WHEN MEASURED BECAME AGGRESSIVE, THEN MEASURED AGAIN

By STEVE KING

Being measured is not being mellow.

It is not meandering.

Nor is it being wishy-washy.

Being measured is, instead of just going out on a limb without any thought and start wildly flailing, seeing an opportunity and, after processing it fully, going after it with gusto because it is a calculated risk worth taking.

That’s what Browns Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Andrew Berry did – that’s who he was – on Friday night during Day 2 of the NFL Draft in Cleveland.

A guy who, in the first round the last two years, was willing to stay patient and let the draft come to him because it was the best course of action, decided to be bold and aggressive and make a big move because to refuse to do so would have been … well, silly, derelict of duty.

Watching Notre Dame linebacker/quasi-safety Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, someone who could have easily gone in in the first 20 picks of Thursday night’s opening round, start to slide to the linebacker-needy Browns as the second round began, Berry made a trade with the Carolina Panthers so as to be able to go up and grab him at No. 52 overall. At the end of the evening, following round three, more than a few analysts were calling it the steal of the draft.

That is to be determined, but on paper at least – and that’s the only way you can look at any of this right now – it appears the Browns – and Berry – certainly made a positive move, and we’ll leave it at that.

Then later in the evening, in the third round at No. 91 overall, Berry, with his team in desperate need of a returner, stayed right where he was, let the draft come to him and took the fastest player in the draft – he has 4.25 speed in the 40-yard dash – in Auburn wide receiver Anthony Schwartz.

Measured? Berry was that in taking Schwartz. You have to be able to do both – you have to know when to do what – or else you’re going to look silly, like guys named Ray Farmer. Remember him? Yes, I also wished I didn’t.