2018 NFL DRAFT - GENERAL THREAD

SI & MMQB have already reported that Mayfield was the top QB for the Browns (obviously), Jets (even after taking Darnold), Broncos, Cardinals, and rumored to be the Bills as well. Four of the five ended up taking a QB in the draft - all in the Top 10. Sean McVay, Adam Gase, and Josh McDaniels were all also connected to Baker with him being their favorite - SI also reported the Patriots would have traded up for Mayfield had to fallen to the 6/7 slots.

Baker was the top QB in this draft.

Some of us were just on it about six months ahead of the rest.

 

Sorry but Baker wasnt the best and Rudolph wasnt 2nd best..time will tell

 

Assuming those three all pan it, it will be a fun division to watch 2-3 years from now once the Ravens (smartly) dump Flacco and Big Ben retires. All that's left is for Cincinnati to go in the toilet this season and draft Drew Lock #1 overall in 2019.

 

We’ll see.

 

Apologies if I already posted this... I looked back and couldn't find where I did, but who knows.

 

Might be why we passed on Bradley Chubb...

 

And 0 wins

 

#HeeHee

 

Crazy Crextin’s 2018 Post Draft Thoughts...

I’m going to preface this with this… “I am a BROWNS fan and I don’t get paid to make these decisions.”
Also none of these guys have played a down of NFL

#1 Baker Mayfield QB OSU
Not much of a surprise here. In a QB driven league and the Browns having had more players start at that position in a single season than 90% of the other teams go through in 4-5 years. Given that my #2 QB wasn’t drafted until the third round. I’d say that the separation in the top QB’s in this class is/was large enough to NOT risk missing out on taking the BEST of the bunch.

We probably won’t know the whole truth of is whether or not Mayfield would have been available at #4. There’s enough evidence both ways.

#4 Denzel Ward CB tOSU
Admittedly I started scratching my head here… Given the amount of attention that was attributed to the secondary in free agency I like a few others were surprised that this was the selection. I can get on board with this pick; the one piece of the secondary that is missing is that “shut down” type of CB. I like others though Chubb/Garrett/Ogbah would have made a good rotation to attack opposing QB’s.

Here’s hoping that the addition of Ward will give the pass rush a few more ticks to get there.

#33 Austin Corbett OT Nevada
Here’s where the wheels started getting loose. After a little digging this is the guy who replaced Bitonio at Nevada. Projected to move inside everywhere I look. Supposedly can play anywhere on the line. I’m with Lym here. While I don’t know that he is the next Cam Irving, only time will tell if a jack-of-positions lineman was the best choice. At some point the Browns have to be able to block the Von-Millers and JJ Watts of the league, and you cant' double team them all.

#35 Nick Chubb RB Georgia
Given that Haley likes to use his RB’s in the passing game I would have expected someone more complimentary to Johnson rather than Hyde. Hearing comps to Jamal Lewis. Not a bad pick IF, IF they plan on actually phuqing running the ball. Belicheck and the Patriots really told me all I need to know about Chubb’s pass catching abilities.

#67 Chad Thomas DE Miami
Moved back three spots picked up an extra 6th and got potentially a decent rotational guy.

#105 Antonio Callaway WR Florida

Holy Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was Dorsey THINKING!!!! The Browns Actually TRADED up to get this guy!! The wheels have officially come off and Dorsey just drove the bus off a cliff. I don’t care HOW phuqing talented this kid is. I cannot in any sense justify this pick (regardless of programs in place in the organization, and all the background investigations)! We already have one WR that is a “DILUTED” sample away from being PERMANENTLY banned from the NFL. And, now Dorsey drafts another one who by all accounts will enter the NFL in Stage 1 or Stage 2 of the NFL drug program. Great, now Gordon will have a suspension buddy. Oh and the icing on the cake, suspended in 2017 for his involvement in a credit card fraud scheme. (If I’m not mistaken is a felony)
Given a WR corps where 2 of the top 3 WR that cannot stay on the field for an entire season, I agree that Dorsey completely fumbled here.

I guess the Browns will have to rely on Landry and Duke to carry the bulk of the receiving duties.

I hear that the ole Wing-T is going to be a popular formation this year.

# 150 Genard Avery, LB, Memphis
Finally Dorsey addresses the LB position.

# 175 Damion Ratley, WR, Texas A&M
# 188 Simeon Thomas, CB, Louisiana-Lafayette
Don’t know enough about these guys. Usually they don’t make the roster anyway. We’ll see.

As far as needs that I felt where upgrades and depth were necessary WR is the one group that only marginally improved and IMHO lacks any substance of depth. Until Gordon and Coleman can put a full season in without injuries this will be a unit that will be continually questioned and not scare very many defensive coordinators.

After it is all said and done I feel like a guy invited to a 5 star gourmet buffet dinner and walk away feeling like I could have gotten a better meal a Golden Corral.







I will undoubtedly change my position once we are playing for the Super Bowl until then…
Let the inner curmudgeon come out.

 

LMAO!

 

did anyone else think it was kind of a drag that Baker wasn't there. I would have liked to see him up there as the #1 guy, with a Browns jersey.

