If you exclude expansion teams granted the #1 overall pick (which isn't trade-able in that situation), and factor in the few times the #1 overall pick was made, but subsequently traded (e.g., Eli Manning), that number is actually closer to 15 out of 45 (Dallas used it's #1 overall pick in the supplemental draft in 1990. So 1/3 (33.3%) of the time, that pick has been moved. And this draft is shaping up with one where the top player at nearly every position has some question mark around them. At OLB, it's guys like Jack and Jaylon Smith who have injury concerns. At DE, it's whether or not Joey Bosa is scheme-specific. Then, discount several of the positions where it's just not realistic that they'd be the #1 overall pick (offensive guards, running backs, tight ends, etc.). The "safest" pick is probably Laremy Tunsil followed closely by Jalen Ramsey. I don't see Tennessee not picking one of those guys if they're only getting offers with second round picks in them. However, if a QB-starved team views Goff or Wentz as their best option (and realistically, no other QB is even close this year) then all they have to do is offer a future first and it's likely to happen.
The new front office executives hired by the Browns this offseason come from an analytics background, led by new chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, who was an important figure in Moneyball and a longtime baseball analytics guru. But the Browns? new head coach does not come from an analytics background, and a new ESPN Magazine profile of DePodesta suggests that coach Hue Jackson is likely to clash with the analytics people in Cleveland. The profile quotes a former NFL executive describing Jackson as ?a very bad fit? for the approach DePodesta wants to take. That executive also said Jackson?s coaching staff will not be on board with the analytics department?s decision making, and predicted that there will be fireworks in the draft room. ?It?s not just Hue Jackson,? the former executive said. ?When data overrides gut, the majority of his coaching staff will all be there screaming, ?What the f? are these computer guys doing? They don?t understand football, they don?t understand the locker room. They?re killing us.'? For his part, Jackson has said there?s a process and a plan in Cleveland and he?s on board with it. But if the Browns struggle this season, questions will surely be raised about whether the analytics approach is in fundamental conflict with Jackson?s traditional football approach.
The Browns WILL struggle this season. I think Hue Jackson, Paul Depodesta, Sashi Brown, Jimmy Haslem...all of Hue Jackson's coaching staff..and about 80% of the Browns fans understand this going into the season. This is the slow roast process of building a team. That is a puff piece written to garner looksies on a website. Every one and their brother knows what this team is doing will take time and certainly will not come close to approaching success in 2016. Hue Jackson and Jimmy Haslem both went on record the week of the hire, that every thing was explained in great detail and everyone understands the process they are going to use. Every one agreed and is on the same page. That doesn't give the coaching staff a pass in 2016 to just do nothing. This isn't a passive league, but if this author and/or "former NFL executive" is basing success on wins in 2016, then this article has no credence what so ever. The record, unless by some miracle, will be similar to what we saw in 2015. I would give it up to a +/- 2 in 2016...any where between 2-5 wins. If they reach 6 wins, I would call Hue Jackson the next great Browns coach.
It's just a so so Monday Lounge houndz... The negative (click monger) press surrounding the Browns right now is really sickening :! :! :! It makes it tough to even come in here and converse with you fine folks. I even am finding it difficult to even attempt to add anything to the conversation and keep this place alive. All these talking idiots doing anything and everything they can to just drag this organization through the mud repeatedly. Most of the crap they write about is just than CRAP. No nonsense non football related bovine feces. Ya we all know that it is again another reboot. So what. give it a rest. The draft is getting close and it really feels like that no matter what they Browns do it will all be spun in a negative way. *ROSE* Here's to hoping that things move in a more positive direction. *DRINK* Spoiler
Time to release Gordon. He is a CANCER! Hippie lettuce has got him sprung,lol Draft Ramsey/Jack/Bosa in the 1st rd. then Draft Thomas/Doctson in the 2nd. The drunk is already gone now its time to get rid of the pot head. Both problem children gone and let someone else worry about them.
