Zombo said:

That's pretty good stuff.

Zombo

Here is a comprehensive list of visits per Walter Football:

Tavon Austin, WR, West Virginia (PRI)

Anthony Capasso, WR, Ashland (PRO)

Jonathan Cooper, OL, North Carolina (PRI)

Jonathan Cyprien, DB, Florida International (PRI)

Josh Hill, TE, Idaho State (EW)

Lane Johnson, OT, Oklahoma (COM)

Datone Jones, DL, UCLA (PRI)

Dion Jordan, DL, Oregon (PRI)

Don Jones, DB, Arkansas State (PRI)

Jarvis Jones, OLB, Georgia (COM)

Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma (PRO)

Dion Jordan, DL, Oregon (PRI)

Nick Kasa, TE, Colorado (SR)

A.J. Klein, LB, Iowa State (EW)

E.J. Manuel, QB, Florida State (PRI)

Tyrann Mathieu, DB, LSU (PRI)

Dee Milliner, DB, Alabama (PRI)

Ryan Nassib, QB, Syracuse (PRI)

Will Pericak, DL, Colorado (EW)

Sheldon Richardson, DL, Missouri (PRI)

Logan Ryan, DB, Rutgers (PRI)

Matt Scott, QB, Arizona (PRI)

Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia (PRI)

Kenny Stills, WR, Oklahoma (PRI)

D.J. Swearinger, DB, South Carolina (PRI)

Carson Tinker, LS, Alabama (SR)

Cornelius Washington, DL, Georgia (SR)

Larry Warford, OL, Kentucky (PRI)

Earl Watford, OL, James Madison (EW)

Brian Winters, G, Kent State (COM)

SR - Senior Bowl meeting.

EW - East-West Shrine meeting.

COM - Combine meeting.

INT - Interested.

VINT - Very Interested.

PRO - Pro Day meeting.

PRI - Private Workout.

% - indicates more than one meeting.

# - indicates meeting set up outside of the 2013 Senior Bowl or the 2013 East-West Shrine Game

Browns Prospect Visits

I fully expect our first rounder to be on there as teams almost always visit their first round choice. For example, last year the Browns met with Richardson, Weeden, JMJ, and Schwartz.

Zombo said:

# NAME POS. HT. WT. AGE EXP. COLLEGE

37 Bademosi, Johnson DB 6-0 200 22 2 Stanford

34 Barnes, Kevin DB 6-1 190 26 4 Maryland

39 Gipson, Tashaun DB 5-11 205 22 2 Wyoming

23 Haden, Joe DB 5-11 190 23 4 Florida

27 Hagg, Eric DB 6-1 205 23 3 Nebraska

31 Miller, Prince DB 5-9 210 25 2 Georgia

21 Owens, Chris DB 5-9 180 26 4 San Jose State

38 Richardson, Kent DB 5-11 200 25 1 West Virginia

22 Skrine, Buster DB 5-9 185 23 3 Tennessee-Chattanooga

26 Wade, Trevin DB 5-10 190 23 2 Arizona

43 Ward, T. J. DB 5-10 200 26 4 Oregon

I think we are drafting Millner. If we don't I think Trevin Wade gets a good look at corner, I wonder what Lombardi and Farmer though of him coming out?

Owens and Barnes were most like brought in to add depth and compete for nickle and dime slots.

My darkhorse is Johnson Bademosi. he was a cover corner at Stanford, but in the NFL he has the perfect skills and size for a cover safety.

If we were not to draft a corner or a safety or sign another free agent (I think we will draft both) here is how I would see the camp battles ending up:

CB1 Haden

CB2 Wade

Backups: Skrine, Barnes, Owens.

SS Ward

FS Bademosi

Backups: Hagg, Gipson

I was surprised Shurmer and company pushed Skrine out onto the field repeatedly but failed to give Bademosi a look when Haden was out. Especially during the godawful Cowboys game where Skrine was absolutely victimized. My blood pressure was through the roof lol. Owens and Barnes are depth and meant to push incumbent players in my opinion. I am not expecting too much from them.

@gftchris said:

I would only be ok with that if comes in as FS. He just doesn't have the pace to keep up any more. Our pass defence was terrible last year - improving the rush will help, but if we go in with essentially the same secondary we'll get torched again, unless one of the unproven guys really has a breakout year.

