Saturday Dawg Chow: Browns news (2/19/22)

More of the latest Browns news and notes from around the web in today’s dose of the Saturday Dawg Chow.

Cleveland Browns:

• JOK flashes big-time potential in productive rookie season (clevelandbrowns.com) – Anthony Walker and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah paced the linebacker room in tackles and provided upgrades to the middle level of the defense.
• Pondering JC Tretter’s future with the Browns (OBR) – The focus of this piece is going to be on the fifth starter and anchor of the middle of the offensive line, JC Tretter, including performance and salary cap hit, as well as options should the team choose to go a different direction at the position this offseason.
• Browns have a new edge rush option available immediately (Browns Wire) – Until something changes, the Cleveland Browns defensive end rotation for the 2022 season is quite bare behind Myles Garrett. Dante Fowler was released by the Atlanta Falcons last week, putting another player at the position on the market
• Browns go big or go home to upgrade their passing game (cleveland.com) – The Senior Bowl and Super Bowl are behind us, and the NFL combine is about 10 days away, which means it’s time to start looking ahead to free agency and the draft to figure out how the 8-9 Browns can get back on track to the playoffs and a Super Bowl.

NFL:

• Packers hire Aaron Rodgers favorite Tom Clements as QB coach (ESPN) – Tom Clements, one of the coaches Aaron Rodgers has long credited for his development during his early days in the NFL, is coming out of retirement to return to the Green Bay Packers as quarterbacks coach. Clements verbally accepted the job on Thursday, a source told ESPN. The move became official Friday.
• Questions about Cousins front & center as O’Connell begins Vikings tenure (vikings.com) – Kevin O’Connell will call the Vikings offensive plays as the head coach, and he wants Minnesota’s offense to look similar to the team he just left. You know, the Los Angeles Rams? The team that just won Super Bowl LVI?
• The new path to a Super Bowl (The Ringer) – The last two Lombardi Trophies have been won by teams with veteran quarterbacks in their first seasons with a new franchise. What effect will the 2020 Buccaneers and 2021 Rams have on team-building around the NFL?
• 2021 NFL rookie grades, AFC North: Bengals, Browns nab keepers; Ravens’ WR search continues (NFL.com) – Super Bowl LVI’s in the books, ending the longest season in NFL history. How did the new guys perform in the expanded 285-game slate? Gennaro Filice and Nick Shook are taking a division-by-division look at each team’s rookie class, providing grades and analysis on Year 1 production.