I am so freaking sick of trying to calm down the masses... Why is the first reaction to anything "news" to jump off the deep end and break down the team and players? Now, I am NOT saying Josh Gordon did nothing wrong. Let me say that to begin this post... However, there are MANY explanations to a dilute drug test, the simple one is a person who drinks an inordinate amount of water. Why would someone drink an excessive amount of water, the cynic might ask? Well the obvious answer is, he wants to beat a drug test... Who else might drink a large amount of water at any given time? How about a world class athlete, working his ass off, since he is expecting at any time to be re-instated to his professional football team. Josh Gordon has been going through drug test hell for the past 4 years. He is subject to WEEKLY tests and except for the one that showed such small trace elements that the National Football League is the only entity on the planet that used that trace amount as a positive result. This time, we may be jumping to conclusions...How often is the first report an accurate report? If this is simply a dilute test result, it really means very little in the grand scheme of things. You and I could "fail" a dilute drug test, all we would have to do is go take a piss..then immediately get handed a slip to report for a drug screen. You have an hour to report, so the first thing you do is drink an excessive amount of water because you don't have to go any longer...THIS could easily cause a dilute drug screen. NOW, all that said, if this report is accurate and I don't trust first reports...It said that the test was positive for marijuana and dilute...then then second reports came rolling in and it is saying, positive for marijuana, but below the league amount of 35 Nanograms (let me remind you, they raised the level of nanograms but is still below the next lowest known level of 50 nanograms that a few places still use. The rest of the sports world and the American Gov't use 150 nanograms as a positive test result. That's because this trace amount does not mean they actually used the drug, but rather it could have been the by product of environment.) NOW, secondary news sources are reporting that he failed the test, EITHER by Marijuana amounts below the accepted amount OR a diluted test... Again, he may have flat out failed the test, but this sky is falling mentality on these boards is ridiculous. This guy has made some immature choices, but my God, his life has been ruined because of archaic testing in the first place. Any other job on this earth, that includes, nuclear scientist and brain surgeon, and he is never suspended to begin with...Let's try to keep this in perspective. http://www.lobdock.com/dilute-drug-test-results/
Irish cmon man...he is working his a$$ off? I don't care if he has a 3 trace of nanogram....ITS ILLEGAL 4 HIM not u and me...does winng a football game mean that much 2 u? How bout the culture of the team and the organization....he cares so much he is living w a guy the team just released cause of problems...why do u think he hasn't been re-instated yet...the Browns new there was a problem hence their latest tone of not anticipating him back soon w their comments recently...he's a troubled kid dating back 2 early college and he hasn't changed...time 2 move on
Easy there, Big Guy. Climb down off of your white steed. I don't see anyone jumping off the deep end. Quite the opposite from I can tell. It appears to me that most people in here weren't really counting on him this year anyway. That said, everything you said is 100% true . . . except for this; His [professional] life has been ruined because HE chose to indulge in left handed cigarettes knowing full well that he would be tested using archaic test standards.
At the levels he has tested positive for, HE wasn't the one indulging...That is my point. The sole reason, every other entity in the world has changed their level of positive results. Very few are as little as 50 nanograms, almost all are at 150 nanograms...Roger Goodell's NFL raised it from 15 to 35 2 months after Gordon tested 13 on one test and 15 on another sample...Then he had 2 beers on a plane AFTER his season ended...but the ruling was he wasn't allowed to have those 2 beers until everyone else's season ends 4 weeks later...banishment.. And I stand corrected...It is his professional life, not his entire life...But that professional life is a big part of who he is...and if this diluted test ends his career, a downward spiral could easily happen in his regular life.
Every one is joking about having a reality show with Gordon and Manziel... The reality should be, Browns cut Gordon and both go to the CFL. They could play football and ruin their lives all at the same time.
Irish, you are a responsible adult. If you KNEW you would be tested to a standard where second hand smoke would result in a fail . . . would YOU put yourself in a position where you would be affected by second hand smoke? If you were told not to have a beer until after the season, would YOU ask for a date that defines "after the season"? This guy has a history of failed tests dating all the way back to his college days. He obviously didn't care then and he apparently doesn't care now.
