How talented is the the Browns roster, really?
“But they are so talented.” It’s a refrain we are hearing over from media and fans protesting the Cleveland Browns’ 2-6 record at the midway point of the season.
Tune you radio to the AM band when in Cleveland and you will likely be convinced that the Browns have the talent to make a deep playoff run, but coaching is holding them back.
Coaching undoubtedly has its hand in the Browns' slow start. But, just for a few minutes let’s take a critical look at the talent level of the Cleveland Browns roster as it stands.
The receivers. Clearly, the Browns have themselves two highly-celebrated wide receivers. While a few receiver rooms like Atlanta and Minnesota might boast a better overall grouping of receivers, no tandem received the hype of our Landry and Beckham pairing since “Ocho-Cinco” and “T.O.” implored NFL fans to “get their popcorn ready.”
The considerable hype has outstripped the production of both OBJ and Landry by a pretty wide margin. As of this writing, the duo is tied for the 18th most targets in the NFL. OBJ and Landry have one touchdown each through a half a season. They rank third and eight, respectively, in the “passes not caught” category and neither receiver sniffs the top 20 list for turning third downs into first downs. That isn’t just play calling.
Then there is Antonio Callaway. First round talent, some said. This year he’s playing like an undrafted free agent after coming off of a four-week suspension for his SSDD ("same shit different day") drug suspension.
After a productive 2018 season, Rashard “Hollywood” Higgins has had the red carpet pulled out from under his feet – partially because of an early season injury, but maybe also because he wasn’t drafted by John Dorsey. It’s hard to believe after watching him last season that he’s regressed so much that an off-the-practice-squad KhaDarel Hodge should get in-game snaps in front of him.
Damion Ratley and the guys Dorsey signed on cut down day have been complete non-factors, whether playing wide receiver or on special teams.
For all the talk of the “talent” in the receiver room, the group has seriously underperformed. OBJ’s fashion antics appear to have drawn negative attention from the zebras and frankly he seems like a powder keg waiting to explode with his reported comment that he can’t get the ball to save his life.
At the top, this room has talent – highly paid talent brought to the team and a tremendous price. That much can’t be disputed. Talent aside, the more important question to team success might be whether the leaders of the wide receiver room respect the game of football. Watches, illegal visors, clown shoes, complaints to the media about officiating and public statements of being “sent to Cleveland to die.” All this after skipping out on OTAs and mini camp and hardly being available for training camp. OBJ’s energy is misdirected toward things that do not help win football games and in Landry’s words “that’s contagious as fuck!”
Bottom line: The top end of the receiver room is talented, but that talent has come at a real price.
The tight ends. The tight end is supposed be a quarterback’s best friend – a big target in the middle of the field that stays easily within the quarterback’s line of sight and provides matchup problems for a defense. With friends like this, does Baker need enemies?
This was a thin position group behind David Njoku before his injury. Demetrius Harris is a guy John Dorsey brought over from Kansas City to prove Andy Reid wrong. In Dorsey’s eyes, Harris was underutilized in Kansas City because of the team's embarrassment of riches at the position. As it turns out, Harris is the embarrassment. Harris has a basketball background, but his fade away effort at the back of the endzone against the Broncos came on an unguarded lay-up. He's shown questionable hands and has not helped his quarterback often.
Ricky Seals-Jones is wide receiver playing tight end. He can’t block anyone in the front seven to save his life. His presence on the field is a flashing red light that a pass is coming. He offers no real benefit over running in a third or fourth wide receiver.
Pharoh Brown is a likeable local kid, but presents nothing more than a warm body. His best use may be giving the team some added length in their offseason charity basketball exhibitions.
Especially without Njoku, this is one of the least talented tight end rooms in the NFL.
Bottom line: This is a talentless position group – likely bottom 5 in the NFL.
The offensive line. The Browns' offensive line is incredibly average. They are better at run blocking than pass blocking, but not really great at either. It is neither a bottom ten NFL position group nor a top ten one. Bitonio and Tretter are good-to-average players. Robinson is fair to middling. The remaining group of Hubbard, Kush, Teller and Lamb are somewhat lacking as NFL starters.
While the offensive line is not the unmitigated disaster many fans think it is, the group as a whole is less talented than last year’s. In my opinion that is not because Kevin Zeitler was anything approaching irreplaceable. Instead, it is because Dorsey has whiffed multiple times in his attempts to replace him.
