The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Browns need WRs, CBs as much as a QB
With the NFL Scouting Combine on tap, the Browns need to scout receivers and cornerbacks as much as they do quarterbacks, Jeff Schudel writes. Plus, more on Tyronn Lue and Lonnie Chisenhall.
The Browns head to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis in the week ahead seeking touchdown makers and touchdown preventers as well as, it is needless to say, a quarterback.
Along the way to the infamy that goes with an 0-16 record the Browns intercepted only seven passes — the fewest in franchise history. The previous record was eight picks made in the 1999 expansion season.
The 234 points scored by the Browns was the fewest in the league. The Giants scored the secondfewest with 246.
“The Browns need players that can catch the ball on offense and players that can catch the ball on defense,” an NFL executive said. “Everybody focuses on who they should draft at quarterback. They need playmakers on both sides of the ball.”
Jabrill Peppers was out of position as a rookie free safety in 2017. He would have a bigger impact as a strong safety nearer the line of scrimmage, as his coaches at Michigan realized when they moved him from safety to linebacker in his final season with the Wolverines.
Minkah Fitzpatrick from the University of Alabama can play free safety or cornerback. He would fill a more pressing need than would Penn State running back Saquon Barkley with the fourth pick.
The Browns own picks one, four, 33, 35, 63, 65, 103, 125, 140, 161, 179 and 220. At some point with three picks in the second round the Browns should choose a left tackle.
According to ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper, 2018 is not a deep draft for safeties, wide receivers or edge rushers, which is why the battalion of Browns coaches, scouts and personnel executives will be on the prowl in Indianapolis to figure out how to uses their first six picks wisely.
Courtland Sutton of SMU and James Washington of Oklahoma State are two wide receivers that might still be on the board when the Browns pick at the top of the second round.
General manager John Dorsey plans to pick the best player available regardless of position. With so many needs, he won’t have to reach to fill a hole.
• Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon will be an exclusive rights free agent when the league year begins on March 14, according to the NFLPA.
An ERFA is normally a player whose contract expires after his first or second year in the league. Gordon was a rookie in 2012. He played 13 games as a rookie and 14 in 2013 when he led the NFL with 1,646 receiving yards.
A player must play a minimum of six games to earn an accrued season. Because of all his substance abuse violations, Gordon played only five games in 2014, none in 2015 and 2016, and five in 2017. He caught 18 passes for 335 yards and one touchdown last season after a nearly three-year banishment.
The Browns can retain Gordon’s rights by offering him the minimum salary for a player with two accrued seasons, which is $603,000. Gordon’s only options would be to sign the tender or retire.
The Browns have faith Gordon is staying on the straight and narrow. If he signs for one year he would still be a restricted free agent in March 2019. The team and Gordon should work on a multiyear deal because, despite everything that has gone wrong for him since his record-setting 2013 season, Gordon is still the Browns’ best offensive weapon.
Lue kept the peace
Three weeks ago, fans wanted Coach Tyronn Lue fired. The Cavaliers were sinking in the Eastern Conference. They were meshing like a polka dot tie and a plaid shirt.
The Feb. 8 trades of Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, and Channing Frye for Larry Nance Jr., Jordan Clarkson, Rodney Hood and George Hill brought harmony back to the team.
Asked after a practice last week whether he had to bite his lip all those times he was asked why the Cavs weren’t clicking, Lue evasively answered, “I don’t remember.”
“I don’t know” or “I don’t remember” is Ty Lue code for “I’m not going to answer that question.”
The fact is Lue did an amazing job of keeping the team from fracturing completely during a stretch that saw them lose 14 of 21 games from Dec. 19 to Feb. 6.
Thomas has played in three games with the Lakers, all as a substitute, since being traded. He is averaging 20 minutes and 10.7 points a game. He is averaging 4.3 turnovers – up from 2.7 with the Cavaliers when he averaged 27 minutes and 14.7 points in 15 games with 14 starts.
Thomas is going to be very disappointed and humbled when contract time comes around this summer. He is hoping for a max contract. He won’t come close to getting one.
• The 110-103 loss to the Washington Wizards on Feb. 22 at Quicken Loans Arena was reflective of what Lue and LeBron James talk about when they say the four new players have to get up to speed with their new roles.
Unlike the road wins on Boston and Oklahoma City after the trades, the game with Washington was a tight one. Hill, Clarkson, Nance and Hood still have to learn how to contribute with the game on the line.
“Where I am now, I think we can be really good,” James said after the game. “We got 20-plus games left to try to figure it out. I think if we can do that, we continue what we’re on now, and then we’ll be OK.”
The Cavs are 35-23, six games behind Toronto in the Eastern Conference. Twenty-four games remain for the Cavaliers starting with a home game Feb. 25 with the San Antonio Spurs.
Don’t forget Chisenhall
The Indians will miss Jay Bruce, who homered seven times and drove in 26 runs in 43 games after being acquired from the Mets on Aug. 9 last year. Bruce re-signed with the Mets in free agency.
Lonnie Chisenhall was cruising along as the Indians right fielder until a calf injury landed him on the disabled list on July 10. He led the Indians with 51 RBI at the time.
Chisenhall didn’t return to the lineup until Sept. 1, aggravated the calf injury on Sept. 14, and batted 49 times after the original injury, adding only two RBI to his pre-injury total.
The good news is Chisenhall is 100 percent healthy as the Indians enter the second week of spring training in Goodyear, Ariz.
“You try to have a goal every offseason, something you want to achieve,” Chisenhall told reporters. “Each year, I’ve showed to spring and I accomplished my goal. This year I wanted to increase my flexibility.
“I run better at a certain lower weight. If I’m asked to play more positions, I’ll be more agile and things like that. As you get older, you have to do more to take care of your body. I incorporated some of that, which was building on what went on last year.”
Chisenhall, a first-round draft pick by the Indians in 2008 (29th overall) is 29 years old.
I didn’t know that
… until I read my Snapple bottle cap.
Abraham Lincoln was the only U.S. president who was also a licensed bartender . ... Norway once knighted a penguin. It happened in 2008. ... Cleveland is home to the first electric traffic lights . ... Every tweet sent by Americans is archived in the Library of Congress. ... The patent for a fire hydrant was destroyed in a fire . ... Caterpillars have more than 2,000 muscles.
Reach Schudel at JSchudel@News-Herald. com. On Twitter: @jsproinsider