I am a 45 year old adult with 4 children... When I was in my early 20's, I WAS in those situations, pretty consistently. Again, at my current age, I know things I didn't know when I was 23...At the age of 24, I went to a bar, had some drinks...walked home around 10:00 and went to bed because I had to work the next day. Friends came home at 1:00 and asked me to give a girl a ride home. I was sleeping for a few hours, woke up and didn't feel ANY alcohol effects. I then proceeded to get pulled over because the girl was so drunk she told me to turn on the wrong street, so I turned on my turn signal...she then said, wrong street, so I turned off my turn signal...turned it back on for the next street, turned down her street and was pulled over for improper turn signal. I passed 4 field sobriety tests, but the cop was a rookie and took me in anyway, because my passengers were inebriated and he suspected I was as well. I blew a .078, but they deemed the time passed to lower the content from the illegal .08 so they charged me anyway. I went to a lawyer and he said it was within their right, it would be easier and cheaper to just pay the fine and go to a weekend class. So I paid my fine, scheduled a weekend class...3 days before that weened class, it was canceled for unknown reasons. Little did I know, but at that time, any canceled classes needed to be re-scheduled within 48 hours...4 days after the class was supposed to take place I was arrested for failing to complete my sentence and put in jail... So, I can honestly say, no...at that age I was not responsible enough to know exactly what to do in every situation. I got lucky, I didn't lose my job based on bad decisions that skirted the fringes of the law. But, I do have a certain understanding when young adults don't have all the answers. I admit, I learned from my mistakes, but we cannot take a media story and pretend to know all aspects of the situation.
and this is why, every single time Josh Gordon's name has been brought up to me over the course of his current suspension, I simply replied, "how can we count on Josh Gordon?"..... I knew it was bad news when I saw how tight Josh and Johnny were at the UFC fights in Vegas....Goodell has been dragging his feet for good reason. This wasn't hard to see coming...Josh is dumb. He shoots himself in the foot repeatedly. He clearly wasn't living his life in the way that you would expect to see a guy that was truly trying to get reinstated from suspension...Dude just can't get out of his own way. Gordon is a harmless goof, that may never grow up...Do I think he should be able to play football in the NFL? Hell yes...The rules are ridiculous. ...but they are the rules....and Josh knows them.....So I don't care what the hell they do with him at this point. I'm with Crex...It's hard to have ANY happiness as a Browns fan. Listening Columbus sports radio makes me want to thump my skull with a hammer.lol! There is no mercy for Cleveland fans...Reality is, the entire organization will never be considered by the "talking heads" as anything more than a punchline until they win games......and why should they be considered as anything other than that? Dipshits like Gordon and Johnny just add fuel to the fire....I don't blame the media for not even being able to mention the Cleveland Browns without a chuckle, but I am phuqing sick of it.... Sashi and Paul better know what they are doing.... No fans should ever have to tolerate the level of incompetence that Browns fans are forced to.....
That is an unfortunate series of events that you went through, Irish and I am quite certain that you did, in fact, learn from it. However, it is probably safe to assume that, when you went through that, you didn't have an agent who gets paid a percentage of your salary, a lawyer on a retainer, or a publicist who's job it is to try and keep your image as clean as possible - all of whom were (or should have been) in your ear 24/7. Nor were you already on probation with the courts for a prior DUI charge. Add in the fact that Josh does have all these folks surrounding him and that he was so close to reinstatement and it boggles that average fan's mind that he is in the spot that he's in.
It depends on the circumstances...After doing an extremely small amount of research before my rant this morning, I learned how easily this could be me. I am in a random drug test program because of my CDL. If you read the link I posted, it would show you just how easy it is to have a diluted specimen show up. Now, if this is a diluted specimen issue, it could really be only a delay in the process as they will merely monitor his tests closely. If he had a positive outcome, then the word should come out very soon that the reinstatement will not happen... Word coming out NOW, is that the diluted specimen is in fact all this was. The NFL offices are looking at a 60-90 day non issue test period to draw their final conclusions for reinstatement. So, as I said before, everyone jumped to conclusions prematurely. He did NOT fail another drug test...it was inconclusive based on dilution. Any of us could have a diluted specimen simply by drinking too much water...yes, by too much that could mean...taking a piss, then getting notification of a test and drinking extra water so that you can make yourself pee...
In the article that SAS just posted on the WR thread (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...don-to-go-2-3-months-without-a-red-flag-test/) it states that the sample also showed trace amounts of marijuana metabolites, but less than the 35 nanograms per milliliter level that constitutes a positive test in the NFL. That means either he's still smoking weed or he continues to place himself in environments that could cause that type of test result. Diluted sample or not - there was STILL marijuana in his system during a time frame where his re-instatement was pending.
