I don’t know what it is about the UDFA process that keeps the excitement level up so high, but I have some theories…certainly it is like getting more draft picks for free, and who hates that, right? For those of us in the CLE it also is about the…
Well that was an intense couple of days… We learned some things in this Draft and we collected some good players. Some with tremendous potential and some quality depth guys. We needed both as we continue down this path of building a Playoff team. Like we discussed in previous…
The Browns stayed out of the game last night, apparently finding very expensive trade opportunities and none to Dorsey’s liking. I love that he doesn’t force things in the Draft. We’ve seen way too much of that over the years. Instead he will find a nice group of good…
Well the Seahawks went and did it again…my buddy Mike W. is a Hawks fan and every year at Draft time we joke about which player they will take right out from under the Browns. I often fall in love with players that fit that Seahawks mold and so…
Well we knew this was a weird draft and it was going to cause teams to do some weird shit. They did not disappoint! Watch for my post on who shit the bed last night and who make brilliant picks. For now, here are your Best Remaining Players for…
Dear Mr. Dorsey, I am writing you this letter on the eve of the 2019 Draft on behalf of all Browns fans in this great country and throughout the world. And perhaps I am writing this letter for myself, as a form of therapy but also out of fear…
This is it folks! Christmas is finally here…I gotta say as much as I was down on this draft class I managed to find a number of players that will certainly make us a better team. There are a few starters in my final Mock below, but largely high…
This question is one that comes with many considerations and generally high costs. I like to bottom-line issues like this and then build it back up to see if you truly have a case to justify the spend. The goal, or end result at its base, is to obtain…
BIG-E Predicts… EDGE/DL Rashan Gary from Michigan is going to fall to the bottom of the 1st Round…He is FAKE NEWS as a high pick in this Draft! So let’s have a short economics lesson shall we? In a market where there are MANY highly regarded products for sale,…
BIG-E Predicts: Only ONE WR will be taken in the first round…and it will be an AFC North team that does it… After we remind ourselves that this Draft is heavy in Defensive Tackles, EDGE players, Secondary, two TE’s that could go early and has several fairly premium Linebackers…there…
BIG-E Predicts: RB Damarea Crockett from Missouri is going to make some noise in the NFL! I predict he is going to fix his fumble issues and will be a starting RB by Year 3… Prior to his Pro Day at Mizzou, likely no one but local scouts knew…
BIG-E Predicts: Shawn Poindexter WR from Arizona will be a Pro-Bowl receiver by Year 3! Poindexter is not a guy you’ve heard of. He is a deep Draft diamond that I dug out of the muck and the noise. He is a guy that played in a big FBS…
BIG-E Predicts: TE Jace Sternberger from Texas A&M will be as good as TJ Hockenson and Noah Fant in the NFL. There is so much hype around Hockenson and Fant as 1st Round quality players and Hockenson tends to be talked about in breathless whispers as the “next so-and-so”…
Below is my Draft Day 100, which will be my master list for Draft weekend as we work through each Round. This list represents my best thinking for player candidates that the Browns should be interested in based on needs, scheme fit, player role and quality of player. I…
Below is my FINAL Top 200 College Player Rankings for the 2019 Draft. I have edited this list down to the players I believe the Browns should be interested in, but the top 4 Rounds certainly contain all of the names you’d expect to see there. It’s the lower…
One of my favorite EDGE players this year is LJ Collier from TCU (pictured above) You won’t find him on this list of EDGE guys we should be looking at because after reading a lot about Collier, the consensus is he will move inside to DT as his primary…
This list is highlighted by only one guy, Montez Sweat, who has a very good shot at being a Pro Bowler as a rookie. He’s pretty special. But we are not going to review him as that is a luxury we can’t afford with no 1st Round pick and…
This is what you get when you’ve already used your 1st Round pick! A list of the high quality and in some cases downright special players at the EDGE position who have dynamic skill sets and the Browns have zero f*cking chance to land any one of the high…
One of the most critical issues we face as a Defense is improving the line position talent as well as our Linebackers. As a 4-3 base defense that shifts in and out of base to other looks and sub packages, we need a few things to be true about…
Our DT group has been improved with the addition of Sheldon Richardson to play 3-Tech as it will help Ogunjobi avoid double teams every play. As we have already talked about our depth is a mess still and needs to be addressed. This group of 1-Tech guys has one…
Up until we acquired Sheldon Richardson we didn’t have a legitimate 3-Tech on the roster. That was pretty scary and our stats last year reflect the fact that we were not getting much interior pressure. We were playing guys way out of position in order to try to get…
Just like the Offensive line, I love to review and talk about the trench players. They don’t always get the credit they deserve, especially if they aren’t making splash plays, but maybe just taking on double teams every snap! As I talked about in my DT Summary post, we…
You should probably jump over to my CB Summary before reading this. In that summary, I walk through many of the reasons we need to be focusing very heavily on CB, FS/SS and LB in this draft. It’s not just that our AFC North division is usually stacked with…
