@tiamat63 said:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45589819/browns-release-ogbo-okoronkwo-sign-kicker-andre-szmyt

Our best DPR has been cut. 

May have been a money move to save a few mil. This guy seems to think the team is pretty confident in a few of the younger DEs they have on the team. We will see…

https://bvmsports.com/2025/06/29/why-did-the-browns-release-ogbo-okoronkwo/

Our best DPR has been cut. 

@flugel said:

Anyway, this video below

I love Bernie!  He' always been so football-smart.  When he was commentating on the preseason broadcasts, they'd break the huddle and still be half way walking to the LOS and he'd say, This play has zero chance of success.  And sure enough it'd be a run into the line for no gain.

And he's absolutely Sooo right.  Don't put the rookie QB's into the games in September.  Let the offense get sorted out.  Let the OL get settled in and sorted out before putting in a rookie QB behind them.

And he said that he didn't study Gabriel.  Nor did I, or hardly anyone else, related to the Browns upcoming 2025 draft.  He just wasn't on my radar.  After the pick, looking at his numbers, then, yeah, He has the stats.  Me personally, I don't care for little QB's.  But I wish him as much luck as Sanders.

@orion said:

But we don't know that, we surmise.  Somebody could've picked him before our next pick.  We don't know that nobody would've picked him.  We didn't know that the Browns had him rated so high.  His name certainly didn't come up around here too often, pre draft.  But his numbers / stats  rank him as one of the best QB's in the draft.  

So, after your QB evaluations, he's your choice as the 2nd best QB in the draft.  It would not be a stretch for you to think that if YOU see him with that kind of value, others may have reached the same conclusion.  

And lastly, he plays QB.  They get rated on a different curve because of the position importance (your team is dogshit without one).  

They saw an opportunity, in the 3rd round, to come out of the draft with the QB they wanted  (for whatever reason, starter, future backup ???}.  I can't fault them for the pick.  We had no QB.   Now, if he turns out to stink, then I could fault them for evaluation.  But, as we know, the draft is a crap-shoot.  

On top of it being a crap-shoot - our ownerships haven't always had appropriate FOs and/or coaching staffs in tact to develop a young QB the right way.  There needs to be an understanding between inevitable growing pains within a learning curve vrs jumping to a premature conclusion on a QB. For example, the Tampa Bay Bucs back in the day concluding Steve Young was trash before he was given a reasonable chance to succeed.  At 1 point Dallas had a temptation/consideration of Steve Walsh over Troy Aikman; but lucky for them they resisted that temptation to the disappointment of some portion of their fanbase.

Anyway, this video below shares some interesting perspective on when to start one of the rookie QBs from someone was a rookie QB here that waited until week 7 to start his 1st game in 1985.  Interestingly enough, the Browns won the AFC Central with an 8-8 record that year.  

@syd said:

pulling for this guy

Thanks Syd!  I got reeled in too... 

@tiamat63 said:

they unnecessarily overpaid. 

But we don't know that, we surmise.  Somebody could've picked him before our next pick.  We don't know that nobody would've picked him.  We didn't know that the Browns had him rated so high.  His name certainly didn't come up around here too often, pre draft.  But his numbers / stats  rank him as one of the best QB's in the draft.  

So, after your QB evaluations, he's your choice as the 2nd best QB in the draft.  It would not be a stretch for you to think that if YOU see him with that kind of value, others may have reached the same conclusion.  

And lastly, he plays QB.  They get rated on a different curve because of the position importance (your team is dogshit without one).  

They saw an opportunity, in the 3rd round, to come out of the draft with the QB they wanted  (for whatever reason, starter, future backup ???}.  I can't fault them for the pick.  We had no QB.   Now, if he turns out to stink, then I could fault them for evaluation.  But, as we know, the draft is a crap-shoot.  

@orion said:

I hear ya.  But we have to remember that they had Gabriel as the #2 QB in the draft.  Be it right or wrong...

In poker, you don't plan your hand. You're playing the hand of the man across from you. 

 If the Browns had Gabe as the #2 QB and a 3rd round value, but the consensus around the league with professional contacts wasn't the same - then they unnecessarily overpaid.   

@dutch-oven said:

I'm starting to really loathe them taking Gabriel in the 3rd round now.

I hear ya.  But we have to remember that they had Gabriel as the #2 QB in the draft.  Be it right or wrong...

