CLEVELAND BROWNS DRAFT THREAD

I think Clowney would be a 4-3 DE...

 

Nick Harris
https://bleacherreport.com/articles...020-scouting-report-for-cleveland-browns-pick

 

New York Post gives Cleveland an A-

https://nypost.com/2020/04/25/2020-nfl-draft-grades-for-all-32-teams/

 

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2888698-jadeveon-clowneys-top-landing-spots-after-2020-nfl-draft

 

Just spitballin' here.

I think Clowney is looking for ~$20M / year? Vernon is ~$15M / year with no Dead Money.

Sign Clowney and cut Vernon. We get a younger player with at least the same production for only a net $5M cap hit.

 

Supposedly Clowney has dropped his demands into the $17 - 18M range

 

Even better. If it's $17M / year, then the net cap hit is only $2M.

 

Pro Football Focus grade for Cleveland Browns draft; A+

 

Yes and yes...

Clowney is definitely a DE in the 4-3 and would replace Vernon. They would probably try to trade him if this went down. They have the cap space to take their time to work out a deal, since there isn't a cap hit, so if there isn't anyone willing to give up a low round pick, then they cut him prior to training camp.

Clowney would be to take the defense to another level, Matthews would be a puclicity stunt rotational guy. Vernon would stay.

However, he would also be listed as a 4-3 DE and moreso a package player in 3-4 looks. He wouldn't be a full-time player.

 

CLEVELAND BROWNS
Round 1 (10): T Jedrick Wills, Alabama
Round 2 (44): S Grant Delpit, LSU
Round 3 (88): DI Jordan Elliott, Missouri
Round 3 (97): LB Jacob Phillips, LSU
Round 4 (115): TE Harrison Bryant, FAU
Round 5 (160): IOL Nick Harris, Washington
Round 6 (187): WR Donovan Peoples-Jones, Michigan

Day 1: There were some concerns that there may be a run of tackles prior to the Browns’ selection, but they were left with their pick of the top options sans Andrew Thomas. Wills came in as PFF’s OT3 — and the 11th player overall on PFF’s Big Board — and he was the top tackle on a lot of boards out there, drawing a player comp to Lane Johnson in the PFF Draft Guide. He has special explosion and agility for someone that large and should be able to immediately make an impact in the run game after earning a 90.5 run-blocking grade with the Crimson Tide in 2019.

“His ability to crush a double team then take a linebacker for a ride is special for a college tackle prospect.” PFF’s lead draft analyst Mike Renner

Day 2: The Browns were able to pick up not one, not two, but three top-25 players on the PFF Big Board. Two of those players came at selections 44 and 88, which is a testament to the value Cleveland was able to get.

Delpit fell down boards largely due to his concerns as a tackler, but what he is able to do in coverage is special. He has tremendous instincts and ability to read and break on routes, he has smooth movement skills on the back end of a defense and he has the kind of length that can give bigger wide receivers or tight ends problems in the slot. That playmaking ability is apparent when flipping on the tape from his 2018 season when he recorded five interceptions and seven pass breakups.

Elliott was an even bigger steal in the third round. He has a solid combination of size and athleticism, and from a production standpoint, you can argue that no interior defender in this class has been better. Elliott has the highest overall grade of any interior defender in the class over the last two seasons. He is coming off a 2019 campaign in which he earned grades of 90.0 or higher as both a run defender and pass-rusher. Getting that kind of player — the 23rd-ranked player on the PFF Big Board — at No. 88 is tremendous value.

“He has all the makings of a player who can develop into a versatile starter with plenty of upside in the NFL.” – PFF senior writer Ben Linsey

As for Jacob Phillips, this looks like more of a reach than the other selections for the Browns, with guys like Troy Dye and Akeem Davis-Gaither still on the board at linebacker. From an athletic standpoint, Phillips has the explosion and burst that you like, but the change of direction ability isn’t quite there. That is something that’s likely to show up in coverage.

Day 3: Bryant isn't athletic enough to pass for a receiver and not strong enough to be a traditional tight end. Unless he transforms his body one way or another, he'll be in no man's land in the NFL. He did, however, improve his overall grade every year of his collegiate career and finished the pre-draft process inside the top-150 on PFF’s Big Board.