In fairness, football is a team game and our injured front 7 and lack of pressure had something to do with coverage. We were missing Taylor and Rubin in the middle of the line for a chunk of the season, and both of our starting OLBs from the previous year the entire season. Add in missing Haden for a third of the year and it is not surprising that the team struggled. I fully believe that Usama Young was so bad that adding a legit FS will make a big difference as well. The guy was a non factor in coverage (and a liability vs. the run).

@unsympathetic said:

Sheldon Brown is done, that's why he's not been resigned. He filled in last year as a starter, but he simply does not have the physical ability to perform at that level in 2013 or beyond. Nobody else on our roster is actually athletic enough to be an NFL starter.

Other GM's haven't drafted 2 cb in round 1, but that's because they achieved their starters by finding "diamonds in the rough" - such as Richard Sherman in rd 5 - or by overpaying for them in free agency.

Other GM's don't draft two top ten CB's because it is overkill and there are better ways to build a team. I saw a list of the #2 CBs from the top ten defenses last year and it was not as impressive as you might think. Shifting gears, as of right now Sheldon Brown is the top ranked FA CB available according to Walter Football:

Brown at 17

I looked this up just now, and it seems that the people at the site agree that he played well last year. He made some big plays and picks that were difference makers last year. People need to come to grips with the fact that all corners get beat from time to time (especially against Peyton Manning and with no FS help). It is just the way it is. Anyways, I highly doubt Brown comes back this year. It is almost a certainty considering Banner let him go in Philly a few years ago.

@the-gipper said:

I probably didn't list him because it is projected he will be gone by the Browns turn. (like he was in our official Mock Draft)

Yeah the top ten of this draft is harder to predict compared to last year where everyone knew the first two picks were Luck and RG3. I have looked at a lot of mocks and people are predicting a number of scenarios. We might get lucky and have it go something like Joekel, Geno Smith, Floyd, Eric Fisher/Star Lotulelei, Star/Milliner leaving us Jordan. I am pretty interested in seeing how this plays out. My roommate and I (both native Clevelanders and big Browns fans) want to go to Radio City for the draft, but you have to wait an ungodly amount of time to get tickets from what I have read online.

@gftchris said:

If Smith is available at 6, surely there will be trade value. The Bills definitely need a QB. Did the Cards really pick up Palmer to be the starter? Or is he coming in for a season or a half to play and then mentor their newly drafted QB?

I would be properly devastated if we pick Smith at 6.

I am with you on this, but I doubt that Smith or whoever ends up being the first QB taken in the draft makes it past the top 3 picks. There is too much incentive for QB hungry teams to move up. If they don't, they have to worry about other teams beating them to the punch. If by some chance he does make it to six, the Browns hit the draft equivalent to a jackpot at the Horseshoe and should trade out immediately. Someone will want to pick a QB there.

@gftchris said:

I didn't realise he had gone there when I posted that, in fairness. I still think they'll take a QB but not in the first round - Kolb has a two year deal, looks like he'll be their QB for this season, and then they'll draft someone in Round 2 - maybe Nassib, seems a sensible fit - that Kolb can mentor, to take over in a year or two.

All that in mind, who are the QB needy teams in this draft now? Is there one? KC, Oakland, Buffalo, Arizona all brought a new starter in apparently. Jags, Detroit, Eagles, Browns all seem set on their current guy. First QB needy team is now probably Jets at 9. Maybe the only team - if they're happy with Sanchez, or at least resigned to him, then does Geno Smith drop to Round 2? At which point, who takes him? Still make Bills most likely to look to draft a franchise QB, along with Arizona (Carson Palmer is clearly not the answer long term).

I am not sure that AZ is looking long term with Carson Palmer, and the Bills are anything but set at QB in my opinion. Neither are the Jaguars, Jets, or Eagles. They filled in their rosters with stop gap options at best. The question is, who needs a QB this year, and is not content to wait it out until next year's more QB laden draft. Somebody would bite though.

@mark-o said:

A whole lot better than releasing him. We got at least something that might turn into something useful for someone who had no future with the Browns.

win win for everyone..

