Browns scouts will have to work even harder
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By STEVE KING
Analyzing college prospects was already one of the hardest things for NFL teams to do.
And it’s been that way for a long, long time.
Can’t-miss prospects miss.
And players come out of nowhere to make roster spots and then Pro Bowls.
Go figure.
A lot of teams can’t figure it out, and for the most part over the last 20 years in this forgettable expansion era, the Browns have been one of those have-not clubs.
The Browns scouts have been doing better – much better, actually – in recent years, but their player procurement will be tested even more leading into next year’s NFL Draft with the recent announcement that the 2020 college football season will be greatly depleted. The Big Ten, Pac-12 and Mid-American Conference have cancelled their 2020 football seasons because of concerns about health issues brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, and more leagues, such as the rest of the Power 5 with the SEC, ACC and Pac-12, are sure to follow even as they currently go forth, trying to somehow play this fall.
So, then, NFL teams will have much less tape on many draft-eligible prospects. The year of growth that was expected from them in 2020 won’t be there to evaluate and incorporate into their overall resumes. That will force these clubs – most specifically, their college scouts – to assume, estimate and predict even more, and you know what happens when we assume, estimate and predict too much. It usually doesn’t end well.
It’s hard to say how, exactly, analytics, the basis of the Browns scouting principles, will be, or could be, affected. No one knows. This – with basically no college season – thankfully has never happened in the last 100 years. We’ll see.
The NFL Draft is a sport unto itself. There are people who follow only the draft and not the seasons themselves. Now, with all of these unknown components present in the college game, that very well could make the 2021 draft, set for Cleveland, by the way, at least for the time being, just that much crazier.
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Cleveland Browns:
- “Odell Beckham Jr. renews commitment to Cleveland: ‘We got unfinished business’” (BrownsZone)
- Regular Season Games in Five Weeks (Browns Daily Dose)
- Missing Cleveland Stadium (Browns Daily Dose)
- “Browns survey season ticket holders for comfort level about returning to FirstEnergy Stadium” (WKYC)
- ‘The Corner Brothers’ Frank Minnifield and Hanford Dixon
- “JC Tretter advocates players’ rights must be protected” (92.3 The Fan)
- “Baker Mayfield Named The Best College Quarterback Of The Last Decade” (BrownsDigest)
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