Carlos Santana signs with Philadelphia Phillies
December 15, 2017Ravens soar over the Browns, 27-10, as Cleveland falls to 0-14
December 17, 2017It’s episode 100 of The Nail, and the guys are keeping it a buck on new Browns GM John Dorsey, how we watch Cavs games, NBA All-Star Game sites, the Indians’ offseason, Rice Krispie Treats and more. On the anniversary of Mike Holmgren’s infamous “Don’t call me for playoff tickets” diatribe and the disastrous debut of Johnny Football, John Dorsey added a new entry into Browns lore by declaring he wants “real players.” Fair or unfair? … Plus: How do you watch the Cavs? The guys discuss the merits of national TV broadcasts vs. Fox Sports Ohio productions, as well as watching live vs. on DVR.
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Intro/outro music: “The 3rd” by Anitek
Tom Valentino is co-creator and co-host of The Nail in the Coffin, a weekly Cleveland sports podcast, and a former newspaper sportswriter. He lives in Painesville, Ohio, and you can follow him on Twitter at @1tomvalentino or email him at tom@waitingfornextyear.com.
6 Comments
REAL PLAYERS. Watching the sunglass group have fun while losing another game was disgusting. Get rid of Coleman (bust) and Gordon (soon to make it rain when he gets his first paycheck) while there may still be some trade value.
I thought Dorsey’s comments were unprofessional and stupid, and it doesn’t bode well for our long-hoped-for turnaround. First of all, why torch a guy on his way out? You never know who you’re going to work with in the future. Second, “guys?” He’s insulting people still working for the team, including potentially their whole scouting staff if there was strong consensus on some of those decisions. And third, he just declared half the players on the team not “real players,” and while there is obviously a talent deficit on the team still, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a bunch of talented players who are going to be here and you just insulted ON BEHALF OF THEIR COACH! Here are some of the the “not real players” the previous regime brought in:
Emmanuel Ogbah
Shon Coleman
Joe Schobert
Derrick Kindred
Jaime Meder
Jaime Collins
Myles Garrett
Jabril Peppers
David Njoku
Larry Ogunjobi
Jason McCourty
JC Tretter
Kevin Zeitler
Derrick Kindred
Seth Devalve
Their rookie quarterback who is still trying to figure it out
A half dozen guys who genuinely aren’t real players…
If I were one of those guys, I’d be pissed, and I’d think this is what my coach is saying about me behind my back after saying something else to my face. “You are your record?” Nothing like a meaningless footballism to instill some confidence that he sees talent where it is and not just his opportunity to put his stamp on a team and prove he’s the best picker in the world. He feels like another Ray Farmer to me.
I feel like this is foreshadowing of another eventual turnover of the roster. Dorsey is politicking from the start by saying every pick before was terrible in order to buy himself some leeway. But I think he’s going to squander the sacrifice made over the last two years by re-drafting positions to get rid of the old regime’s people. (while using all those picks that the last guy got you while telling Haslam it was going to be painful for a couple of seasons) If Haslam thinks he can just swap out Brown for Dorsey and everything will continue on the same except for having a “football guy” making the final roster/draft decisions, he’s an idiot. There will be ripples. Dorsey and DePodesta are more than likely incompatible, and guys like Dorsey want to remold scouting in their image, because they want to be the guru. It’s all going to change at the top, and if the team doesn’t turn around quickly next season, the coaching staff, then you have new systems and different priorities, and so on and so forth. It’s yet another blowing up of a team that has suffered from lack of continuity from the day Haslam bought it.
Look, if Dorsey does hit on all his picks, then the team will be good and none of this will matter, but color me skeptical. If you look at the drafts he actually had say over (he was just in charge of scouting most of those years in Green Bay – didn’t necessarily make the decision) his record is as mixed as anybody elses. Some great, some good, some decent, some bad. That’s just how it works. Maybe Green Bay was successful because they stuck with the plan for more than 19 months.