Casey Matthews A Draft Option?
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Cleveland Browns links: Casey Matthews a draft option?
Published: Tuesday, January 11, 2011, 10:25 AM Updated: Tuesday, January 11, 2011, 12:40 PM
Cleveland, Ohio -- All the best sports conversations seem to begin, "You remember watching so-and-so play?"
And about the only good thing about getting older is having more memories to access for those conversations. A couple of 'em were brought to the fore last weekend, and again last night.
Starting Blocks was in Houston during the Luv Ya Blue era, and has great memories of Bruce Matthews blowing defensive hulks off the line. We also remember watching Clay Matthews Jr., Bruce's brother as all Browns fans know, run around like a crazy man as a Cleveland linebacker, making plays with guts and grit.
This weekend, watching Clay III do his thing for Green Bay, it was a lot like seeing a reincarnation of his dad (who, for the record, is still on this side of the grass). The hair is a little longer (although by the standards around when Clay Jr. was playing, his locks were a topic of conversation among the skinny-tie and fedora types), but the fervor is the same.
And then last night, watching Casey Matthews, Clay Jr.'s other son, play for Oregon, it all became clear. The Matthews pedigree, the Matthews work ethic, the Matthews durability, the Matthews loyalty would make him a pretty darn good fit for the Browns.
In the morning, minus the Champagne of Beers haze, we rethought the idea and then ... boom! ... we found out we're not the only ones. A blogger on the Cleveland sports fan site Waiting for Next Year advocates drafting him, and offers up both Casey's stats (leading the team in tackles, finalist in the Butkus Award) and the family pedigree to make his case:
First there was William Clay Matthews Sr., who played at Georgia Tech in the 1940s and for four years in the ’50s with the NFL’s 49ers. Among his five children were William Clay Matthews Jr. and Bruce Matthews, both of whom starred at USC. Clay Jr. went on to a 19-year career in the NFL as a linebacker, making the Pro Bowl four times and ranking among the league’s top 20 in games played with 278. Bruce had a 19-year career as an offensive lineman, made the Pro Bowl 14 times, is in the Hall of Fame, and he held the league record in games played at 296 until Brett Favre kept coming back, and back, and back.
Bruce, an offensive line coach with the NFL’s Texans, has seven children, including five boys. Steve played football at Baylor; Kevin just became a starting center for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans late this season; Jake is a freshman at Texas A&M and was scheduled to play in Friday night’s Cotton Bowl; Mikey is a highly recruited high school player in Houston; and fifth-grader Luke weighs 150 pounds and may be the best of them all someday.
Clay Jr., an assistant coach at Oaks Christian High School in Agoura Hills, has five children, four of them boys, three of them football players. Kyle played at USC and got a national championship ring on the 2003 team; William Clay III walked on at USC and worked his way up to starting linebacker and to a 2009 first-round draft choice of the Green Bay Packers.
See what we mean? Makes sense. Plus, we're pretty sure that somewhere back in the equipment room is an old Browns jersey with the name Matthews and the number 57 on the back.
Makes sense
Granted the Browns finished 5-11 AGAIN, and ended up firing their head coach, so in that respect, it was a disappointing season. But they really were in every game except for the season finale, the Pittsburgh blowout. That's waaaaaaay above most of the previous years since the return in 1999 (the 2007 season turned out to be a real aberration).
Eric Mangini's detractors can't or won't give him any credit for that, and whether he deserves any is a moot point at this juncture. But what can't be argued, just flat CAN'T, is that the front office brain trust of President Mike Holmgren, General Manager Tom Heckert and Holmgren assistant Gil Haskell did a great job on the draft and picking up players like Scott Fujita and Ben Watson through free agency and Peyton Hillis through trades.
There's no reason to expect this offseason to be much different. And it all begins with the draft. The Browns picked up the guy who COULD be their quarterback "for the next 10-15 years" in Colt McCoy, according to Holmgren at the press conference after he let Mangini go. And a website devoted to analyzing the draft, DraftSeason.com, has two Browns from the class of 2010 in its top 15:
10. TJ Ward S, Browns - The Browns traded up to get Ward in the second round, which many questioned after taking Joe Haden in the first round. He silenced everyone’s doubts by leading the Cleveland defense with an impressive 123 tackles, and he also added two interceptions. ...
