Browns’ regime (finally) drafts multiple wide receivers
May 3, 2016Ball Played: Profiling the Indians after the NFL Draft and a big win over the Tigers
May 4, 2016Happy Wednesday, Blawg Pound. Be advised that most of what lies herein is pure internet trash. I’m okay with this if you are. It resulted from something like this: I was kicking around ideas for what I wanted to write about, and nothing that felt like anything came to mind. There were a bunch of half-formed thoughts and weakly held opinions bouncing around the ol’ noggin. Cobbling a few hundred words out of them did not make for an appetizing option. My interest in sports — and most things, really — goes through fits and starts. I suppose that makes this a fit.
In any event, I found myself thinking about the Browns draft class of 2016. The Browns have received mostly positive reviews for their performance last weekend, buoyed by their acquisition of future assets. Feelings are more mixed about the players they actually selected. This is reasonable, as no one has any goddamn idea which of the 250-some players picked are going to turn out to be good. We see this same cycle every year, with post-draft grades accompanied by kvetching about said grades, yet it goes on and on and on. I’m not even mad about it; a bunch of “idk, maybe this guy will be good” pieces won’t exactly move the needle. Just because something’s dumb doesn’t mean people won’t have an appetite for it.1
What’s stuck with me about this batch of new Browns is that most of them look to be cut from a similar cloth.
I don’t much care about those questions right now. For one, as stated above, we ain’t got no idea which of these dudes might go boom or bust. For two, the Browns suck real bad, so odds are at least one or two of the baker’s dozen (plus one!) guys they added wind up helping a little bit.
It seems to me that choosing all of these high-character-type guys was aimed at creating a better Browns culture. It’s no secret that the Browns have been a special brand of toxic trash, and we’ve seen plenty of players and coaches and executives talk about the importance of developing a winning culture. Why not take a whole bunch of guys who are defined by their tryharditude more than their raw talent? This isn’t to say that they’ve drafted a bunch of non-producing losers in years past. It just feels to me that this crop was chosen for a reason. Let them hang around for a couple years and send good vibes through Berea. Can’t hurt nothin’.
A quote from Sashi Brown in Jenny Vrentas’ MMQB piece on the Browns’ draft alluded to this very point
“Coming off our recent history here, it’s really important, for a period of time, to find higher character guys than we might normally look at,” Brown said. “Any time you are trying to build something you want to be successful, it’s important to focus on the traits to form a real young core of leaders.
Anywho, this has all been a longwinded way of saying that I dove into the newest Browns’ post-draft Twitter reactions because I wanted to see what sort of online presences they have. I would call this “curating content” if use of the word curate in a non-museum setting didn’t make me want to stab people. Copying and pasting ain’t curating unless you’re copying and pasting previously unseen Van Gogh prints or something, ya know?
Let us assemble these Twitter reactions into categories…
Boilerplate
https://twitter.com/CarlNassib/status/726454919855747072
So excited and blessed to be a new member of the Cleveland Browns! I'm looking forward to the… https://t.co/IYZplK6a72
— Spencer Drango (@Drango58) April 30, 2016
Let's get it! @Browns #DawgPound
— Ricardo Louis (@GuttaManRick) April 30, 2016
I used to dream about this moment as a kid. Extremely blessed and thankful to be a Cleveland Brown! #DawgPound pic.twitter.com/GyZ3I794AM
— Cody Kessler (@CodyKessler6) May 1, 2016
Marred by Typos (the same typo, in fact!)
I'm blessed to be apart of the Cleveland Browns!!!