Pretty sneaky by Banner. I remember a statement from him that the Browns had no interest in releasing any of their QBs, and then a few days later this happened. I am pretty sure that we got Billy Winn in the 5th last year. Hopefully we can do it again with an ILB or OG this year.

@mdmusch said:

Dion Jordan.... Badly

Excellent player in pass coverage (can even man up, especially with athletic TE's) and projects to be a decent pass rusher. Imagine this 5-2 front: Sheard/LE, Bryant/LDT, Taylor/NT, Rubin/RDT, Kruger/RE with Jordan and Jackson behind them. Jackson and Jordan both are good coverage backers, so that front could do some serious damage in both running and passing situations. Like I've said many times, Jordan's stats may never be eye popping (something like 15 sacks), but he will do a little bit of everything at a high level.

Jarvis Jones scares me for some reason, always has.

Ansah would have been great if we did not sign Kruger. He fills that exact role, the Big, 3-4 Rusher. I would want a guy with better coverage skills opposite of Kruger.

I am with you. Let's be honest, there is no guarantee that Kruger will be a 3 down player or that Sheard will translate well to OLB. Also, those two guys like to line up on the same side. Regardless, Jordon is big, strong, really fast, and you can never have enough pass rushers. It is one of the most valuable commodities in the NFL.

@the-gipper said:

OUTSIDE LINEBACKER prospects:

First round:

Jarvis Jones GA,

Barkevious Mingo LSU

Third round:

Khaseem Green, Rutgers,

Sio Moore, UConn

Jamie Collins, So. Miss.

Fourth round:

Devonte Holliman, South Carolina

Zaviar Gooden, Missouri

Fifth round:

Jelani Jenkins, Florida

Keith Pough, Howard

Sixth round:

Etienne Sabino, Ohio St.

Brandon McGee, Ariz. St.

Dion Jordon is the guy that I hope the Browns get at 6.

@vaportrail said:

I think we should resign Sheldon Brown to a 1 or 2 year deal. Thoughts?

I would be OK with that for sure. It would allow us to draft a #2 CB in the 2nd round in next year's draft. I think that drafting another CB in the top 10 is overkill and it seems most NFL GMs agree since only maybe one team has done it.

@thenew23 said:

So, who's our starting FS, Hagg? And, who starts at ILB next to Jackson, JMJ?? Not that Young or Gocong were good, but just wondering who we're looking at to replace these guys... Glaring holes at CB2, FS, and ILB that NEED addressed.

I would be very surprised if the Browns do not draft a FS (my guess is in the 3rd round unless there is a trade back at 6). The Browns have met with the following DB prospects: Jonathan Cyprien , Don Jones, D.J. Swearinger, Logan Ryan, Dee Milliner, and Tyran Matthieu. The first three are safeties and the last three are CBs.

As faf as ILB I had JMJ slotted to start just because he is much more mobile- even before Gocong's achilles injury. JMJ played both ILB and OLB in college and I am pretty sure he has said he prefers the 3-4 scheme. We have some depth with Tank Carder, but again I think the Browns will draft an ILB in later rounds. I believe the team met with a kid from Iowa.

@the-gipper said:

OK, here is another group of Super Bowl Trivia. See what you can do.

1. Five different Super Bowl winning teams started their existance under a different name. What are those 5 teams.

(note: for this I am referring to the team nickname, not the city name, so something like the Colts who moved won't count....and also...NO, the Ravens don't count either)

San Diego Chargers, Cincinatti Bengals, and St. Louis Rams.

2. What were the last names of the center and quarterback, respectively, of the very first Super Bowl winning team?

3. Four different colleges are tied with producing the most Super Bowl MVPs (3 each). Name those 4 schools.

4.A. One of the above schools had all 3 SB MVPs won by one player. What school and what player?

B. One of the above schools had all 3 SB MVPs won by 3 different players. What school and what players?

5. Who is the only player to be a member of 3 different Super Bowl winning teams?

6. Who is the oldest player ever to play in a Super Bowl game?

Matt Stover

7. What RB had the highest average gain per attempt in a Super Bowl game, minimum 10 attempts?

Emmitt Smith

8. Who had the most fumbles in the SB in his career?

Kelly was going to be my guess. I will go with Terry Bradshaw.

