What can the Browns expect from Christian Kirksey (58) and Joe Schobert (53) this season? (John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

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EXPLAINING 3RD AND SHORT

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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ten days out, here’s the coldest take you’ll find on the Indians and the trade deadline.

They can’t go wrong.

Given the national reporting on their trade interests, it seems dealing Trevor Bauer only for prospects is off the table. A Bauer deal would bring back major-league talent, as we all hoped. A trade of closer Brad Hand may fall under the same parameters, but teams find closers more easily than they do top-of-the-rotation starters, so if Hand is dealt for minor leaguers, you’d figure the Indians would have a reasonable bullpen plan ready.

I’ve written about this already, and we’ve all talked about it a lot. So the point here is one small reminder.

Keeping Bauer at this point isn’t a failure or a problem. His arm in a pennant race along with the revived bat of Jose Ramirez and the continued contributions of Oscar Mercado, plus the Indians everyone knows can be relied upon -- you’d take your chances with that team in September.

This shouldn’t be a deadline of desperation. Not trading a starting pitcher before the season, knowing the offensive shortcomings, was a much bigger deal. But first the Indians survived, and against a weaker schedule lately, they’ve thrived. It’s easy to complain and panic during a long baseball season (hello May). But the Indians aren’t in panic mode now.

They have pieces other teams want. The right deal may emerge. If it doesn’t, roll with what you’ve got, and feel good about it.

Speaking of panic, here’s 3rd & Short.

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The stretch run can work out for the Indians whether or not they trade Trebor Bauer. (John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

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THE TWO BROWNS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DEFENSE

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Joe Schobert and Christian Kirksey played every defensive snap, 1,068 of them, for a team that didn’t win a game two years ago. Of the next eight Browns defenders who played the most snaps in 2017, none will start for the team this season.

Of the 24 other Browns to play even 10 defensive snaps for that 0-16 team, only Myles Garrett, Larry Ogunjobi and Trevon Coley have stuck around.

As the Browns open another camp and a new era this week, we know how much has changed. We know how much needed to change. I’m comforted, however, by two guys in the middle of everything.

I think they’re in the middle when it comes to the talent level of this team. They’re in the middle in terms of experience. They’re in the middle when it comes to value to the roster. They’re in the middle of the defense. And they’re in the middle of their careers, with how much longer they’ll be in Cleveland predicated on how well they play this year and how much the two rookies drafted behind them in April develop.

But roster building is for the offseason, and we've all had enlightening and interesting discussions about that. Now it's time for the Browns to win, right now, this season, and Kirksey and Schobert can help them do that.

Looking at the 18 defenders that, for now, you’d expect to play the most this year, here are their career number of snaps.

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1. Morgan Burnett, S, 7,600

2. Olivier Vernon, DE, 5,612

3. Sheldon Richardson, DT, 4,462

4. Kirksey, LB, 3,914

5. TJ Carrie, CB, 3,794

6. Damarious Randall, S, 3,363

7. Schobert, LB, 2,211

8. Terrance Mitchell, CB, 1,577

9. Myles Garrett, DE, 1,530

10. Larry Ogunjobi, DT, 1,230

11. Chris Smith, DE, 1,047

12. Adarius Taylor, LB, 1,030

13. Denzel Ward, DE, 841

14. Genard Avery, LB, 684

15. Jermaine Whitehead, S, 344

16. Chad Thomas, DE, 55

17. Greedy Williams, CB, 0

18. Sione Takitaki, LB, 0

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Christian Kirksey is entering his sixth season with the Browns. (John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

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Notice the first three players on that list were added this offseason, as the Browns spent on veterans in an appropriate win-now offseason. Notice that five of the bottom six players on that list were drafted in the last two years, as the Browns capitalized on their draft opportunities.

Notice Kirksey and Schobert in the middle, the two defenders with the most career snaps in Cleveland, as Burnett, Vernon, Richardson, Carrie and Randall have played elsewhere.

Linebacker has turned over less than any other position since GM John Dorsey’s arrival, though Jamie Collins was let go this offseason and Taylor was signed as a free agent from Tampa Bay.

Is that because it didn’t need to be addressed? Or is it because it wasn’t as much of a priority as quarterback, receiver, defensive end, cornerback, running back, defensive tackle, safety, and offensive line, and it just hasn’t been addressed yet?

For now, this season, Schobert and Kirksey should be on the field as the only two linebackers much of the time. It there is any position where the Browns are going to possess continuity, familiarity and reliability in a win-now year, linebacker is the right place to have it, especially in the midst of a change under new defensive coordinator Steve Wilks.

Takitaki is coming, and expect analysis during camp of whether the third-round pick out of BYU can help immediately and take time away from one or both of the veteran starters. But that’s a bonus in my mind. Not a must. Because with that Wilks wants to do, having a six-year veteran and a four-year veteran who played an entire season next to each other in 2017 might be exactly what the Browns need in the middle of everything.

“Linebacker is the communication hub of the defense,” Schobert said when we talked about this idea during minicamp. “We’re the big pivot point of the defense, so you’ve got to be confident out there with who you’re playing with.

“There’s little things. You can count on Kirko. Like today in practice, you get a guard pulling, I hear Kirko yelling, ‘Pull, pull, pull,’ and if I don’t see it, I can trust him.