Bottom line: This is not an incredibly talented group. It likely falls in the middle of the road of NFL offensive line units.
The running backs. Nick Chubb is a stud. Cleveland absolutely loves this kid for good reason. Behind Chubb thus far for the season has been Dontrell Hilliard. Admittedly that’s somewhat of a downgrade from last season with Duke Johnson. With Hunt coming on board (and assuming the rust is quickly knocked off and that he does not take touches away from Chubb) the room is getting better and should be greatly improved from last year going forward.
Bottom line: This is a top 5 position group in the NFL.
The quarterback. The stated question is how talented is Baker Mayfield. The more important question might be how good is Baker Mayfield right now. These are different questions.
The arm talent cannot be denied. Baker showed last season that he is capable of making every NFL throw and throwing with NFL accuracy both inside and outside the pocket.
Arm talent is only a shade of quarterbacking talent, however. Jay Cutler could “throw a strawberry through a battleship” in the colorful words of Rex Ryan. If quarterback play were completely decided by arm talent Jeff George, not Tom Brady would now be known as the GOAT and Josh Freeman would be on the back nine of a hall-of-fame career.
What separates a successful strong-armed quarterback from a career back-up is his ability to read a defense, recognize coverages and to make good decisions. For young quarterbacks, this marks the ability to transition into a long-term starter.
As teams began to discover that college-based spread and RPO offenses could work in the NFL and create advantages, we saw many young quarterbacks prosper quickly. This season defenses are starting to get a better read on how to defend these system offenses and their quarterbacks. Teams like the Eagles and Rams are seeing their offenses and young quarterbacks bog down a little more.
In the first game of the season, Tony Romo told Browns fans that Baker’s success last season came when the post-Hue Jackson coaching staff simplified the offense and made Baker read only half of the field. To become Drew Brees or Russell Wilson, that had to change. Mayfield is not going to consistently beat good teams running a limited offense.
It was obvious that Kitchens wanted to treat Baker like the MVP candidate he was hyped up to be in the offseason. The Browns wanted to put more on his plate, but Baker has struggled with the greater responsibility and greater expectations. He’s now at the bottom of the NFL in most passing statistics and he looks to be facing a crisis of confidence.
Whether Baker is “talented” is a loaded question. Baker’s 2018 season would indicate that he oozes talent. Initial NFL success does not necessarily equate to long term NFL success, however. Ask the agents of Rick Mirer or Josh Freeman. Ask former Browns quarterback RG III. If you believe initial success is a lock, I suppose you also believe that NFL teams should have tripped over themselves to trade for Gardner Minshew after his early returns. Minshew’s 2019 looks very similar to Mayfield’s 2018, albeit in a smaller sample size.
2018 Baker Mayfield %63.8 YDS 3,725 TD 27 INT 14 RATING 93.7
2019 Gardner Minshew II %61.2 YDS 2,285 TD 13 INT 4 RATING 93.7
Minshew was on track to beat Mayfield's rookie touchdown record with significantly fewer interceptions when he was benched in favor of Foles.
Baker will either learn to better read an NFL defense and throw with anticipation or he will fail to be an NFL franchise quarterback. Right now he is what he is – a struggling second year player who possesses some unique tools. Placing him in the top half of NFL quarterbacks based on what you think he should be doing is just wish fulfillment.
Bottom line: Baker is probably talented -- time will tell how well and quickly he can process information to be successful. He is not yet a good NFL quarterback. His play puts him squarely in the bottom third of NFL starting quarterbacks.
The offense as a whole. The offense has three players with “elite” talent (Chubb, OBJ and Hunt). One of those three players (OBJ) was traded by his last team because they believed his talent was not worth the headaches that came with it. Beckham has brought some of those issues in tow. Another of those three players (Hunt) was suspended for the first eight games of the season and has yet to appear in a game. The offense has another handful of players with good-to-average NFL talent (Tretter, Bitonio, Robinson, Landry, Njoku (who played one game before injury), and maybe Higgins. At the most important position, it has a quarterback who is playing merely to the level of a fringe starter. The offense is rounded out by a fair number of players that are not of NFL starting caliber (Hubbard, Kush, Harris, Callaway, Brown, Teller).