Harris ground out 2,921 snaps on the Huskies’ offensive line over the past four years. During his true freshman campaign in 2016, Harris saw four starts but was mostly rotated in at both left and right guard and earned just a 47.6 grade in pass protection. He was then moved to the starting role at right guard in 2017 and improved his pass-blocking grade to an average 63.3. He was moved to center after that, where he has thrived as a starter over the last two years. Harris improved in both pass protection and in run blocking, leading to a PFF overall grade that was among the 20 best FBS centers in both 2017 and 2018. If there’s a center you want playing out in space either in the running game or on screens, it’s Harris. The scary thing is that he’s just scratching the surface technique-wise.

The physical tools may be there from a testing perspective, but we never saw them consistently translate to separation down the football field with Peoples-Jones. Without another trump card, it's difficult to be convinced with his lack of production.

Draft Grade: A+

 

I was thinking more of a mentor to the youngsters in the LB room who could still contribute on the field on a "give the kids a breather" basis.

 

I for one would appreciate that... All I meant was he isn't going to teach anything to these linebackers on the team. He has never played that type of position and most likely doesn't have a clue how to.

If you want THAT GUY, you bring in someone like Nigel Bradham. Winding down career, but has the knowledge to pass on to the young guns.

 

When the Browns agreed to trade down with the Saints, allowing them to draft Zack Baun at 74th pick, the Browns sent them their seventh round pick, but gained a third round pick in 2021. This gives the Browns an extra third, fourth and fifth round pick for the 2021 NFL Draft.

 

I think they also have an extra 2021 7th round pick from Buffalo from the Wyatt Teller trade. And that's good for the 2021 season.

Doesn't do shit for the 2020 season.

 

Fair to say the Browns have their eye on the 2021 draft. Maybe they anticipate that class being better? I don't know. It's nice to be stocked up for it though. That's 11 picks.

 

I suspect that some of those 11 picks will be bundled in with future trades.

 

To be clear . . . I don't have problems with the individual players drafted. The first 3 taken are all top shelf prospects. The last 3 - not so much but were probably drafted commensurate with their abilities.

My issue is with the overall approach to the off season. I think Berry needlessly gave us a less than mediocre group of linebackers. There is no question in my mind that our LB corp is, by far, the weakest position group on the roster.

 

Harrison Bryant may be a pleasant surprise. The kid can play. Nick Harris is a guy who can possible play multiple positions on the line with a proven history of staying healthy and played against decent competition at the college level. If he can continue to develop and at a minimum adds good depth on the line you can't ask for much more out of a 5th round pick outside of finding a gem.
Now we can see if the majority of Peoples-Jones problems were himself or his QB play. He never did live up to his 5 star college recruit status

They must not have felt good about any of those mid-round LBs as they passed on multiple ones when we had the chance.We'll see what we got in a few months. Hard to argue with the value we got on those earlier picks though

 

I forgot we sent a 2021 7th round pick to Denver for Andy Janovich. That takes the total for 2021 back to 10.

 

I won't lie... I thought this was satire at first.

Walk into the draft with massive holes at: LT, ILB, FS, and third-WR.

Andrew Berry *drafts starting LT, FS, and WR3*

Lyman: "Meh."

TBF... John Dorsey traded for both Taywan Taylor and Wyatt Teller. Teller can play right guard.

Billings is good depth at DT. Joseph and Sendejo are bridge-contract players. B.J. Goodson can fill one of the vacated LB spots short-term.

Andrew Berry added a starting LT (Jedrick Wills), a starting FS (Grant Delpit), a rotational IDL in Jordan Elliott who - by some accounts - will be a steal on the interior. Harrison Bryant is the reining college John Mackey award winner as the top collegiate tight end. He joins a tight end room with David Njoku and Austin Hooper, giving the Browns easily the best tight end room in the NFL. They grabbed an *elite* reciever prospect in Donovan Peoples-Jones who our own Urban Meyer says should have been a Top 10 pick to give to the Stefanski. This gives the Browns the best wide receiver group in the NFL.

So by my count:

- best tight end group in the NFL
- best running back group (assuming you count Lamar Jackson as a quarterback) in the NFL
- best wide receiver group in the NFL

... and then he added Nick Harris, a perfect scheme-fit at center/guard who *worst* case is the heir-apparent to J.C. Tretter and who *best case* comes a starter at right guard as he seems to be a perfect fit in the zone-blocking scheme Stefanski plans to run.

Sure... none of these guys have proven anything because most of them have been a Browns player for less than 48 hours, but on paper, we topped the NFL in two receiver categories (WR, TE) while adding quality players along the offensive and defensive lines (remember those folks who clamor for games being won/loss in the trenches)?

Overall, teams who had a better draft than Cleveland...

- Baltimore
- Dallas (maybe)
- that's it