probably a friend of the guy who had the “Big Ben 4 Prison” sign night one. I had to chuckle on that.
"Everyone thinks of me as just strong and big and that's it. But I've got the speed along with it, and I can move," Togiai told reporters after Ohio State's pro day. "Just kind of wanted to put that on a showcase today." 40 reps on the bench. Most people can't do that.....I'm glad he also has agility though. Ready made 3-tech...Ideal fit.
Reading all the re-caps today after watching myself this weekend... this nugget from Albert Breer (SI.com) has been making the rounds but it's also super-weird because it feels like a non-story. *Underline emphasis mine. Full disclosure: I didn't think the Browns valued the linebacker position highly-enough to make the pick in the first place, but once mocked him there and had him graded as LB#1 in the class. Breer's article above doesn't answer the question of "why he slid". JOK does diagnose plays in the running game like a linebacker (because he's a linebacker) and yet covers receivers at a slot cornerback level. In fact, he was the second-highest graded covering the slot last season and he did it as a linebacker. His speed and recovery speed is incredible, he literally never comes off the field (did someone say "three down linebacker"?), and spoiler ahead... pretty good tackling in open space. Then he mentions the overhang/hang-over LB position and lists: Mack Wilson, Malcolm Smith, and Sione Takitaki -- each of whom JOK's is already superior to and if this is the competition, should be starting Day 1 with no questions asked. So to recap... Breer postulates that JOK slid to #52 because teams "don't want to take the risk" on a college joker LBs since it's too similar to a nickel corner (nevermind you can never have enough cornerbacks in the NFL) and compares him to Isaiah Simmons from last season, a Top 10 pick last season who everyone knew needed to be coached up and have a position identified for him on defense because he transitioned from safety to linebacker. He also throws in a bit about 3-4 base and 4-3 base, despite the nickel defense being the true "base" of the modern NFL and Cleveland under Joe Woods playing heavy dime defense last season as well... none of which actually addresses the situation with Jeremiah. We gonna find out he also had epilepsy too, or something?
Good take... All I know is every ND game I watched, JOK popped off the screen. He's without question one of my favorite players in this draft, and seemingly ideal for what Cleveland needs. His epic slide to #52 is a tremendous head scratcher for me, but I love how it played out for the Browns, and hope he carries a chip his entire career. I was watching round 2 with my son and he kept asking my prediction on the picks. I think I predicted JOK to come off the board 20 times in a row before we finally made the move for him. lol! Even more than that if you include the previous night when I figured for sure he was going to Baltimore with one of their late 1st rounders. Unbelievable that we ended up with Newsome and JOK. That was awesome.
The literal *worst case* is that we took a 6'1 221 pound nickel cornerback with the #52 overall pick. Okay? Give me a big, tackling cornerback who can run with receivers all day. Troy Hill was a good pick-up but he's only on a two-year deal with a team out after one (so it's not like we're committed there for a big dollar value or long term). If indeed, JOK turns out to be "too small" to "too hybrid" to be a LB at the next level, he literally just proved he could be the second-best NCAA nickel cornerback. For a team with very few needs (largest of which was addressed in the first round with Greg Newsome), I'm fine spending #52 overall on the NCB spot.
The last time we took a Notre Dame player at #52 overall was the literal worst case in our franchise's history, so really... no place to go but up for Jeremiah!
^^^^ Also... Chicago getting mostly A's and finishing with the top overall "grade" is kinda bull, isn't it? The media spent the better part of the last five months decimating Justin Fields as a prospect -- a guy who's so good that in 2-3 years everyone's going to be doing their best revisionist history -- only to turn around and laud a team for moving up to get him. Stick to your convictions, media folks! If Fields was really a trash prospect (he wasn't), then a team willingly giving up more picks to take him deserves, at most, a D+ grade.
I know you and I had a different grade on him than most @SAS but I don't recall many people decimating him. There were many jumping on the bandwagon of him not being in the running for the #3 overall, but for the most part, many still expected him to go in the top 10. For the Bears, to back into the playoffs (I say back in because they were 8-8, but let's face it their MAJOR concern was QB), so to be stuck at #20 overall and STILL come away with Fields. I personally think they had the mot impactfule draft of all outside the top 2 whom it was expected... I love the Browns draft, (and so do all the national pundits), but to have that need and get him while only spending only two first round picks and (3) mid-rounders, I would stake that up as a steal... THEN to make another trade up in the 2nd to get Teven Jenkins to protect whomever is behind center, is actually brilliant. So the major stakes here in comparison are Justin Fields and Teven Jenkins vs Greg Newsome II and Jeremiah Onwusu-Koramoah, now I'm more biased because I am going to dig deeper into the Browns than the national guys will. I see Tony Fields II as a brilliant pick as it allows Joe Woods to fully integrate the POSITION and not just the player that JOK will be filling. Fields will be able to go in to that position if JOK is incapacitated at any point. He hasn't shown to be as good as JOK, but he has a similar skill set. So, this upgrades my draft grade for the Browns even more. On the surface though, the Bears seem to have impacted their franchise the most of any that were originally slotted outside the top 10. If Fields is what I think he is, the Lions will be regretting this for the next decade.
"Last in, first out.", unnamed NFL insider "Slow processor, one-read QB", unnamed NFL insider "Does he want to be a QB -- don't know that he loves football", unnamed NFL insider This, in spite of tangible evidence to the contrary. If these sources were Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace, well played. If not, there were at least one or two folks smearing him and plenty of folks in the media amplifying that narrative.
File this under "eye brow raising" report; NFL Network's analytics guru Cythia Frelund mentioned today that she confirmed 11 NFL GM's had Justin Fields rated as #1 QB on the board, ahead of Trevor Lawrence... congrats Chicago.
Oh lord, please let's not go there.. I had the same thought flash through my mind. Also Brady Q...We have a habit of trading up for Golden Domers. lol! Or maybe Kizer just fell to us? I can't remember...Awful regardless. I trashed that dude throughout the draft process and the NFL Combine and all the way up to the point where we actually selected him in the 2nd round. lol! Then I was like, "Yeah. What a great athlete. We can make this work!" pffft...lol! Embarrassing. He was worse than Kessler, which was horrendous. I'll never forget Hue Jackson's comment after we shockingly drafted Cody K in the second round; "Now you're just going to have to trust me on this one, Browns fans." I guess we can all assume Kizer is still well stocked on condoms...that was easily the most notable thing from his NFL career.
Total bullshit...Ryan Day banned the irresponsible ESPN journalists that were "smearing" Fields. It's crazy how the media controls the thoughts of the mindless