To rave about the “talent” of this unit as a collective is more wishful thinking than good analysis.
Bottom line: The overall talent of the offense puts them in the bottom half of the NFL.
The defensive line. Miles Garrett is a game-wrecking pass rusher, but has struggled to consistently set the edge. The talent is undeniable. He has the skills to be a better rush defender, but perhaps lacks the want to and discipline to do so consistently.
Larry Ogenjobi and Sheldon Richardson both have talent, but have not consistently performed well against the run. Richardson has not shown any pass rush ability. Both are more than capable, but are inconsistent.
Olivier Vernon was terrible for the first half of the year. His game against San Francisco was outrageously embarrassing: he consistently failed to set the edge being blocked one-on-one by fullbacks, tight ends and even wide receivers. His PFF numbers are greatly inflated playing opposite Garrett. Two of his three sacks (two fewer than Emmanuel Ogbah and the same as Carl Nassib) came because Garrett beat double teams and drove the QB into Vernon’s lap. Vernon played better in the most recent games, but that is largely attributable to the teams shifting even more focus to Garrett.
The defensive line rotation beyond these four is fetid. Devaroe Lawrence makes a few good plays for every eight snaps where he accomplishes nothing. Chad Thomas is a wasted draft pick and not worthy of a roster spot. It is not worth wasting pixels on the rest of this group.
Bottom line: The top four defensive linemen are talented, but all but Garrett are substantially underperforming. The positional depth is extremely poor, with the rotational players being liabilities.
The cornerbacks. Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams have both struggled at times this season and have spent as much time off the field as they have on the it. Neither are great tacklers.
The depth of this positional unit is its strength with T.J. Carrie and Terrance Mitchell filling in without noticeably downgrading the unit's play. Murray has been alright.
Bottom line: This is a middle-of-the-road NFL unit, largely based on its solid depth.
The safeties. I'll cut to the case: this group is a trainwreck.
Demarius Randall is an average-at-best starting NFL free safety, and that is when he is healthy. Beyond Randall this position group lacks NFL talent.
Jermaine Whitehead, who is was just cut, had no business being an NFL starter and honestly was questionable as an end-of-the roster special teams player.
The Steelers flat out pulled the plug on Morgan Burnett after watching his act for one season. Burnett was once a good player. His days as a serviceable strong safety are far beyond him now.
Justin Burris is a street free agent who is doing his best.
It’s telling that Sheldrick Redwine has not played more considering the overall dearth of talent in this position group, but they can’t really lose much by giving him a shot at this point.
The success of Steve Wilks’ defense relies on good safety play and, quite frankly, John Dorsey left the cupboard bare.
Bottom line: The Browns might want to see what Kai Nacua is doing these days. This is the worst position group in the NFL, hands down.
The linebackers. The answer as to why the Browns are not playing more base 4-3 is that they simply do not have the horses.
Joe Schobert is a solid NFL player. Not elite, but solid. Does he miss more tackles than you would like? Sure. But he also makes a lot and is good in coverage.
Mack Wilson has talent and he will be good, but he’s young and makes too many costly mistakes. He will have a long career if he stays healthy because he is athletic and is good in pass coverage. That said, he is not yet a good player. He’s just the best we have.
Sione Takitaki was a third-round reach. He was running around like a chicken with his head cut off in the preseason games and couldn’t cover anyone in the passing game. If you think it can’t get a lot worse, brace yourself if this kid is forced into action.
Adarius Taylor is a special teams-level talent at best. He was the player who missed the tackle after Whitehead whiffed on the long Noah Fant touchdown romp for the Broncos. Again, it is probably telling that Malik Jefferson is behind him on the depth chart.
Bottom line: The Browns linebacking unit sits in the bottom third of the NFL.
The defense as a whole. Beyond the underperforming starting defensive line, this is not a team filled with high-level talent. The defense is particularly lacking in NFL-level talent at the safety and linebacker positions, making them vulnerable in both the nickel and base 4-3 defenses if the defensive line is not wrecking the game.
As a unit based on the overall quality of the players the defense fields, I would not place them in the top half of the league.
The last word. Baker and OBJ are among the highest profile and most marketable players in all of the NFL. That does not place the Browns among the most talented teams in the league, however.
