Fighting Through Tackles is a column focusing on players who are probably going to be undrafted in most leagues or, in some cases, are highly undervalued. There are enough people harping on the same-old sleepers, so I hope to invigorate some life into the late rounds of your draft as well as give you some names to keep in mind for the opening week waiver wire action. The first installment follows.

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With the entrances of Rob Chudzinski and Norv Turner as head coach and offensive coordinator in Cleveland, the Browns can expect to run a different offense than last year’s lackluster Shurmer & Childress production. Previously, Chudzinski was the tight ends coach of the Chargers (where he coached Antonio Gates) and the OC for the Browns from ’07-’08 (’07 being productive, ’08 not so much). After another tight ends coach stint, Chudzinski was rehired as an OC by Carolina, where he had two successful years shaping an offense with Cam Newton under center.

While Chudzinski has a much different quarterback in his new home, it might be useful to draw upon some of his schemes as OC in Carolina to hint at who our of the receiving corps might benefit in terms of fantasy in Cleveland. And we should keep in mind that Norv Turner—former head coach of the Chargers—will be doing the play calling.

Two former hype machines—Josh Gordon, prior to his suspension, and Greg Little, prior to the 2012 season—are penciled in as the first and second receivers, respectively. Devone Bess, David Nelson, and Kellen Davis were added in the offseason. Jordan Cameron is getting some love. But there are a lot of options here, and probably not enough to go around. Let’s face it, Weeden only threw for 14 touchdowns last year, and how many can we expect from him this year? I think that with the receiving corps a little stronger, Cameron may find a way to sneak into the end zone more than a few times this year. He’s a big, athletic target – built very much like Tyler Eifert. 6’5”, 250, but Cameron ran a slightly faster 40 and jumped a bit higher. However, look at the difference in the college stats:



Tyler Eifert – 140 catches, 1840 yards, 11 TDs

Jordon Cameron – 16 catches, 126 yards, 1 TD

Last year, Jordan Cameron had twenty catches on 39 targets for 226 yards and one TD. (So, Cameron’s already had a better NFL career than the one he had at USC.) He’s definitely a ‘project’—an athletic specimen who isn’t a well-versed student of the game yet. Here Cameron is, lined up wide with Ed Reed over the top:

After a muscling out of Reed’s press coverage and a nice swim move, Cameron finds some space and makes the catch:

A bunch of Cameron’s catches, though, were the results of him being open in the flat after the defense was looking downfield or in for the run. He did occasionally work the middle of the field, and showed the ability to catch the ball in traffic. With a 4.59 forty, Cameron has the speed to effectively work the seam, where Greg Olsen caught a lot of balls for Chudzinski last year.

Here’s Cameron making a nice over-the-head catch in the flat:

In a game against Oakland he showed some nice burst after avoiding a tackle and taking it down the sideline for twenty extra yards. Twice he was stopped at the two—so he could’ve easily had three times the TD production last year—and a few times he broke a tackle to keep going after the catch.

What we know about Cameron isn’t much. He’s a good athlete who shot up the boards (to the 4th round) after impressing at the combine a few years ago. He’s a third-year player who should know the ropes by now and have most of the fundamentals down. But, still, he’s very much a question mark. It may help to look how Chudzinski used his tight end, Greg Olsen, down in Carolina.

Olsen saw 104 targets in Carolina, often coming out of the slot. With Devone Bess in Cleveland, Cameron might not be in the slot quite as much, but the number of targets for the Panthers’ TE last year still bodes well for Cameron in the 2013 campaign. Olsen ended up with 69 catches for 843 yards and 5 touchdowns, but the touchdown opportunities just aren’t there on a team with goal-line threats of Cam Newton and Mike Tolbert.

The percentages of red zone plays in Carolina breaks down like this:

75 runs (56.8% of all RZ plays)

57 passes (43.2% of all RZ plays)

12 targets to Olsen (21.1% of RZ passes, 9.1% of all RZ plays)

2 targets to other TEs (3.6% of RZ passes, 1.5% of all RZ plays)

14 total TE targets – 10.6% of all RZ plays

Even though Olsen caught 6 of those 12 targets, the run game held back his scoring production since Tolbert and Cam each had 7 TD runs from inside the opponent’s twenty. We can see that Carolina was very run heavy in the red zone, but I attribute that to the personnel shaping the scheme rather than a run-first system from Chudzinski. If we even the run/pass ratio to 50:50, we’d get about ten more passes, and if we change the run/pass ratio to 40:60, we’d get 22 more passes, which could result in 5 more targets to the tight end. During the 2012 season, Heath Miller led tight ends with 20 red zone targets, and the second place finishers had 17 a piece (Gonzo, Gronk, Graham, Kyle Rudolph). If we add these 5 extra targets to the TE position in Carolina, we’d have 17, and this wouldn’t be a bad group to finish with if the Cleveland coaches believe that Cameron’s athleticism and big frame could be the answer to finishing from up close.

But as for between the twenties, here’s Olsen in Week 1 of last year, split out on a few different occasions (both plays ended up with him catching the ball along the sideline at the top of the screen for first downs):

Notice that in both of these there are three wideouts split out along with Olsen. The scheme might look different in Cleveland because Cam Newton won’t be under center as much as Weeden, but Chudzinski’s willingness to open up the field is a good sign for the receivers in Cleveland. One has to assume that Chudzinski looks at Trent Richardson’s yards per carry and thinks to himself that he can improve that number simply by implementing a more efficient passing game.

Just for fun, here’s Olsen lined up wide and running a stop and go route against the Falcons, matched up against William Moore in a tight game that the Panthers would go on to win. He lines up on the bottom of the screen:

And then the exciting completion thirty yards up the field:

I know this isn’t about Olsen, but it’s refreshing seeing deep, Vernon Davis-esque routes being run by a tight end in Chudzinski’s system. Hopefully the deeper routes will open up the middle of the field and Cameron can not only grab some long balls but also some higher percentage passes over the middle. I certainly doubt I’ll end up drafting Cameron in any of my leagues, but if I see his hamstring heal up during training camp and if he picks up his game in the beginning of the year, I’ll take a chance on him in the waiver wire. He’s certainly got an NFL build and the athleticism to warrant some attention from opposing defenses if it all comes together.