12. Joe Haden CB, Browns – Haden only started 7 games for the Browns this year, but still ended up with 6 interceptions, a forced fumble, and 64 tackles. Having him and TJ Ward in the Brown’s secondary should give Cleveland fan’s plenty of highlights to look forward to.
For the record, the site's early projections having the Browns, who pick sixth overall, taking Nebraska cornerbck Prince Amukamara. "Put this guy opposite youngster Joe Haden and the Browns secondary becomes one of the best young group in the NFL."
BTW, for those who had hopes of drafting a wideout, specifically A.J. Green of Georgia, Andrew Luck's decision to stay at Stanford means Green likely will be taken by the Carolina Panthers, who have the No. 1 overall pick, according to those same projections.
From The Plain Dealer
It's a good bet that the coaching hopeful the Browns are interviewing today -- that would be Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell -- wouldn't object to having either Casey Matthews or Prince Amukamara on his roster.
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With the extra 4th round pick I say you use one of them on Casey.
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I love Casey Matthews, i think we should grab him in the 3rd....
Supposdely the Ratbirds are very intersted in him which scares me some, dont want him going there
I love Casey Matthews, i think we should grab him in the 3rd....
Supposdely the Ratbirds are very intersted in him which scares me some, dont want him going there
You all can guess that he has my vote. But if you need any more incentive there it is! If Ozzie Newsome wants him then he is probably somebody you should draft.
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I think most browns fans want to see us take Oregon linebacker Casey Matthews Saturday. The Question is when? I think there is a real good chance he'll be there in the 5th round, but should we pull the trigger early in the 4th??? His old man is a legend, and i think it would pay great homage to him, as well as loyal browns fan who remember the Clay SR days. Clearly Clay Jr has exceeded most peoples expectations early in Green Bay. I'd love to see this kid with an orange lid on in September. He's a developmental guy who might work into a starting spot in a few years, I'm sure he'd be a special teams demon in the meantime. Let's roll the dice H&H!!! I'm sure he'll pan out better than Kaluka or Veikune.
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I think most browns fans want to see us take Oregon linebacker Casey Matthews Saturday. The Question is when? I think there is a real good chance he'll be there in the 5th round, but should we pull the trigger early in the 4th??? His old man is a legend, and i think it would pay great homage to him, as well as loyal browns fan who remember the Clay SR days. Clearly Clay Jr has exceeded most peoples expectations early in Green Bay. I'd love to see this kid with an orange lid on in September. He's a developmental guy who might work into a starting spot in a few years, I'm sure he'd be a special teams demon in the meantime. Let's roll the dice H&H!!! I'm sure he'll pan out better than Kaluka or Veikune.
I think most browns fans want to see us take Oregon linebacker Casey Matthews Saturday. The Question is when? I think there is a real good chance he'll be there in the 5th round, but should we pull the trigger early in the 4th??? His old man is a legend, and i think it would pay great homage to him, as well as loyal browns fan who remember the Clay SR days. Clearly Clay Jr has exceeded most peoples expectations early in Green Bay. I'd love to see this kid with an orange lid on in September. He's a developmental guy who might work into a starting spot in a few years, I'm sure he'd be a special teams demon in the meantime. Let's roll the dice H&H!!! I'm sure he'll pan out better than Kaluka or Veikune.
I want to see him in the Brown and Orange as well, but I'm not going to blame Heckert if he tries to wait and get him in the 5th and someone else jumps on him. Heck I wouldn't even hold it against him if Heckert didn't draft him at all just because at this point I trust in Heckerts judgement.
Ruining threads since 1897. -
We should take him in the fourth. I think he will be there in the 5th round, but i'd lock him in early. He has a ton of potential. He's got the bloodline. His dad was a great, his brother appears to be on his way and we passed on him, so i think H&H have to give this kid a shot. You wont hear too many loyal Browns fans complain.
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I think most browns fans want to see us take Oregon linebacker Casey Matthews Saturday. The Question is when? I think there is a real good chance he'll be there in the 5th round, but should we pull the trigger early in the 4th??? His old man is a legend, and i think it would pay great homage to him, as well as loyal browns fan who remember the Clay SR days. Clearly Clay Jr has exceeded most peoples expectations early in Green Bay. I'd love to see this kid with an orange lid on in September. He's a developmental guy who might work into a starting spot in a few years, I'm sure he'd be a special teams demon in the meantime. Let's roll the dice H&H!!! I'm sure he'll pan out better than Kaluka or Veikune.