A wise old ball coach and mentor of Freddie Kitchens coined the phrase "you are what your record says you are." I submit that the Browns' record is a better indicator of the team's talent level than Baker and Odell's Q scores.
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Browns receiver Odell Beckham showing off his God-given ability at Browns training camp. |
Coaching undoubtedly has its hand in the Browns' slow start. But, just for a few minutes let’s take a critical look at the talent level of the Cleveland Browns roster as it stands.
The receivers. Clearly, the Browns have themselves two highly-celebrated wide receivers. While a few receiver rooms like Atlanta and Minnesota might boast a better overall grouping of receivers, no tandem received the hype of our Landry and Beckham pairing since “Ocho-Cinco” and “T.O.” implored NFL fans to “get their popcorn ready.”
The considerable hype has outstripped the production of both OBJ and Landry by a pretty wide margin. As of this writing, the duo is tied for the 18th most targets in the NFL. OBJ and Landry have one touchdown each through a half a season. They rank third and eight, respectively, in the “passes not caught” category and neither receiver sniffs the top 20 list for turning third downs into first downs. That isn’t just play calling.
Then there is Antonio Callaway. First round talent, some said. This year he’s playing like an undrafted free agent after coming off of a four-week suspension for his SSDD ("same shit different day") drug suspension.
After a productive 2018 season, Rashard “Hollywood” Higgins has had the red carpet pulled out from under his feet – partially because of an early season injury, but maybe also because he wasn’t drafted by John Dorsey. It’s hard to believe after watching him last season that he’s regressed so much that an off-the-practice-squad KhaDarel Hodge should get in-game snaps in front of him.
Damion Ratley and the guys Dorsey signed on cut down day have been complete non-factors, whether playing wide receiver or on special teams.
For all the talk of the “talent” in the receiver room, the group has seriously underperformed. OBJ’s fashion antics appear to have drawn negative attention from the zebras and frankly he seems like a powder keg waiting to explode with his reported comment that he can’t get the ball to save his life.
At the top, this room has talent – highly paid talent brought to the team and a tremendous price. That much can’t be disputed. Talent aside, the more important question to team success might be whether the leaders of the wide receiver room respect the game of football. Watches, illegal visors, clown shoes, complaints to the media about officiating and public statements of being “sent to Cleveland to die.” All this after skipping out on OTAs and mini camp and hardly being available for training camp. OBJ’s energy is misdirected toward things that do not help win football games and in Landry’s words “that’s contagious as fuck!”
Bottom line: The top end of the receiver room is talented, but that talent has come at a real price.
The tight ends. The tight end is supposed be a quarterback’s best friend – a big target in the middle of the field that stays easily within the quarterback’s line of sight and provides matchup problems for a defense. With friends like this, does Baker need enemies?
This was a thin position group behind David Njoku before his injury. Demetrius Harris is a guy John Dorsey brought over from Kansas City to prove Andy Reid wrong. In Dorsey’s eyes, Harris was underutilized in Kansas City because of the team's embarrassment of riches at the position. As it turns out, Harris is the embarrassment. Harris has a basketball background, but his fade away effort at the back of the endzone against the Broncos came on an unguarded lay-up. He's shown questionable hands and has not helped his quarterback often.
Ricky Seals-Jones is wide receiver playing tight end. He can’t block anyone in the front seven to save his life. His presence on the field is a flashing red light that a pass is coming. He offers no real benefit over running in a third or fourth wide receiver.
Pharoh Brown is a likeable local kid, but presents nothing more than a warm body. His best use may be giving the team some added length in their offseason charity basketball exhibitions.
Especially without Njoku, this is one of the least talented tight end rooms in the NFL.
Bottom line: This is a talentless position group – likely bottom 5 in the NFL.
The offensive line. The Browns' offensive line is incredibly average. They are better at run blocking than pass blocking, but not really great at either. It is neither a bottom ten NFL position group nor a top ten one. Bitonio and Tretter are good-to-average players. Robinson is fair to middling. The remaining group of Hubbard, Kush, Teller and Lamb are somewhat lacking as NFL starters.
While the offensive line is not the unmitigated disaster many fans think it is, the group as a whole is less talented than last year’s. In my opinion that is not because Kevin Zeitler was anything approaching irreplaceable. Instead, it is because Dorsey has whiffed multiple times in his attempts to replace him.
