Is there any hope for the Browns' offense in 2009?

The Browns ranked 31st in the NFL in total offense last year. Given their final six games, it’s a miracle the Bengals beat them out for No. 32.

The offense failed to score a touchdown in those six games. An unsavory sample from that sour six-pack:

•  Home vs. Texans. Brady Quinn posted a 21.3 passer rating before leaving with a broken finger.

•  Home vs. Colts. Right tackle Kevin Shaffer was blocked backward into Derek Anderson’s knee, ending Anderson’s season.

•  At Tennessee. Jamal Lewis rushed seven times for 7 yards.

•  At Philadelphia. Donté Stallworth caught a single pass, as he did in each of the final six games.

•  Home vs. Bengals. Ken Dorsey and Bruce Gradkowski combined for 72 passing yards ... and gave up 87 return yards on four interceptions.

•  At Pittsburgh. Braylon Edwards produced one catch for 5 yards.

How the offense digs out of that mess is new Head Coach Eric Mangini’s problem now. 

But is it really a mess? Are the Browns impossibly removed from the hope generated in 2007, when the final six Browns games included a 24-18 win over Mangini’s Jets, when the Browns finished the season ranked No. 8 in total offense.

The topic is examined in a position-by-position look of best-case and worst-case scenarios.

What kind of prize — or disaster — did Eric Mangini inherit?

Can his Browns offense conjure up shades of 2007, when an effective run-pass mix churned out an expansion-era-best 351.3 yards a game, when the team led the AFC North with 402 points, 127 more than George Kokinis’ team at the time, Baltimore?

How much bad karma is left from last year’s offensive collapse, when the offense averaged 249.1 yards a game and the point production plummeted to 232?

As the Browns plunge into spring minicamps and practices, here’s one look at what likely is in store for the offense, presented in the form of best-case, worst-case scenarios.

Worst-case scenarios listed here do not account for the possibility of substantial injuries. In many cases, obviously, such injuries would be the worst-case scenario.

Quarterback

BEST CASE  Brady Quinn lives up to expectations of a player the team jumped through hoops to get in the 2007 draft or if Derek Anderson winds up with the job and gets back on the ’07 track he rode to a Pro Bowl.

WORST CASE  Both Quinn and Anderson fall on their faces while Mark Sanchez shows promise for the Jets after Cleveland traded down from the No. 5 spot where Sanchez was taken.

Running back

BEST CASE  With a new horse at center, Jamal Lewis is back in the saddle, looking like the league’s fifth-leading rusher from 2007 rather than the Lewis who delivered an anemic 3.6 yards per carry in 2008. Jerome Harrison’s odd role in the Romeo Crennel regime turns into something with more sense and sizzle.

WORST CASE  Lewis, who turns 30 in August, hits the high-mileage running back wall. New Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll fails to make any magic with Harrison and rookie James Davis.

Wide receiver

BEST CASE  Braylon Edwards gets his mind right and builds on his 1,289-yard, 16-TD 2007. The right mix of complementary wideouts is cultivated among veterans David Patten, Mike Furrey and Joshua Cribbs and rookie Round 2 picks Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi.

WORST CASE  Edwards lapses toward the head-case deep end. Patten and Furrey are retreads going bald. The reasons Cribbs has only 16 receptions in four years play out. The rookies aren’t ready.

Tight end

BEST CASE  With Kellen Winslow Jr. gone, the passing focus shifts to an effective wideout corps, while veterans Steve Heiden and Robert Royal block well and provide enough of a receiving threat. The right role is found for Martin Rucker (84 catches at Missouri in 2007).

WORST CASE  Heiden and Royal, both 30-something, are past their primes, and Rucker proves to be just another fourth-round pick who wasn’t quite good enough.

Fullback

BEST CASE  After an injury-riddled 2008, Lawrence Vickers, at age 26, builds on the form that made him a Pro Bowl alternate in 2007.

WORST CASE  The new regime can’t figure out how to use Vickers, and he goes into a funk.

Left tackle

BEST CASE  Joe Thomas has his best year as a third-year pro, an extension of making the Pro Bowl in his first two years.

WORST CASE  Thomas levels off and is a better-than-average starting left tackle.

Left guard

BEST CASE  Eric Steinbach continues being effective and durable, losing only three games to injuries in six years. At 29, the former Pro Bowl alternate has his best year.

WORST CASE  Steinbach fails to adapt to his third blocking system in four years. His run blocking is average at best.

Center

BEST CASE  First-round pick Alex Mack, winner of the “academic Heisman,” applies his smarts to playing at a high level right out of the gate, a la Joe Thomas.

WORST CASE  The likes of Pittsburgh’s Casey Hampton and Baltimore’s Haloti Ngata smell rookie blood, wounding Mack’s confidence and sending a ripple effect along the line.

Right guard

BEST CASE  Incumbent Rex Hadnot emerges as the elite guard he thinks he can be, solidifying a position that has troubled the team for years.

WORST CASE  Not that bad ... Hadnot loses the job to free agency pick-up Floyd “Pork Chop” Womack, a veteran likely to be adequate at worst or Ryan Tucker steps in.

Right tackle

BEST CASE  Ryan Tucker catches a second wind at 33, resembling the guy who was the team’s best offensive lineman of the expansion era.

WORST CASE  Tucker doesn’t return to form after playing just one game in 2008. Free agency pick-up John St. Clair, 31, is not an improvement over castoff Kevin Shaffer.

CHANGE IN THE WIND

Plausible personnel changes for 2009:

 Brady Quinn starting at quarterback from Day 1;

 rookie Round 1 pick Alex Mack starting at center;

 Ryan Tucker starting at right tackle;

 newcomer Floyd Womack starting at right guard;

 rookie Round 2 pick Brian Robiskie starting at wideout;

 newcomer Robert Royal starting at tight end;

 newcomers David Patten, Mike Furrey and Mohamed Massaquoi filling the other wideout roles.

Source: CantonRep.com