THE DRAFT WILL BE HERE — RIGHT HERE — BEFORE YOU KNOW IT
By STEVE KING
It’s now T-minus two months and counting until the 2021 NFL Draft is held in Cleveland for the first time.
The three-day event is set for April 21-May 1.
The details are still being worked out, and that will continue — that’s what COVID-19 does nowadays to long-range plans, especially for an event of this magnitude — but it is nonetheless exciting to think about the spotlight being focused on Cleveland and the Browns. It will be here before you know it.
These drafts seem strange now with the Browns not owning one of the top picks — particularly the No. 1 overall selection — nor in desperate need of finding their franchise quarterback, and that’s a real positive. They already have their guy in Baker Mayfield and a pretty good team around him. There are still a lot of holes, almost all of which are on the defensive side, and they will have to be addressed, but let the other teams worry about the quarterback position.
And two other thoughts:
*Every time one of these things happen — all the reports about former Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway’s alleged affairs, whether the club knew about them or not and that women may have been afraid to report them — it’s a stern warning to all teams in all sports at every level to make sure that they’re doing all the right things to so that theirs is a pleasant work environment. It’s hard to believe that it’s 2021 and, despite the number of times it has occurred elsewhere, some teams still don’t quite get it. I’m not implicating the Indians — or any other team for which Callaway worked — but there’s something going on here and it’s not at all good. It’s a real tragedy.
*I like the fact that head coach Kevin Stefanski said the other day that the Browns still have plenty of work to do. I hope he means it. Despite coming off that playoff appearance, the Browns haven’t arrived or anything even close to it. And, for the first time in a long time, the Browns in 2021 will be the hunted and not the hunters in 2021. They won’t be sneaking up on anyone. As such, they will have to work twice as hard to be ready.