Bottom line: This is not an incredibly talented group. It likely falls in the middle of the road of NFL offensive line units.
The running backs. Nick Chubb is a stud. Cleveland absolutely loves this kid for good reason. Behind Chubb thus far for the season has been Dontrell Hilliard. Admittedly that’s somewhat of a downgrade from last season with Duke Johnson. With Hunt coming on board (and assuming the rust is quickly knocked off and that he does not take touches away from Chubb) the room is getting better and should be greatly improved from last year going forward.
Bottom line: This is a top 5 position group in the NFL.
The quarterback. The stated question is how talented is Baker Mayfield. The more important question might be how good is Baker Mayfield right now. These are different questions.
The arm talent cannot be denied. Baker showed last season that he is capable of making every NFL throw and throwing with NFL accuracy both inside and outside the pocket.
Arm talent is only a shade of quarterbacking talent, however. Jay Cutler could “throw a strawberry through a battleship” in the colorful words of Rex Ryan. If quarterback play were completely decided by arm talent Jeff George, not Tom Brady would now be known as the GOAT and Josh Freeman would be on the back nine of a hall-of-fame career.
What separates a successful strong-armed quarterback from a career back-up is his ability to read a defense, recognize coverages and to make good decisions. For young quarterbacks, this marks the ability to transition into a long-term starter.
As teams began to discover that college-based spread and RPO offenses could work in the NFL and create advantages, we saw many young quarterbacks prosper quickly. This season defenses are starting to get a better read on how to defend these system offenses and their quarterbacks. Teams like the Eagles and Rams are seeing their offenses and young quarterbacks bog down a little more.
In the first game of the season, Tony Romo told Browns fans that Baker’s success last season came when the post-Hue Jackson coaching staff simplified the offense and made Baker read only half of the field. To become Drew Brees or Russell Wilson, that had to change. Mayfield is not going to consistently beat good teams running a limited offense.
It was obvious that Kitchens wanted to treat Baker like the MVP candidate he was hyped up to be in the offseason. The Browns wanted to put more on his plate, but Baker has struggled with the greater responsibility and greater expectations. He’s now at the bottom of the NFL in most passing statistics and he looks to be facing a crisis of confidence.
Whether Baker is “talented” is a loaded question. Baker’s 2018 season would indicate that he oozes talent. Initial NFL success does not necessarily equate to long term NFL success, however. Ask the agents of Rick Mirer or Josh Freeman. Ask former Browns quarterback RG III. If you believe initial success is a lock, I suppose you also believe that NFL teams should have tripped over themselves to trade for Gardner Minshew after his early returns. Minshew’s 2019 looks very similar to Mayfield’s 2018, albeit in a smaller sample size.
2018 Baker Mayfield %63.8 YDS 3,725 TD 27 INT 14 RATING 93.7
2019 Gardner Minshew II %61.2 YDS 2,285 TD 13 INT 4 RATING 93.7
Baker will either learn to better read an NFL defense and throw with anticipation or he will fail to be an NFL franchise quarterback. Right now he is what he is – a struggling second year player who possesses some unique tools. Placing him in the top half of NFL quarterbacks based on what you think he should be doing is just wish fulfillment.
Bottom line: Baker is probably talented -- time will tell how well and quickly he can process information to be successful. He is not yet a good NFL quarterback. His play puts him squarely in the bottom third of NFL starting quarterbacks.
The offense as a whole. The offense has three players with “elite” talent (Chubb, OBJ and Hunt). One of those three players (OBJ) was traded by his last team because they believed his talent was not worth the headaches that came with it. Beckham has brought some of those issues in tow. Another of those three players (Hunt) was suspended for the first eight games of the season and has yet to appear in a game. The offense has another handful of players with good-to-average NFL talent (Tretter, Bitonio, Robinson, Landry, Njoku (who played one game before injury), and maybe Higgins. At the most important position, it has a quarterback who is playing merely to the level of a fringe starter. The offense is rounded out by a fair number of players that are not of NFL starting caliber (Hubbard, Kush, Harris, Callaway, Brown, Teller).
To rave about the “talent” of this unit as a collective is more wishful thinking than good analysis.
Bottom line: The overall talent of the offense puts them in the bottom half of the NFL.