@dutch-oven said:

I know the Browns had no idea Sanders was going to fall to the 5th round, but I'm starting to really loathe them taking Gabriel in the 3rd round now. Ohio State's LB Cody Simon and DE Jack Sawyer were still on the board, as was South Carolina's DE Kyle Kennard and Notre Dame's safety Xavier Watts. Plus many OLinemen on a team desperate for young OLinemen. 

I think the QB room has to be Flacco and Sanders, but it is early, we'll see how things look during training camp. 

I can’t fault them for sticking to their plan. The best you can hope for from the FO is to do the legwork to have a plan, the stick to-it-iveness to stick to the plan, and the flexibility to smartly alter that plan when opportunity knocks the door down. 

I think the QB room has to be Flacco and Sanders, but it is early, we'll see how things look during training camp. 

 Beyond that he's an average to below average ball carrier. 

 If they pickup the details fast as rookies, they will end up taking over for him.  But like Dutch said, barring miracle improvement, he's gone next year.  

@texasag1969 said:

Ford also shows flashes of running into traffic that vision could have helped him avoid.

Yup....that's him too.  

@flugel said:

Ford isn't as bad as people make him out to be sometimes.  He had to replace fan fave Nick Chubb which is no easy task.  The 1 thing Ford did that made fans' skin crawl (mine included) was turn something like a 3 yard loss into a 45 yard loss. There were other times he turned what should have been a short loss into a bigger loss.  Next thing we know - the Browns fired Stump Mitchell and hired Duce Staley. 

If you track Ford's college career, he ended up transferring out of Alabama to the University of Cincinnati.  During the 2021 season when they went to the BCS playoffs - he scored 20 TDs in 13 games while rushing for over 1319 yards at 6.2 yards per carry with 19 TDs & catching 21 passes for 220 yards with 1 TD. The year before he transferred, he averaged 6.6 yards per carry so there were things to tap - and Cincy did that.  At this level, I think he deserves to compete for a roster spot against some very good competition.  Let's see what happens... 

Honestly he'll make a good backup RB to Judkins this season.

He's not a 250 carry a season guy, but he's a good complement RB, and after the season he'll be done with his rookie contract and will move on to somewhere else. 

@dutch-oven said:

The guy who averaged 5.4 yards per carry last season and is good for about 40 receptions a season?

Ford isn't as bad as people make him out to be sometimes.  He had to replace fan fave Nick Chubb which is no easy task.  The 1 thing Ford did that made fans' skin crawl (mine included) was turn something like a 3 yard loss into a 45 yard loss. There were other times he turned what should have been a short loss into a bigger loss.  Next thing we know - the Browns fired Stump Mitchell and hired Duce Staley. 

If you track Ford's college career, he ended up transferring out of Alabama to the University of Cincinnati.  During the 2021 season when they went to the BCS playoffs - he scored 20 TDs in 13 games while rushing for over 1319 yards at 6.2 yards per carry with 19 TDs & catching 21 passes for 220 yards with 1 TD. The year before he transferred, he averaged 6.6 yards per carry so there were things to tap - and Cincy did that.  At this level, I think he deserves to compete for a roster spot against some very good competition.  Let's see what happens... 

@texasag1969 said:

Ford also shows flashes of running into traffic that vision could have helped him avoid. Trade him or drop him. Waste of a roster space IMO.

The guy who averaged 5.4 yards per carry last season and is good for about 40 receptions a season?

@orion said:

I think that Ford has shown enough flashes that somebody is gonna have to flat out beat him out.  I certainly don't think that Pierre Strong can do it.  

Ford also shows flashes of running into traffic that vision could have helped him avoid. Trade him or drop him. Waste of a roster space IMO.

@syd said:

fords contract is very tradeable 

I think that Ford has shown enough flashes that somebody is gonna have to flat out beat him out.  I certainly don't think that Pierre Strong can do it.  

@orion said:

That’s why Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report believes Marshall could make the 53-man roster.

“The Cleveland Browns don’t need a third rookie running back on the roster. Even so, Appalachian State’s Ahmani Marshall presents something different compared to Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson,” Sobleski wrote. “He’s a well-built ball-carrier who can and will run through first contact. He makes quick and decisive downhill cuts as an efficient runner. He didn’t even become a full-time lead back until late into his final season on campus, when he posted five straight 100-yard games to finish his career.”

there have been positive reports about him during OTAs

-----   

I posted about this guy's run of 100 yard rushing games when we signed him.  And his 6'1  225 size.  But how many RB's can we keep?    

I always like to read about guys like him.  Special teams are a great opportunity for a rookie like him to impress people. 

Here's video of a 6th round draft pick for Denver that had an injury plagued college career at Georgia trying to make the team as a rookie.