Series Preview: Indians at Yankees
April 16, 2009Preview: Blue Jackets vs. Red Wings (Game 1)
April 16, 2009Most of us were fairly confused when we caught wind that Browns GM George Kokins was planning to hold a pre-draft press conference. It wasn’t like he was going to waltz in with a full color draft board and phone records of all of his staff. But given that he did not have too much to say during his introduction, it was good that he got out in front of the media to answer a few questions.
The OBR set the scene pretty well. A tight-lipped GM that offered very little in terms of detail, but did attempt to address any questions that were asked. A few takeaways…
– Both Derek Anderson and Jamal Lewis had off-season “procedures.” Jamal had some cleaning up of the ankle. D.A. had to rehabilitate from his MCL injury. Kokinis would not say if Anderson had surgery or not – for obvious reasons – but did say that both players are 100 percent.
– Kokinis frequently mentioned that the team has plenty of “options” with the draft. Personally, I think that it means that they have plenty of “holes to fill,” but whatever works. Obviously, he’s open to trading down, but will not hesitate to take a player with the fifth pick if there is a consensus feeling about said player.
– When asked if the team is rebuilding, Kokinis would not answer yes or no (common throughout). Instead, he offered up that they will try to win as many games as possilble. As opposed to the team that doesn’t try to win as many games as possible.
– Kokinis discussed three players: Aaron Curry, Michael Crabrtree and Ray Malaluga. All three instances were baited by the specific question, and there was no insight as to who is valued more than their counterparts.
All in all, I think the press conference was a good move. It’s helthy PR for the team if they get out in front of the media. Kokinis offered little details, but what can we expect? He seems to be on track with the “best player available” frame of thinking, which is good as we have a team that can ill afford to reach for a player at any stage of the game. I assume this means that OL could be an option at fifth-overall, but we’ll see what happens.
Other news and notes:
– The Washington Post claims that the Redskins would like to move up to the third or fourth pick to select Mark Sanchez. Now, I’m not a GM, but if Sanchez is there at five, this seems like a good team to keep on the speed dial.
– The same article lists Brian Orakpo as the Redskins’ top pick if they cannot move up. If another team thinks they can get Orakpo at 13, should we be even considering him at five?
– The New York Daily News reports that the Giants have no intentions of tradingMathias Kiwanuka to Cleveland. I assume this was brought up again with the whole month-late Yahoo! post. It was my understanding that this deal was never a possibility anyways, and he was just a player that the team was interested in for his pass-rushing abilities.
8 Comments
I have to say Scott, I think that press conference was the biggest waste of time. I understand not tipping your hand, but man… at least admit that there are holes on the team.
“no pressing needs” Really? Have you seen this roster? How many WR’s do we have? How many can catch? Lewis had surgery in the off season, and we lost Wright, but RB isn’t a need? The line-backing corpse isn’t a pressing need? Really?
When the entire team is in need, it’s hard to spot the pressing ones. I agree that it was a waste of time in terms of material extracted, but I think it was good of him to realize that getting out in front of the cleveland media at least helps give beat writers something to actually write about instead of discussing rumor all day.
Whole team isn’t in need, we’ve got a great kicker, punter, and long snapper!
I’m sorry, but I just can’t look at that picture of GK and not want to yell, “You are MURDERING the Nard-Dawg!”
… and a great KR! thats pretty much special teams covered, can we just play a whole game on special teams?
In all seriousness, this is what I expected from the press conference. In the other news though, I would open a trade with the ‘skins if they are trying to go up that high. Sanchez and Orakpo could both be there, and yet both gone by 13. I have seen Orakpo as high as 3 or 4, but I think that overrates him a bit. With that said, I doubt there is any way that he gets past the Bills with the 11th pick. He would probably be most effective with a 4-3 team anyways.
….too the place ♪♪♪ where I belong ♪♪♪ West Virginia ♪♪♪ mountain momma…
I for one love the fact that We were told nothing!
I honestly am having more fun with the browns offseason then any in recent memory simply for the fact that we really have no clue what they are going to do on draft day! There are so many ways they can go.
As the saying goes, “loose lips sink ships!”
@ #5 – we have played entire games of special teams in the recent past….namely the last 6 games of this last season.