I want to see him in the Brown and Orange as well, but I'm not going to blame Heckert if he tries to wait and get him in the 5th and someone else jumps on him. Heck I wouldn't even hold it against him if Heckert didn't draft him at all just because at this point I trust in Heckerts judgement.
Hillis-iz-Boss said:
I want to see him in the Brown and Orange as well, but I'm not going to blame Heckert if he tries to wait and get him in the 5th and someone else jumps on him. Heck I wouldn't even hold it against him if Heckert didn't draft him at all just because at this point I trust in Heckerts judgement.
I want this kid big time, but like you, I trust Heckert's moves whether or not he agrees with me. After all, he's the expert.
Mike
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We should take him in the fourth. I think he will be there in the 5th round, but i'd lock him in early. He has a ton of potential. He's got the bloodline. His dad was a great, his brother appears to be on his way and we passed on him, so i think H&H have to give this kid a shot. You wont hear too many loyal Browns fans complain.
We should take him in the fourth. I think he will be there in the 5th round, but i'd lock him in early. He has a ton of potential. He's got the bloodline. His dad was a great, his brother appears to be on his way and we passed on him, so i think H&H have to give this kid a shot. You wont hear too many loyal Browns fans complain.
I'm going to preface my comment that Ray Lewis didn't have great measurables either. Yeah, since we whiffed on his brother, it would be nice to have him in a Browns uniform.
However, we can't be sentimental. By today's standards, Matthews 6'1" 230 is a runt @ linebacker- if he had better speed (couldn't find his 40 time) he'd be better suited to play saftey.
Depends on how far he falls- and I'm sure Ozzie Newsome hasn't forgotten about playing with his dad.
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I think most browns fans want to see us take Oregon linebacker Casey Matthews Saturday. The Question is when? I think there is a real good chance he'll be there in the 5th round, but should we pull the trigger early in the 4th??? His old man is a legend, and i think it would pay great homage to him, as well as loyal browns fan who remember the Clay SR days. Clearly Clay Jr has exceeded most peoples expectations early in Green Bay. I'd love to see this kid with an orange lid on in September. He's a developmental guy who might work into a starting spot in a few years, I'm sure he'd be a special teams demon in the meantime. Let's roll the dice H&H!!! I'm sure he'll pan out better than Kaluka or Veikune.
I want to see him in the Brown and Orange as well, but I'm not going to blame Heckert if he tries to wait and get him in the 5th and someone else jumps on him. Heck I wouldn't even hold it against him if Heckert didn't draft him at all just because at this point I trust in Heckerts judgement.
Hillis-iz-Boss said:
I want to see him in the Brown and Orange as well, but I'm not going to blame Heckert if he tries to wait and get him in the 5th and someone else jumps on him. Heck I wouldn't even hold it against him if Heckert didn't draft him at all just because at this point I trust in Heckerts judgement.
Absolutely. Going beyond the name Casey is going to have to bulk up- 230 lbs, & get way stronger (13 reps @ 225, I'm betting you can go down to your local Gold's Gym and find a few guys who can do better than that).
And I'm with you- if we take him at all, top of the 5th is as high as I'd go. We have far more pressing needs to address in the fourth round.
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First pick in the 4th round. He will be gone alot sooner than you think.
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First pick in the 4th round. He will be gone alot sooner than you think.
First pick in the 4th round. He will be gone alot sooner than you think.
You pick. Mine? If talent is equal, go with the bigger guy.
PS, for the crowd that was screaming for Peterson, there's a ton of DBs rated higher than either.
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First pick in the 4th round. He will be gone alot sooner than you think.
You pick. Mine? If talent is equal, go with the bigger guy.
PS, for the crowd that was screaming for Peterson, there's a ton of DBs rated higher than either.
You pick. Mine? If talent is equal, go with the bigger guy.
PS, for the crowd that was screaming for Peterson, there's a ton of DBs rated higher than either.
I know I know but we need a Matthews!!!
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