Browns bet on troubled receiver
Callaway drafted despite marijuana, credit-card fraud incidents in past.
There was perhaps no more polarizing prospect in the 2018 NFL draft than Florida wide receiver Antonio Callaway.
He had the college résumé, film highlights and 40-yard dash time to make him a desired target for teams, but his tumultuous off-the-field history was just as significant.
The suspense ended for Callaway on Saturday, as he was taken in the fourth round of the draft with the 105th overall pick by the Cleveland Browns. He’ll now try to prove, as he has asserted in interviews, that he is ready to prioritize his football career and show greater maturity than he exhibited during three rocky years at Florida.
“The Browns just got the best receiver in the draft,” Callaway tweeted soon after his selection. “I can’t thank God enough and to the Cleveland Browns organization, thank you for believing in me!”
Callaway, who becomes the first player recruited by former Florida coach Jim McElwain to get drafted, was a breakout star for the Gators as a freshman in 2015, leading the team with 678 receiving yards and averaging a robust 19.4 yards per catch. He caught four touchdown passes, threw for a touchdown and returned two punts for touchdowns.
He followed that as a sophomore in 2016 by leading the Gators in catches (54) and
receiving yards (721) with three touchdowns through the air, one rushing and a kickoff return for touchdown (on a botched onside kick). In so doing, Callaway became the first Florida player to score touch- downs rushing, receiving, passing, on a punt return
and on a kickoff return. He further emphasized his physical potential by running a 4.41 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, but his talent was never what was in question.
Callaway was suspended in the offseason prior to his sophomore year before ulti- mately being cleared in a Title IX investigation in to a sexual assault allegation. He rejoined the team that sum
mer. He was later involved in a traffic stop with an older man with a lengthy criminal history last spring and pled no contest to posses- sion of drug paraphernalia, paying a fine.
He was going to avoid a suspension for that offense, until he was implicated as one of nine Florida players involved in a scandal in which the players were alleged to have used stolen credit card information to transfer money to their stu- dent bookstore accounts and made unauthorized pur- chases. That led to an indefinite suspension that cost Callaway his entire junior season, but legally, he was given a break pretrial intervention from the State Attorney’s Office that essentially amounted And most to recently, probation. reports Callsurfaced this week that away tested positive for mar
ijuana during the NFL combine. That checkered past cast no doubt diminished
his draft stock and cost him considerable money, but he’ll get his opportunity nonetheless. “We thought that fourth round is right where you
get a guy like this. Because you know you have certain resources to help young men develop,” Browns general manager John Dorsey said in a statement released by the team. “He’ll understand what it is to be a Cleveland Brown.”