9. No Head Coach has ever won a Super Bowl with 2 different teams; but, a couple have coached 2 different teams to Super Bowl losses. Name them.

10. No Quarterback has ever taken 2 different teams to Super Bowl wins; but, a couple have QB 2 different teams to Super Bowl losses. Name them.

11. Several different sets of Quarterbacks have faced off against each other in the SB multiple times. Name these multiple faceoffs.

12. There have been 46 Super Bowls played to date. How many Super Bowls have been won by each of the current DIVISIONS? Note, I know that the current division setup is only about 10 years old, but for purposes of this use the current alignment.

#* Bonus....if you would like, also try to state how many SBs have been LOST by the current Divisions:

NFCE:

NFCN:

NFCS:

NFCW:

AFCE:

AFCN:

AFCS:

AFCW:

@the-gipper said:

Here is this week's survey. Several of these questions come courtesy of WKNR's show this morning:

1. Who do you think will win the Super Bowl, 49ers or Ravens?

Not even close. 49ers in a route.

2. From who is or will be available who should be the Browns starting QB when next season starts?

Brandon Weeden. He had a decent rookie year and even broke some rookie records.

3. Who is your all time favorite Cleveland athlete, in any sport or all sports?

Mark Price. I still remember some of the streaks of consecutively made free throws. Also, he was a class act.

4. What athletes had the funniest, quirkiest, funkiest, weirdest, most interesting name?

Since The Gipper ran the gambit on this one, I will just mention an obvious football name- Dick Butkus.

5. Between 5 deg. weather, the flu, cold, sinusitis, bronchitis, etc. etc. who wouldn't want to get the hell out of here So,if you were taken right now to the major airport nearest you and given a blank check to go anywhere you want for a 10 day/2 week period, where would you go? All expenses paid.

Japan. I would like to experience the culture shock between America and over there. Plus, I think Japanese women are smoke shows. Not sure if I would be beating the weather though..

The Browns got the best of this trade by a large margin in terms of value. Here is some empirical analysis to prove it:

Draft Trades

The Julio Jones trade and the RG3 trades were completely lopsided in favor of the teams trading down. In fact, they were two of the worst trades in draft history. Now, if you want to argue that the Browns did not use the picks to draft wisely, I might listen. That being said, I will take Taylor, Little, Weeden, and the 4th rounder every time over Julio Jones. His team did not even win Sunday. Go ask Lions (or Patriots for that matter) fans how important a flashy number one receiver- or two in this case- is.

@the-gipper said:

Here is the list of Browns FAs....is there anyone here we cannot afford to lose?

(and why won't this thing reproduce these lists properly?

I would like to keep Ogbonnaya, Alex Smith or Ben Watson, Cribbs, Phil Dawson, Christian Yount, Sheldon Brown, and Ray Ventrone.

As for FAs Anthony Spencer (OLB) from the Cowboys is on my radar. The Cowboys might switch from 4-3 to 3-4 and he might not be collateral damage from that. I would be thrilled if the team picked up a FS and/or WR in free agency. Watching the Ravens receiver corps, which is crazy good, has convinced me that we need another threat at WR- even though Little and Gordon are going to be very good.

@diehardbrownsfan said:

I agree. Haslam isn't impressing me with any of his leadership picks so far. It maybe that there just isn't anyone who want's the job. Who knows.

Time will tell. I have moved passed the angry stage finally, they are the new front office of the Browns and I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

@miktoxic said:

i don't know dan. the one sticking point that i remember in haslam's first interview after being officially introduced as the new owner of the browns was his commitment of continuity in this organization going forward. it didn't come sideways out of his mouth. it sounded a lot like a promise. so to me i think that means all these hires are going to be around for a long time (until they accept other jobs and move on etc.). anything less than 5 years from these guys would come off as a bold faced lie IMO.

heckert was fired cuz he fingered banner's wife/husband. personal animosity. period.