Several of the guys above have rocketed up the rankings and my suggested Round values in my Top 200 list are now fairly out of whack. Abram is likely a 1st round pick now, or at the very least Top 5 within 2nd Round. Hooker is likely to fall…
Of all the secondary players we should be looking at, Deionte Thompson is an interesting cat but perhaps not really a guy to take seriously for the Browns this year. Most of the fall during CFB regular season, he was considered the top Safety in the upcoming class and…
The guys below are the best of this year’s crop and almost all will be able to contribute in Year 1, if not start. They bring those multiple skill sets that we want in every one of our Possession Players. Deep into Round 4 and possibly Round 5 there…
With the proliferation of Spread-concept offenses, LB’s these days need to be able to think on their feet and diagnose/react/move so quickly. They need to have plus athleticism, especially lateral movement skills. Range is highly valued and can mean the difference in the run game as these offenses spread…
In order to attempt a prediction at what Dorsey might do in the Draft at CB and Safety, it’s worth looking at the WR landscape in the division first because we will need to defend those elite WR’s twice a year, and our ability to match up with them…
The players you find on this list is where we need the most help right now. We need a second stud outside Corner to pair with big X and Slot WR’s and TE’s. Ward simply can’t handle those guys. We are looking for length, agility, physicality and some speed….
Unfortunately you won’t find a Player Eval for Devin White here…he is entirely out of reach for us now that we don’t have a 1st Round pick. Some evaluators consider him to have good enough coverage skills to play Sam or Will as well, but I think he’s a…
There are not many guys that can handle multiple roles equally well, but I try not to overplay this aspect of being multiple unless the guys seem to demonstrate capability at a high level in both roles. Love and Oruwariye both can get down and boogie in this regard,…
As always, the player evals you see below reflect the guys from this list that I think we’ve got a shot at drafting and should be considering.
Predicting Linebacker draft slots is really difficult. Every team sees each player a little differently and scheme fit and sub package strategies will drive value differently for everyone. Great example is Sutton Smith and Ben Burr-Kirven. Both kids were really productive in college, but I see them as very…
Small-school stud from James Madison University, Jimmy Moreland, is one of the few players that is built to play only Slot CB and he’s a good one. His stock has been rising rapidly over the last few months, as he was talked about as a 5th Round guy through…
Odell Miller – Converted DE, to TE to OG at Western Michigan ran a 5.02 at his Pro Day, jumped 27.5 in vertical and did 27 bench reps. He’s 6-3 301 lbs. Need to watch some film and find some evals on him. Looks very athletic on paper. Dewayne…
While every NFL team plays some amount of zone defense, it’s not a stretch to think that we will see a lot more zone defense under Steve Wilkes than we did with Greg Williams. Wilkes uses a base 4-3, loves to stunt and blitz out of Cover 1, uses…
This post is meant to make some attempt to thank the people who have made this project possible, made it better or contributed things unknowingly that made a difference along the way. I am not a very philanthropic person, but I believe in supporting local small business people in…
This one looks different doesn’t it? It should. With the Combine and more importantly Free Agency being underway, our man Dorsey has once again transformed the team by adding starters and depth at some key positions of need. Since the beginning of February: Buddy Boy has added hugely talented…
Normally I love my OL guys and discussing them as part of the Draft process is fun and exciting for me. This year I was hoping that we could generally skip over the OL position since we seemed to have a very successful year with our current group (after…
I will put this out there here because it’s relevant to the position, but watch for my Bold Prediction post on this same topic: James O’Hagan from the University of Buffalo is going to be one of the best Centers of this draft class. He has slightly better size…
Man there are some talented cats in this year’s class. All the guys below are super multiple in their ability to play more than one position. Nearly all are starters at rookie and have upside to improve and get stronger. Really an exciting class. I only have Cody Ford…
I am not creating evals for any of the Guards in this Draft. At this point our needs on the OL are OC and RT first, but OG and LT are a close second for depth. So I would rather spend time looking at players in these positions. I…
For this Draft there are no specific LT role players that I am evaluating. Go to my review of Dynamic exterior OL and you will find the guys that I believe the Browns should consider. This includes players who can work both sides of the line and offer appropriate…
UPDATE: POST-FREE AGENCY After adding Jaelen Strong to the roster in late February we thought that was a nice add and a player that can possibly help us. But he is not a burner nor is he an All-Pro caliber receiver. He is more reclamation project than a 4…
Imagine if we drafted AJ Brown or DK Metcalf, Jordan Ta’amu AND Dawson Knox! That’s basically the entire Offense from Ole Miss! LOL…these are the sorts of weird situations that I mull over when reviewing 300 players and narrowing it down to the guys I like for the Browns….