“When you have a confidence level with the person you’re playing with, you can trust them. If I make a mistake on one play and Kirko is next to me and it’s something that happened before, he won’t be afraid to say, ‘Hey, you can’t do that, you’ve got to get on this guy.’ And I’m not going to blow up on him and challenge him and say, ‘No, that wasn’t me, that was somebody else, blah, blah, blah.’ You’re just more comfortable holding people accountable and you know how they’re going to react and how to talk to people.

“When you’re with guys you don’t know, you don’t know how to talk to them and interact with them best to make them successful. But when you’re with guys next to you, you know how to get the best out of them.”

The best wasn't there last year. Jake Burns, among his many excellent film breakdowns on the Browns this offseason, illustrated where both Schobert and Kirksey must improve.

Schobert led the league in missed tackles last year, and he needs to get better any time he’s chasing the ball in coverage or in space. Kirksey has to stay healthy and prove that if he looked a step slow last year, it was a one-year issue hampered by a hamstring issue, not a long-term sign that he’s already headed toward the back of his career. A six-year linebacker at age 26 certainly can still play fast, and Kirksey could show that again.

There are two reasons I think the Browns could see the best of both of them.

One is that Wilks’ defensive plan, though still aggressive, may put less strain on the linebackers all over the field. The coaches want the linebackers attacking the line of scrimmage and filling gaps. While Schobert’s greatest skills are in coverage, where statistics show he’s one of the best cover linebackers in the league, the Gregg Williams scheme the last two reasons forced Schobert to constantly diagnose run or pass and then sometimes cover 20 yards down the middle of the field.

Coaches and players have explained that Wilks’ defense should reduce the potential range of responsibilities for a linebacker on a given play. The less the linebackers are chasing, the fewer tackles they may miss.

Schobert was hailed by Williams as the brains of the defense, but as Schobert said of his role in that defense when it comes to playing run and pass, “if you guess wrong, it’s a touchdown.”

“This year is a lot more gap-sound, gap-centric defense,” Schobert said. “You’ve got to stay in your gap, trust the guy next to you is going to stay in his gap, and if we do that, everything is going to be all right. So it’s based a little more off that than in the past.”

That should fit Kirksey and Schobert.

The second reason we could see the best of them is based on them staying together. Playing 16 games in 2017, Schobert was a Pro Bowler and Kirksey showed why the Browns had signed him to a long-term extension. Last season, both battled hamstring injuries, and the result was that they played only three full games together, in Weeks 1, 4 and 5.

In minicamp, the Browns stuck Takitaki and fifth-round pick together Mack Wilson together for nearly all their snaps. You see how the Browns would like them to develop into a version of Kirksey and Schobert.

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Joe Schobert with running back Kareem Hunt during a walk-through of a play during OTAs in March. (John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

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First, it would be nice to have Kirksey and Schobert back together for a full season.

“You’ve got to make sure you are the generals out there on the field,” Kirksey said. “Me and Joe have a great relationship. I trust that Joe’s going to be there, and he trusts that I’m going to be there.”

How serious is Kirksey about that connection? He referenced the “left side, strong side,” bonding moment between two linebackers in the movie “Remember the Titans.” Google the scene and imagine Kirksey and Schobert in there.

“You’ve just got that connection,” Kirskey said. “You just know your player is going to be there and do everything he’s supposed to do and be accountable for it.”

The fact that the Browns will be in nickel a lot won’t affect these two. Whether it’s a strongside linebacker (like Taylor), a nickel corner (like Carrie) or a third safety (like Whitehead) out there with them, Schobert and Kirksey will be in the box and making the calls, working together to communicate with the defensive line and the secondary.

They’ll have stars in front of them (the entire defensive line, led by Garrett), wide of them (Ward as a second-year corner and future Pro Bowler) and behind them (Randall should have a great season).

In the middle, get ready for Schobert and Kirksey to play as well as they ever have. In part because the talent around them is far better than two years ago. And in part because they should be back together again, in the position where two old Browns who know each other well can make the biggest difference.

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THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT GROUPS TO WATCH IN TRAINING CAMP

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Will Austin Seibert win the Browns kicking battle? (John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

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3. The kickers

What else should you be watching starting this week? Special teams battles don’t enthrall me as much as they do some. The Browns drafted Austin Seibert in the fifth round, so if he doesn’t beat out Greg Joseph for the job, that was a wasted pick. But don’t spend too much energy here. This will only create real drama if the winner of the job blows a kick that loses the Browns a vital game in December with a playoff spot. … OK, pay attention here.

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How much will the Browns be able to count on Chad Thomas and their other backup defensive linemen? (John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

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2. The second-team defensive line

Keeping Garrett, Vernon, Richardson and Ogunjobi fresh will help later in the season. But how confident will the Browns be when one of the starters comes off the field? Genard Avery as an edge rusher in situational packages seems like a given, but will Trevon Coley (a former starter) or Chris Smith or Chad Thomas or Brian Price show they can be trusted on standard downs when one of the big four needs a break?

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Austin Corbett (middle) remains the leading candidate to win the right guard job in Browns camp. (John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

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1. The offensive line

Anyone else spend the last two months obsessing over the right guard replacement for Kevin Zeitler? The Austin Corbett position battle there has been covered. But beyond Joel Bitonio and JC Tretter, I'm not sure I'm expecting the offensive line to be great. What I'll be wondering as we move into the preseason games is whether an offense featuring Baker Mayfield, Odell Beckham and everyone else needs a great line to put up points.

Now I’m obsessing again about interior pressure preventing Mayfield from feeling comfortable in the pocket.

Let’s just get to camp.