Good point, and Banner admitted he was going out on a limb on this hire so he must really believe that Lombardi is an improvement (even if it was totally transparent that they are buddies since he was like a giddy school girl when talking about doing mocks with Mike). Who knows? I am willing to concede that Al Davis ran the drafts in Oakland and Lombardi just served as an advisor. I am even willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for his time in Cleveland and Philly as part of learning on the job. What I do not like is all of the character issues. He was accused of undermining Art Shell in Oakland by painting him in a bad light to the media and was subsequently banned from practices, and we was accused of tampering the trade of Randy Moss from Oakland to New England (presumably to help him land a job in New England with his friend Bill Belichick). It also bothers me that they put on this phony search for a GM when clearly Lombardi was waiting in the wings.

I watched the press conference of the announcement on the Browns' website. The Lombardi hire wreaks of croneyism and it was pretty apparent that Banner and Lombardi will be the two main guys making draft mocks and decisions. I am pretty sick about this. Especially after looking at the list of picks Lombardi has made. If this sours, as I think it might, I hope that Haslam has the stones to admit his mistake and make the necessary changes. Also, it is insulting to my intelligence to say that Heckert was fired not because of his ability to draft talent, but because he did not know how to build a team, whatever that means. It is also insulting to my intelligence to tell me that this is an upgrade.

I am a little bit too young to remember the details of the lease that the city of Cleveland drafted for Cleveland Browns stadium and I am not familiar in how other teams structure their stadiums with their cities so I am interested in what some more knowledgeable members have to say. Here is what I do know from some recent news articles on the subject. The city financed the stadium and is in the middle of paying off the around $300 million cost with sin taxes on tobacco and alcohol. The sin tax money also goes towards maintenance and repairs of the stadium; so the city not the Browns pay for that as well at around $850k/year-over half a million more than the Browns pay to lease the place (a paltry $250k/year). Now, Mr. Haslam wants to make around $6 million in repairs and wants the city to be responsible for those costs. Even better, he wants to lend the money to the city, and have Cleveland pay off the loan (plus interest I am assuming). This is coming on the heels of the announcement that the city is about to approve Jimmy Halsam's selling of the naming rights to the stadium to get millions of dollars of revenue a year in exchange (to make the Browns more competitive). It seems to me Mr. Haslam is bending over the city of Cleveland and its residents and the city council is saying no lube please by rubber stamping everything. (I wonder what kind of kickbacks the officials get in all of this?) Anyways, this is how I see it, but I could be wrong.

What I remember most about DA is incomplete passes to the RB in the flat, overthrowing WRs by a mile on simple short routes, and interceptions. Just because the guy can hurl the pigskin a quarter mile like Uncle Rico, does not mean that he is a NFL caliber quarterback.

Maybe the Rams get antsy with Bradford or fall in love with someone early and we can trade back for their two first rounders. Then we could grab two of the following these guys: Chance Warmack, Xavier Rhodes, Dion Jordon/Sam Montgomery. Then we can hope that Joseph Fauria at TE is around in the third. My only other draft opinion is that we should stay away from Jones in the first because spinal stenosis is a serious condition and a threat to his career.

@harry-buffalo said:

Your right, Sheard who dropped back into coverage about twice a game and had no impact in that regard would be perfect for the position. Fact of the matter is that Sheard does not do well in space which is something that EITHER OLB will need to do in the new 3-4. He would need to lose weight to have any chance and even then I do not think a career 4-3 DE of his athletism, while good enough in a 4-3, will be able to make an impact in the 3-4.

Sheard is similar in size (height/weight) to Brian Orakpo and Terrell Suggs for example. It is my opinion that the jury is out on whether or not he can cover in space because we have not seen him do it enough.

@ithika said:

No he doesnt, he's not nearly fast enough. He is however a prototypical NT in the 3-4 but we already have that in Rubin and we know hes good at it. Winn fits a DE in the 3-4 perfect and he played that positon at Boise. Mark my workds we're gonaa run a hybrid D. its done alot these days, Carolina runs it, Arizona runs it, Bmore runs it, Denver, NE, Jets. thats just the teams i can think of.

I disagree. He is about the same size as Raven's DE Haloti Ngata, they both turn out similar 40 times, and from watching Phil, he is fairly athletic. Just my opinion though.

All of these reports with the wording "is expected to hire" or "could hire" are out of control already. With the advent of the internet and social media like twitter reporters think (and seemingly can) get away with saying anything with little or no support behind it. They give a story a half assed guess and throw it out there with the hopes that they guessed right and "broke the story". It sucks and I am sick of it already.