GOOD: Raymond is probably more multiple than I am giving him credit for here, classifying him as just a Move TE. His blocking is pretty good. He has fairly impressive hands and ball skills. Catches the ball out of the air like it should be done, confident in his…
If you read my TE Summary post, you will know that I have left off a few good candidates for the Browns simply because I ran out of time to do Evals on every single one. This is a need but not a high priority need. I did not…
There is some no-doubt talent in this group. These guys are all very multiple, they have the speed and quickness to play Z but do most of their dirty work out of the Slot. Good results come either way. As these are the players that earn their money in…
This group has an odd look to it but for good reason. There are tiny speedsters and big giant trees in this set. But they all can work out of the Slot and play primary out of the X just as effectively. These guys should not only offer yardage…
I absolutely LOVE this BIG Slot role. I am sure the players we are seeing in the role was part of the evolution of Spread and RPO concepts in college football offenses. College concepts over the last 10 years have been based on principles like optionality, simplicity, spacing and…
This grouping is made up of the few WR’s that are so talented they can play all 3 positions at a high level. With elite skills like speed, explosion and ability to separate they are able to impact the game from the X, the SLOT or the Z spot…
Even though I have listed Kelvin Harmon and N’Keal Harry has players we should be interested in, I am not doing a normal Eval for these two. I believe they likely to get drafted in the middle of Round 1 through the middle of Round 2. Position value for…
Clearly college football is evolving quickly. I bet 5 years ago you would’ve seen at least 10 players listed as Classic Slot. The way I am defining roles that would mean they would NOT be multiple in their skill sets. They would be physically limited, smaller in stature and…
This year my interest in QB’s is to try to find a developmental back-up for Baker that could be ready to step in for a game or two by Year 2. I only have interest in two of the guys on the list above: Jordan Ta’amu and Gardner Minshew….
I had so much fun analyzing the RB group this year. I mean we were sitting there at the end of the season staring at a breakout star in Nick Chubb who is only going to get better. With Duke still being underutilized but still a dynamic player and…
We definitely need some help at OC in terms of depth. We likely won’t spend a high pick on this position specifically, but it could come in the form of a player who is primarily going to play Guard but can also play Center. Bradbury is multiple this way,…
Have to admit, this was one of the tougher 1st mocks I have ever put together. With the lack of truly elite players, it was tough balancing best available player, position value and need. The really good players are going to go fast and at the 17 slot in…
I will be posting my first Mock Draft shortly and I wanted to talk for a minute about what you’re likely to see from me. This is a VERY bad year for premier players in all areas except DL/DE, and even there the top guys will be gone really…
Oh yes, we have now entered the world of real expectations. Where the NFL and the rest of the world believe we have no more excuses for putrid play on Sundays. We have a Franchise Damn Quarterback. We have some special talent in key franchise positions. We have a…
Yuck. Just yuck. If you’ve already read my post regarding the Defensive class this year, you know I’m not a fan. Based on the quantity of quality (elite) talent available in the top two rounds, the Defense is hot garbage. That’s the group I like the best… The Offense?…
Well, this is one of the weirdest NFL Draft classes that I’ve ever seen. It is properly a piece of garbage in terms of quality of player in most of the classic and important franchise positions. Most drafts get judged by the quality available in these spots and this…
Clearly our coaching changes are going to determine much of what happens over the next 6 months. However, we do have a pretty good idea what we’ve got now in terms of players. After two quite successful drafts, there are some key pieces in place that historically point to…
How’d you like those stats on our D and O for 2018? Still in a hurry to keep this Defense around? Not me homie, not me. Those are the best results we managed to produce with some serious Defensive talent on the team and 2 years under the same…
Walk with me for a minute…let’s stroll a little ways into the past. How about all the way back to 1995. There were some pretty significant team-related events in ’95 and ’96 you will recall: For now, I am going to skip over the fact that the day the…
There is no secret to who Baker Mayfield is now. We can accurately point to September 20, 2018 as the day our lives changed as Browns fans. We saw a real live NFL quarterback out there. Sure, there was the usual anti-Browns sentiment nationally when we drafted Baker, but…
It was last April. I did finish my Draft write up, literally with only two days to spare. For the first time my heart wasn’t in it. The Browns had managed to break me and in the process robbed me of my first love – writing about the Draft….
None of the sunshine and rainbows that we were promised after the Hue Jackson era produced a complete shit first season in 2016. The 2017 season ended and so did our hopes of real progress. How could we possibly get WORSE after going 1-15? Didn’t we draft some pretty…
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