How will this 2017 NFL Draft class play for the Browns?
The expectations are high, but we’ll have to wait and see.
What we can begin to figure out in the here and now are these guys’ personalities. And from that standpoint, Browns fans have to like what they see – and hear.
We’ll begin at the beginning with No. 1 overall pick Myles Garrett. The defensive end is confident, positive and mature, and he’s open and honest about wanting to sack Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the regular-season opener. Getting after a Steelers passer will always sell well in Cleveland. Just ask Joe “Turkey” Jones.
At No. 29 came Miami (Fla.) tight end David Njoku, who has a great smile to go along with GQ looks. From watching him celebrate with friends after being drafted by the Browns, he seems like a fun guy who doesn’t take himself too seriously. In pro sports, that’s refreshing.
DeShone Kizer, the Notre Dame quarterback taken in the second round, said some things before the draft he no doubt wishes he hadn’t. But he seems to be a smart young man and a guy who understands the spotlight that’s always on the quarterback position, and now that he’s away from what turned into a bad situation at Notre Dame, those qualities will begin to come out.
He just wants a chance and a head coach who believes in him, and in Cleveland with Hue Jackson, Kizer has both.
Who doesn’t like the story of North Carolina-Charlotte defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi, the first pick of the third round? He went from a fat high school kid playing video games to a holy terror on the football field. You can’t make that stuff up, and as such, his is the best story of the newest Browns.
The Browns traded up into the fourth round to get Houston cornerback Howard Wilson, and when they did, they got someone who likes to talk – fast and in an animated, fun-loving tone – almost as much as he likes covering wide receivers. And he likes covering wide receivers a lot.
His presence will liven up a locker room that was kind of dull last year, especially with all of the losing.
I’m saving the best for last, and that – he – is Jabrill Peppers, the safety/returner who was taken at No. 25 in the first round. Yeah, a Michigan man who is oh, so welcome in the state of Ohio.
Whatever “it” is, Peppers has it. He’s a guy who has charisma, confidence and, most important of all, a winning attitude. He’s used to coming out on top. He will accept nothing less. When his team loses, he thinks he has played a bad game, no matter what he’s done individually.
Again, because of the nine consecutive losing seasons, the Browns desperately need all the winners they can possibly assemble. It will help change the culture of the locker room.
Not this season – at least for the first half of it or so since they’re all rookies – but it will happen sooner rather than later that Peppers, Garrett, Njoku, Howard and, when he finally plays – and he will – Kizer will become the leaders of this team. Another thing the Browns are in dire need of is leaders. They have to be the best players on the team, and these guys – I really think – will eventually be that.
In the meantime, enjoy their personalities.
It is all reminiscent of the young group of players – Bernie Kosar, Hanford Dixon, Frank Minnifield, Webster Slaughter, Reggie Langhorne, Kevin Mack, Earnest Byner, Mike Johnson and Brian Brennan – who quickly became the best players, and the leaders, of the Browns in the mid-1980s.
And you know how that went.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s only the first week of May, and the season won’t start for five months.