I know it's just for show, but he is a showman, and it would have been fun.

 

I'm taking it as a good omen for the Browns that he wasn't there....He is a very talented QB, and I understand what you mean. It would have been cool to see him on stage at the show, but I can't hold it against him for wanting to spend that moment at home with all his people. He was on the Jimmy Kimmel show via remote from his home, almost immediately after he was picked. It was pretty good, but I don't know how many football fans actually saw it live....Kimmel noted that all he has to do is top "zero wins".... Baker's reaction was pretty funny. He wasn't sure what to say to that, and wisely just let it go...

 

With Baker Mayfield it's all about the intangibles. I enjoyed his press conference. You can just feel his passion for the game, and he just gets it. All his answers were exactly what you want to hear, but none of it came across as rehearsed or phony. That kid is the genuine article. The Cleveland Browns got this one right. If Mayfield is our opening day starter, I won't be surprised. The Browns have already indicated that there are no limitations on his learning curve. Yes, the Browns are planning to start the veteran, Tyrod Taylor. Just sayin don't be shocked if plans change, and it happens....This situation kinda reminds me of the one in Seattle a few years back. The Seahawks were planning to start the veteran Matt Flynn whom they had acquired in an expensive off-season deal...But then they drafted the ultra competitive and productive Russell Wilson, and before ya knew it, the "plan" changed. Wilson just took it, and the rest is history....Flynn never saw the field.

I just don't think Taylor will be able to hold Mayfield off. Just my opinion, we'll see. He will have to win and look good doing it....At the latest, I'd expect Mayfield will be named Browns starter at some point before mid season. All this talk of Baker sitting all season and "learning" is just the right thing to say. The Browns are doing it right this time. The job won't be handed to the rookie by default. He'll have to earn it, and there's no doubt in my mind that he will...

 

I agree 100% with TD on this. That moment is the culmination of a lot of hard work and effort by these guys. To decide to share that moment with the people who have backed and supported you so you could be in that position tells me volumes about the indivdual.

 

“Efficacy” swayed Alonzo Highsmith on Baker Mayfield over Sam Darnold
Posted by Mike Florio on April 30, 2018, 8:38 PM EDT

Getty Images

Before the draft, the Browns weren’t saying anything about their plans for the first overall pick. They’re talking a blue streak now, Jack. (I know I’ve said that before. More than once)

On Monday, Browns V.P. of player personnel Alonzo Highsmith spoke at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club on Monday, offering a candid assessment of why his opinion flipped from Sam Darnold to Baker Mayfield.

“Here’s the honest to God’s truth,” Highsmith said, via the Canton Repository. “From the start of this college football season to the end of the season, I had Darnold No. 1 and Baker No. 2, [Josh] Rosen No. 3, [Lamar] Jackson No. 4 and [Josh] Allen after that. On our way through everything, you couldn’t tell me Darnold wasn’t the best. I did all my evaluations of the season.”

So what changed?

“[T]he part where you meet them off the field,” Highsmith said. “You watch their workouts. You watch everything. And Baker blew me away. Highly, highly intelligent. Highly competitive.

“And he had a trait that some of the good ones have. I call it efficacy. That includes the power to effect other people. I thought that of all the quarterbacks I watched, he stood out far and above the other guys. When he walked into a room, you knew he was there.”

This meshes with a story that has been mentioned a time or two over the past few weeks, most recently by Peter King of SI.com. When Mayfield had his private workout for the Browns, seven teammates were there to catch passes. When he arrived, Mayfield called out, “Hee hee!” They responded with the same sound, and then came jogging over to him.

That’s the quality, the “it” factor, the magic that allows a quarterback to naturally lead others. It’s what, as one league source recently explained to PFT, set John Elway apart. Per the source, a former Elway teammate said that, when Elway was in the huddle, he simply had a way of convincing his teammates that they were destined to win the game.

And here’s where stats and analytics take a backseat to intangibles. If a quarterback can exert effortless, organic leadership, the quarterback possesses a quality that plenty of his peers may not possess.

 

^^^Man it's nice to have a front office that understands what it is to be a quarterback....

 

For those that didn't see it:

The Favre pic remake was classic...lol!

 

Man, I have this superstition about my family and jerseys. Every time I get a jersey, the player gets hurt or is traded or cut. The very last jersey I ever received as a gift from someone that didn't know about the superstition was given to me the week before Kellen Winslow Jr.'s fateful motorcycle joyride through the parking lot. I RETURNED that jersey and immediately replaced it with a jersey with my high school number on it and my last name plastered on the back...That was the last jersey I ever bought way back in 2005.

BUT MAN, I am so excited, I want a Mayfield jersey in the worst way...what say you guys? Anyone believe in curses? Should I do it?


(edit) My daughter, who is now 15, wanted a Joe Haden jersey for years, but I kept telling her and everyone else NO, because of the family curse. My sister got tired of the "drama" in 2015 and finally bought her a jersey, which she promptly took to training camp and got signed by none other than Joe Haden. That was Joe's first year his demise in this league with injury issues.

 

Do it.

 

DON'T DO IT !!!

Buy a Ben Rothlesberger #7 jersey instead !!!