An email from a Browns fan that you need to read
By STEVE KING
I have written a number of times about my friend, a now-displaced Northeast Ohio native and huge Browns fan who starred in football at a Division I high school and then played at a Division I college in the state before going on to become a high school head coach.
He was the guy who, last year when few were touting Baker Mayfield as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, kept telling me that the Oklahoma product was, by far, the best quarterback prospect available and that the Browns should take him and – and – would take him. I quietly doubted what he was saying.
So, then, yes, when it comes to football knowledge, my friend checks all the boxes. As such, when he speaks, I now listen and believe.
He sent me an email on Sunday morning – there is no day off from football for Brows fans – and in it were a number of things I’ve thought for a long time now and have tried, in various ways, to espouse.
Here is that email. See what you think:
“I still can’t believe that the Browns continue to make great, not just good, decisions. How this roster turnover has been handled in terms of scope and speed is beyond remarkable.
“And, shame on anyone, media or otherwise, who tries to diminish the hopes and aspirations of Browns fans with negative ‘hot takes.’ I’m tired of the ‘on paper’ comments. I’m tired of the, ‘The Browns are going to be the Browns’ comments.
“I hope Baker and the boys understand that they have our blessing to shove 20 plus years of pity and jokes right back at the rest of the NFL. I want this team to be brash, cocky and full of vim and vigor.
“It’s a whole new brown and orange football world, my friend.”
Well said. Very, very, VERY well said.
What do you think?
Praise from national media
The national media is impressed – very, very much so — by what the Browns did in the NFL Draft last weekend.
Sportsillustrated.com’s Albert Breer said so in the site’s well-known and well-respected Monday Morning Quarterback column.
He wrote:
“Looking for a draft steal? The Browns getting the tall, lanky Greedy Williams from the defensive back factory that is LSU at No. 46 absolutely has potential to be one.
“He was roundly seen as the most physically gifted corner in the class, but he has a bunch of growing up to do. Williams wasn’t always a willing tackler, and he came off in meetings with teams as having a pretty high opinion of himself. He also showed inconsistency against top-shelf competition (Alabama’s Jerry Jeudy, Georgia’s Riley Ridley).
“However, Cleveland saw his competitiveness in coverage that they hope to translate into better tackling and more consistency as a pro. If the team can do that, this could be one heck of a bookend for Denzel Ward, well worth the fifth-rounder they spent to go up three picks to get him, and, from a value standpoint, may even make up for the first-rounder they lost in the Odell Beckham trade.”
Then there was USA Today. At the top right of the front page of the sports section, staffer Nate Davis, in a story entitled. “Grading all 32 teams” in the draft, gave the Browns an A. They were one of four teams he so honored.
He wrote:
“Yes, it’s too early to do this, but USA Today grades the NFL teams on how they did in the draft.
“Cleveland Browns: You reel in a player the caliber of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., especially in his prime, at the cost of your first-rounder (plus a bit more), then you probably deserve an A. When you also snatch cornerback Greedy Williams and inside linebacker Mack Wilson, potentially both immediate starters (and good ones), then you’ve gone above and beyond.”
Hmmm.
So what does all this mean?
A good sign
Sports Illustrated writer Albert Breer said in the site’s popular Monday Morning Quarterback column earlier this week that the Browns might well have gotten the steal of the 2019 NFL Draft last weekend when they selected LSU cornerback Greedy Williams in the second round.
And, according to USA Today’s Nate Davis in Monday’s editions, the Browns are one of a few select teams he gave the grade of A to for their performance in the draft.
Sounds pretty good for the Browns, then, huh?
Well, yes. Yes, it does.
But not for the reason you think.
Giving draft grades – on anything – immediately after the draft is silly, ridiculous, stupid, ignorant, useless and a complete waste of time.
Why?
It’s because a draft can’t be graded for at least two to three years, until those picks start developing into the players they will be in the pros. Right now, any draft grade has as much credence as nothing. The people handing out those grades would be better served throwing mud at a wall and see where it sticks.
So, from that standpoint, take what Davis and Breer wrote with a grain of salt – a very small and insignificant grain of salt.
But from another aspect, what Breer and Davis wrote does matter. It matters a whole lot, in fact. It matters because, without really knowing if what the Browns did in the draft was any good at all, those two national guys took a leap of faith and, in so many words, said, “Well, if the Browns did it, it must be excellent, because, as we all know now, everything they do is excellent.”
That phraseology, of course, used to be just the opposite through almost all of the expansion era, especially in that 1-31 stretch in 2016 and ’17. That is, “If the Browns did it, it must be a disaster, because everything they touch turns into a disaster.”
So, the persona of the Browns is a whole heckuva lot better, which will placate the fan base until it can be determined if those draft grades were correct or not.
You have to love what Greedy Williams said
While we’re on the subject of the members of the national media and what they’ve been saying about the Browns recently, which I did in my last two posts, let’s do it again.
Once more, Greedy Williams is involved, but this time in a much different way. Instead of focusing on sportsillustrated.com’s Albert Breer writing that Williams, taken by the Browns in the middle of the second round last Friday night, might be the steal of the entire 2019 NFL Draft, let’s talk about the criticism the former LSU cornerback is taking from all parts of the football world for what he said to the Cleveland media immediately after being selected.
In a conference call, Williams said, when asked what he knew about the Browns, that he knew they are going to win the Super Bowl now. Why, because he’s playing for them, of course.
The national media guys – most of them anyway – are criticizing Williams heavily for being so brash, bold and cocky. That’s a stupid thing to do, they’re saying, because players should be more humble so as to not fire up the opposition.
Hmmm.
You mean like New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath just before meeting the heavily-favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in 1969?
You mean like cornerbacks Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield with the Browns in the 1980s?
You mean like Browns wide receiver Gary Collins in the days leading up to the 1964 NFL Championship Game against another heavily-favored Baltimore Colts team?
When asked by a Cleveland reporter if the Browns were going to beat the Colts, Collins said, without hesitation, “Yes, of course, we’re going to win.”
When Browns head coach Blanton Collier heard when Collins had said, he marched over to him and asked almost unbelievingly, “What are you doing? Why are you saying things like that for?”
“What do you mean?” Collins shot back. “What do you want me to say, that I think we’re going to lose? Why would I play in a game that I think we’re going to lose?”
Collins went out and had one of the best performances ever in an NFL title game, catching three touchdown passes from Frank Ryan in Cleveland’s resounding 27-0 win.
Go get ’em, Greedy. And keep talking.
