allowed: Data not available
- Blocked Kicks: Tied (14) for 5th (1 blocked kick)
- Opponent Blocked Kicks: Tied (12) for 7th (1 blocked kicks)
- Takeaways: Data not available
- Giveaways: Data not available
- Penalties: Data not available
If you can help fill in any of the missing spots above, leave a note in the comments section with your source. From the data we have, the Browns' rankings were lowered by their kickoff and punt return averages, and missing too many field goals (thanks to one bad game by Cody Parkey).