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Cleveland Browns Player Power Rankings

Heading into the ever-so-exciting bye week, fans actually have something to cheer for this weekend still: the Cleveland Indians. I'll be rooting for the Tribe to take down the Boston Red Sox in Game 6 tonight at Fenway Park.

With the bye week here, I felt it was an appropriate time to rank the Browns players this year. The rankings are based on a few variables, including personal preference, this season's performance, and injuries. Let me know which rankings you agree and/or disagree with.

Player Power Rankings
Rank Player Comment
1 Braylon Edwards Edwards has silenced all of his critics, becoming the third overall pick the Browns were expecting.
2 Derek Anderson After taking over the starting role in Week 2, Anderson has single-handedly convinced fans to want to wait on Brady Quinn.
3 Kellen Winslow Playing through injuries again, Winslow is again among the league leaders in yardage among tight ends.
4 Eric Steinbach Shaking off an injury in the preseason, Steinbach's presence can be expressed by the Browns' success and the Bengals' struggles.
5 Joe Thomas The Browns would have regretted passing up Thomas with the third overall pick. No concerns about the most important position on the line.
6 Joshua Cribbs His electric kick returns compensate for the defense's constant misfortunes.
7 Kevin Shaffer Despite having Ryan Tucker cutting into his time, Shaffer's adjustment to right tackle has been fairly unobstructive.
8 Leigh Bodden The first defensive player to crack the list, most of the plays Bodden gives up stems from a lack of pressure. Leads team with three picks.
9 Joe Jurevicius Anderson must have studied how the Seattle Seahawks used Jurevicius back in their Super Bowl season.
10 Antwaan Peek He's tipped balls, pressured quarterbacks, and made open-field tackles. Unfortunately, he can't do it all himself.
11 Hank Fraley Anchoring the middle of the line, I don't even recall one penalty or blown play by the veteran center this season.
12 Seth McKinney Although I consider him the "weak link" of the offensive line, that doesn't mean he hasn't held up his position well.
13 Jamal Lewis Injuries have held him back; a 5.0 average is something to look forward to after the bye.
14 Kamerion Wimbley He's on pace to get a fair amount of sacks still, but when will he contribute in stopping the run too?
15 Phil Dawson Consistently making field goals, but don't his kickoffs seem shorter than the first half of last year?
16 D'Qwell Jackson Leading the team in tackles, Jackson is starting to tackle better over the past few games.
17 Lawrence Vickers Besides blocking well, his past few short-yardage attempts have resulted in first downs.
18 Robaire Smith By far our best defensive linemen, but he's meant to make his impact with better linemen around him.
19 Eric Wright Second on the team in tackles, Wright's coverage has progressively been getting tighter.
20 Jason Wright We needing a running back to fill in if Lewis got hurt, and Wright did a fundamentally sound job overall.
21 Daven Holly If the Browns could get pressure, Holly would probably lead our team in interceptions.
22 Willie McGinest He has only just returned, but McGinest gives the Browns the flexibility of more rotations at outside linebacker.
23 Ryan Tucker Also just returning, Tucker provides the Browns with one of the better backup guards/tackles in the NFL.
24 Leon Williams He's been all over the field, but I'm still looking for tackles in the backfield rather than up the field.
25 Dave Zastudil Barring his last game, we all know what Zastudil is capable of doing.
26 Ryan Pontbriand Ranking the long snapper is hard to do, so I just slapped him a little below the middle of the pack.
27 Sean Jones Without question, Jones is my disappointment of the year. He has been overmatched by too many below average tight ends.
28 Brodney Pool I expected Pool to struggle, which is why I regret Brian Russell being let go and Gary Baxter not being ready to return.
29 Jerome Harrison After just one game, Harrison showed the production he's capable of to change the pace of the ground game.
30 Tim Carter He made a few nice grabs against New England, but I won't forget all of his drops prior to that.
31 Andra Davis *Yawn*
32 Chaun Thompson Why the Browns don't bring Thompson in the game to blitz more often is beyond me. I'd like to see him replace Davis inside at times.
33 Darnell Dinkins Special teams is his game -- notice Ginn almost had a TD return when he wasn't in the game due to injury?
34 Lennie Friedman After filling in relatively well during the preseason, I'm still confident in him being able to step in if needed.
35 Steve Heiden This isn't a diss towards Heiden -- he's just not as important to our gameplan as he used to be.
36 Orpheus Roye Wishing for a healthy Orpheus Roye is like wishing for Joey Harrington to be an NFL quarterback.
37 Shaun Smith Youth, youth, youth. His hype from training camp really hasn't panned out much.
38 Ethan Kelley He's started a few games over Ted Washington. I didn't really notice.
39 Ted Washington He's been benched a few games to start off. Can we please get a nose tackle next year?
40 Simon Fraser I wouldn't be too surprised if Fraser gets waived at some point to see what Melila Purcell or Chase Pittman can do.
41 Kenny Wright At least we're not forced to play him as much as we did Ralph Brown last season.
42 Kris Griffin Another case where it's hard to rank a special teams linebacker.
43 David McMillan As good as he looks at linebacker in the preseason, we never actually play him during games.
44 Brandon McDonald I almost forgot he was on the roster. I didn't even know he made his first two tackles of the season this past week.
45 Nat Dorsey He's only kept around because he's "capable" of playing left tackle if needed.
46 Charles Ali I haven't heard his name called once, even on special teams.
47 Mike Adams As bad as Pool and Jones have played, Adams seems to give up a touchdown every time he's in the game.
Non-Ranked Players
Rank Player Comment
NA Brady Quinn It's not out of the question that Quinn not only sits this year, but the following year.
NA Ken Dorsey Having Dorsey on the roster as a mentor is certainly better than keeping Frye around.
NA Isaac Sowells He'll remain inactive unless the Browns take some blows at the guard positions.
NA Travis Wilson How much longer will the Browns keep him on the sideline? Is Carter really that much better than him?
NA Gary Baxter I still anxiously await Baxter's return to the field.
NA LeCharles Bentley After what the offensive line has done, I'm not so anxious about Bentley.
NA Louis Leonard Mulligan all-around.