ANOTHER FIRST-ROUNDER NAMED NEWSOME – GREG, NOT OZZIE

By STEVE KING

If only Greg Newsome works out half as well for the Browns as the only other time they picked a player in the first round of the NFL Draft with that last name.

It was 43 years ago, in 1978, that Cleveland selected Alabama tight end Ozzie Newsome at No. 23 overall. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. He’s the team’s all-time leading receiver with 662 receptions and he’s in the Pro Football Hall of Fame just down the road in Canton.

Greg Newsome, a Northwestern cornerback whose job it will be to help the Browns defense from surrendering so many pass receptions, was taken at No. 26 overall late Thursday night as the draft was in Cleveland, next door to FirstEnergy Stadium, where he will play – on the same footprint that the “Wizard of Oz” performed.

Just as in 1978 when then new head coach Sam Rutigliano spent the offseason bolstering a mediocre Browns offense, the selection of Greg Newsome continues the effort the team has spent this offseason to bolster a mediocre defense, especially in the back end. Browns General Manager Andrew Berry spent last offseason fortifying the offense, and that unit led the club to an 11-5 record and the franchise’s first playoff appearance in 18 years.

The hope is that the defense will actually play a positive role – and not a negative one — in the Browns taking the next step this fall. In 2020, the Cleveland offense had to score more points than the bunches the defense surrendered, which, in effect, it actually failed to do.

You have to like the thinking, for the Cleveland offense can’t be expected to do that again. It’s a dangerous way for a team to live. Last season, the Browns gave up 11 more points than they scored. They made the postseason – and won a playoff game for the first time in 26 years with a wild 48-37 decision over the arch-rival Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card round – in spite of themselves.