NO BEAL? NOT A REALLY BIG DEAL
By STEVE KING
OK, so the Browns just missed out on getting Western Michigan cornerback Sam Beal in the NFL Supplemental Draft on Wednesday.
The New York Giants beat them to Beal, picking him with the third choice in the third round. The Browns probably – almost certainly, really – would have taken him with the next selection.
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It would have been nice if the Browns had snared Beal so they could pair him opposite cornerback Denzel Ward, the Nordonia High School and Ohio State product they took at No. 4 overall in the NFL Draft 2½ months ago. The Browns, then, might – might – have had their two best young corners since Frank Minnifield and Hanford Dixon first played together in 1984.
But the word “might” is built on the word “potentially.” Its root word, potential, is a great thing, but a player doesn’t always blossom like he’s supposed to.
Perhaps Beal will turn into that player for head coach Pat Shurmur’s Giants, and perhaps not. There’s obviously no way of telling that now. It’s something to be determined down the road – way down, in fact – so we’ll just have to wait and see.
In the meantime, the Browns – and their fans – just have to put it behind them and move on. It’s over and there’s nothing anyone can do about it now.
But I’m not going to criticize Browns General Manager John Dorsey, who was running the team’s involvement in the supplemental draft. And I’m certainly not going to question his aggressiveness in not taking Beal in the second round.
If there’s one thing Dorsey has been since taking over near the end of last regular season, it’s aggressive. He sees what he wants, values it and then goes after it. He had a value on Beal, and, as it turned out, it was essentially the same – within a whisker, really — as the team that got him.
That happens. And when it does, it’s not the end of the world.
Life goes on.
A FORMER BROWN NAMED BROWN IS BACK IN THE GAME
One of the nicest players in Browns history, along with being one of the most media-friendly and one of the most colorful, is back in the NFL on full-time basis.
Lomas Brown, who did all those things despite playing just one season here as the left tackle on the 1999 expansion Browns, has been hired as the color analyst on Detroit Lions radio broadcasts on 50,000-watt, clear-channel WJR (760 AM) in Detroit, which comes in loud and clear in Northeast Ohio.
Brown, now 55 years old, replaces Jim Brandstatter, who shockingly – even the Lions didn’t know it was coming — was let go on Tuesday after spending 31 years covering Lions games, most of them as the color analyst. A former University of Michigan offensive lineman, he also is the play-by-play announcer for Wolverines football. He will continue in that role.
The color analyst on UM games, incidentally, is Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Dierdorf, a Canton Glenwood (now GlenOak) High School graduate and former offensive tackle for the St. Louis (now Arizona) Cardinals.
Brown is not a broadcast novice, having spent time with NFL Network and ESPNEWS as an analyst, and is currently an analyst on ESPN First Take and co-hosts a sports talk radio show for WXYT-FM in Detroit.
Brown spent the first 11 years of his 18 NFL seasons with the Lions and remains a popular figure in that town. WJR officials are keeping pretty mum on the big move in the booth, saying only that the addition of Brown, a seven-time Pro Bowler, “should offer a unique perspective.”
My guess – and it’s only a guess – is this: The population of Detroit is heavily African-American, and Brown, in that he is African-American, a former Lions standout who is popular in the area and has media experience, is a perfect fit. Putting Brown in the booth adds diversity to the Lions radio booth and gives the broadcast team a person of color to better reflect the WJR listening audience.
I can’t believe it’s any more complicated than that.
In any event, Brown is back, and that’s good news, even though Brandstatter didn’t deserve to be treated so shabbily.
More on Lomas Brown in my next post.
