Jackson not aiming to go jump in the lake
Draft should help team improve on 1-15 and keep their coach dry.
In January, coach Hue BEREA — Jackson vowed to jump into Lake Erie if the Browns go 1-15 in 2017 like they did last season. Last month at the NFL owners meetings, Jackson was optimistic he wouldn’t be taking a dip.
“I have not even thought of the boat,” he said. “I feel better about the process and where we are, and I anticipate I will not be jumping. I will not be putting on swimming trunks. I will not be getting in that water. It’s not happening.”
Now Jackson feels even more sure he’ll avoid the lake because he believes the Browns improved during the three-day NFL draft.
“We’re better,” Jackson said Saturday during a draft wrap-up news conference. “Now how much better we are, we’ll find that out as we go. But I feel more comfortable and confident in our guys that are in the locker room that they know what to expect and how we want to play, and I think we did a great job of draft- ing to our identity and what we want to become here.”
The Browns entered the draft with 11 picks, and after four trades, they got 10 players — five on defense, four on offense (without any additions to an unproven receiving corps) and a kicker. The regime led by head of football operations Sashi Brown, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta and Jackson has picked 24 players and executed nine trades in
two drafts.
A trade down from No. 12 overall with the Houston Texans resulted in the Browns acquiring a 2018 first-round pick. They have 12 picks next year, including two in the first round, three in the second, two in the fourth and two in the sixth.
“Paul and I kind of sat Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week just batting around what would be a successful weekend, and I think if we would have laid this out, we would have bought this early, for sure,” Brown said. “Really proud of our ability to execute our plan and come away with a real successful weekend.”
On Thursday, the Browns drafted three players in the first round for the first time in team history. They are Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett (No. 1), Michigan strong safety Jabrill Peppers (No. 25) and Miami tight end David Njoku (No. 29).
On Friday, they picked Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer (No. 52) in the second round and Charlotte defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi (No. 65) in the third.
On Saturday, they chose Houston cornerback Howard Wilson (No. 126) in the fourth, Florida State left tackle Roderick Johnson (No. 160) in the fifth, Florida defensive tackle Caleb Brantley (No. 185) in the sixth and Arizona State kicker Zane Gonzalez (No. 224) and North Carolina State running back Matthew Dayes (No. 252) in the seventh.
“You take a step back right now as soon as it’s over, look at the names on the card and feel really, really good about the three days as a whole,” DePodesta said.
Garrett has been labeled by draft analysts the consensus best player in this class, and he’s the most physically imposing among the group of athletic freaks picked early by the Browns.
Brantley is the most controversial pick because police in Gainesville, Fla., charged him with misdemeanor battery April 21 after he allegedly punched a woman in the face April 13, knocking her unconscious and displacing a tooth. Brown said the franchise is investigating the incident and might not keep Brantley depending on the outcome.
Ogunjobi, Gonzalez and Dayes played in the Senior Bowl. The Browns got to know them by coaching in the all-star game. Gonzalez is the first kicker drafted by the Browns since 1989.
Kizer is the most intriguing selection, though, because he plays the most important position.
Coming out of the draft, the Browns’ depth chart at quarterback probably looks like this: Cody Kessler, Brock Osweiler, Kizer and Kevin Hogan. Jackson said he’ll give Kizer a chance to compete for the starting job.
It’s notable that Osweiler made it through the draft without being traded. When the Browns took on his salary of $16 million guaranteed in March via a trade with the Texans, they made the move for a 2018 second-round pick, not Osweiler, who’s 13-8 as a starter.
“Cody and Kevin, I think they’ve improved,” Jackson said. “I’ve seen that in our meetings. We haven’t had them on the field [this offseason]. Obviously, Brock has played in the NFL at a high level before, and then [Kizer is] a young, talented player that we’re adding to the mix.
“I just kind of want to get them on the practice field and just kind of groom these guys along with [quarterbacks] coach [David] Lee and see where we can take this group. But I think there’s talent there. Now, is it exactly what we want yet? We’ll find that out. I don’t think that is a question we have to answer today, but I’m excited about the guys that we have.”
Asked if the quarterback room will have the same makeup in July, Brown said, “You can never predict the future, but we feel good about having all the guys in there — Kevin, Brock, Cody and now DeShone to add to that group. It’s a good, young mix, all hungry, competitive guys.”
Brown said the franchise will find out come September how much progress it’s really made.
“We go out to win, and we’re not judging how good we are based on a draft class or free-agency class or anything on paper,” he said. “For us, it’s out there between the lines, and that’s where the buck stops — period. We’re here to win games ... anything short of that’s not acceptable.”