The defensive line. Miles Garrett is a game-wrecking pass rusher, but has struggled to consistently set the edge. The talent is undeniable. He has the skills to be a better rush defender, but perhaps lacks the want to and discipline to do so consistently.
Larry Ogenjobi and Sheldon Richardson both have talent, but have not consistently performed well against the run. Richardson has not shown any pass rush ability. Both are more than capable, but are inconsistent.
Olivier Vernon was terrible for the first half of the year. His game against San Francisco was outrageously embarrassing: he consistently failed to set the edge being blocked one-on-one by fullbacks, tight ends and even wide receivers. His PFF numbers are greatly inflated playing opposite Garrett. Two of his three sacks (two fewer than Emmanuel Ogbah and the same as Carl Nassib) came because Garrett beat double teams and drove the QB into Vernon’s lap. Vernon played better in the most recent games, but that is largely attributable to the teams shifting even more focus to Garrett.
The defensive line rotation beyond these four is fetid. Devaroe Lawrence makes a few good plays for every eight snaps where he accomplishes nothing. Chad Thomas is a wasted draft pick and not worthy of a roster spot. It is not worth wasting pixels on the rest of this group.
Bottom line: The top four defensive linemen are talented, but all but Garrett are substantially underperforming. The positional depth is extremely poor, with the rotational players being liabilities.
The cornerbacks. Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams have both struggled at times this season and have spent as much time off the field as they have on the it. Neither are great tacklers.
The depth of this positional unit is its strength with T.J. Carrie and Terrance Mitchell filling in without noticeably downgrading the unit's play. Murray has been alright.
Bottom line: This is a middle-of-the-road NFL unit, largely based on its solid depth.
The safeties. I'll cut to the case: this group is a trainwreck.
Demarius Randall is an average-at-best starting NFL free safety, and that is when he is healthy. Beyond Randall this position group lacks NFL talent.
Jermaine Whitehead, who is was just cut, had no business being an NFL starter and honestly was questionable as an end-of-the roster special teams player.
The Steelers flat out pulled the plug on Morgan Burnett after watching his act for one season. Burnett was once a good player. His days as a serviceable strong safety are far beyond him now.
Justin Burris is a street free agent who is doing his best.
It’s telling that Sheldrick Redwine has not played more considering the overall dearth of talent in this position group, but they can’t really lose much by giving him a shot at this point.
The success of Steve Wilks’ defense relies on good safety play and, quite frankly, John Dorsey left the cupboard bare.
Bottom line: The Browns might want to see what Kai Nacua is doing these days. This is the worst position group in the NFL, hands down.
The linebackers. The answer as to why the Browns are not playing more base 4-3 is that they simply do not have the horses.
Joe Schobert is a solid NFL player. Not elite, but solid. Does he miss more tackles than you would like? Sure. But he also makes a lot and is good in coverage.
Mack Wilson has talent and he will be good, but he’s young and makes too many costly mistakes. He will have a long career if he stays healthy because he is athletic and is good in pass coverage. That said, he is not yet a good player. He’s just the best we have.
Sione Takitaki was a third-round reach. He was running around like a chicken with his head cut off in the preseason games and couldn’t cover anyone in the passing game. If you think it can’t get a lot worse, brace yourself if this kid is forced into action.
Adarius Taylor is a special teams-level talent at best. He was the player who missed the tackle after Whitehead whiffed on the long Noah Fant touchdown romp for the Broncos. Again, it is probably telling that Malik Jefferson is behind him on the depth chart.
Bottom line: The Browns linebacking unit sits in the bottom third of the NFL.
The defense as a whole. Beyond the underperforming starting defensive line, this is not a team filled with high-level talent. The defense is particularly lacking in NFL-level talent at the safety and linebacker positions, making them vulnerable in both the nickel and base 4-3 defenses if the defensive line is not wrecking the game.
As a unit based on the overall quality of the players the defense fields, I would not place them in the top half of the league.
The last word. Baker and OBJ are among the highest profile and most marketable players in all of the NFL. That does not place the Browns among the most talented teams in the league, however.
A wise old ball coach and mentor of Freddie Kitchens coined the phrase "you are what your record says you are." I submit that the Browns' record is a better indicator of the team's talent level than Baker and Odell's Q scores.
How talented is the the Browns roster, really?
Reviewed by AT Dawgger
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