— Shon Coleman (@bighomieshon) April 30, 2016
Thank You Cleveland for blessing me with this amazing opportunity! Proud to be apart of the… https://t.co/yceDARtKa6
— Derrick Kindred (@ddkjr26) May 2, 2016
Emoji Game Skrong
https://twitter.com/ddkjr26/status/726577788610727940
Heartfelt and/or Heartwarming
Lord knows where I would have been without this beautiful woman. pic.twitter.com/Ac9CgQrWWZ
— Corey Coleman (@TheCoreyColeman) April 28, 2016
Thank God for all that he's done. Words can't explain how I'm feeling right now. The Journey begins #DawgPound
— Trey Caldwell (@_IceTr3y) April 30, 2016
We may be #WildcatsForLife but we're headed to the #DawgPound! Thank you, @Browns! pic.twitter.com/90roFVSkf0
— Scooby Wright III (@TwoStarScoob) May 1, 2016
#Sponsored
#DawgPound, I'm comin' for ya! Can't wait to show the Orange and Brown what I'm made of, @TideNFL #OurColors #ad pic.twitter.com/wC6cRCITXx
— Corey Coleman (@TheCoreyColeman) April 29, 2016
S/o @twitter for the #NFLDRAFT gear! #WelcomeToTheLeague pic.twitter.com/ZU9pmleptZ
— Emmanuel Ogbah (@EmanOgbah) May 3, 2016
#Sponsored, Skittles Division (Or: Diabetes Impending)
https://twitter.com/EmanOgbah/status/726066918327767040
Thank you @Skittles for my NFL Draft care package. Great way to start a big week! #DrafttheRainbow #TastetheRainbow pic.twitter.com/HITvPM9AuX
— Spencer Drango (@Drango58) April 27, 2016
Thanks @Skittles for sending me this package and having me covered for my draft day snacks! #TasteTheRainbow pic.twitter.com/fXfDcrGuNk
— Joe Schobert (@TheSchoGoesOn53) April 27, 2016
Welp, Here’s Hoping
Just found out I'll be wearing the jersey number of Browns Legend Bernie Kosar. I couldn't be more humbled and excited at the same time! #19
— Corey Coleman (@TheCoreyColeman) May 3, 2016
Thank you best decision you ever made
— Scooby Wright III (@TwoStarScoob) May 1, 2016
Where Did You Even Find That Graphic
Extremely happy and blessed to be a member of the Cleveland Browns organization #DawgPound pic.twitter.com/B03aCETA5Q
— Joe Schobert (@TheSchoGoesOn53) May 1, 2016
Fine Pandering
https://twitter.com/JordanPayton/status/727610423160102912
https://twitter.com/JordanPayton/status/727629282172801024
https://twitter.com/JordanPayton/status/727661009544970242
Couldn’t Have Said It Better Myself
Nobody move nobody git bit #DawgPound
— Wood (@CALLME_WOOD) May 1, 2016
- Insert GOP joke here. [↩]
26 Comments
I like seeing guys excited to be here, if only temporarily.
No doubt. I am also excited for the Hollywood Higgins experience. Expecting it to be a show (in all aspects).
Yeah, Scooby!
Time to wreck this league buddy!
Too soon?
I’m ready for the Doesn’t Suck experience.
Baby steps.
Did Corey Coleman get Miles Austin’s blessing?
http://prod.images.browns.clubs.nflcdn.com/image-web/NFL/CDA/data/deployed/prod/BROWNS/assets/images/imported/CLE/photos/clubimages/2015/02-February/temp020915-austin-10–nfl_mezz_1280_1024.jpg?width=620&height=465
Hey, if we are going to suck, then let’s have fun while we do!
(sshhh, he’s on a roll)
I’m all in on co-stinking with Philly to get the #1 and #2 picks, or the #1 and a top-5, OR at the very least, two top-5 picks.
I have zero expectations of success next year, and am already at peace with that. 🙂
If Corey Coleman doesn’t work out, can we agree that no other WRs can wear the number?
yes, which is fine. Just saying if we are going 2-14, then I want to score 20 points a game with 3-5 sacks a game too. Sure, we will lose 30-20 most weeks and give up big plays. But, we’ll also see big plays and not get stuck in those brutal 9-3 games that feature 2 passes completed (looking at you Derek Anderson).
https://media.giphy.com/media/9WHE2bo5Na9Gg/giphy.gif
…and embrace the suck.
That was great. Payton’s “I love John Kaisich” shout out was also pretty funny pandering at the end. If tweet scene made incarnate, I imagine the room going silent, with folks looking around saying “umm yeah thank you for that comment. Um ya that Kaisich guy…sure. He’s indeed a person here in the state and such.”
Pettine’s daughter had it measured in her tweet: “I mean it’s the Browns, but still…”
Haha seriously. When your coach’s family isn’t excited…things probably won’t work out.
Some good draft related analysis articles for the stat-nerds here.
Both articles are light on the actual derivations of the mathematical modeling, so it’s actually decent reading for everyone, especially those interested in peaking behind the curtain in Berea, without having to pull out their calculators.
https://statsbylopez.com/2016/05/02/the-nfl-draft-where-we-stand-in-2016/
http://www.vox.com/2015/4/30/8516007/nfl-draft-economics
http://66.media.tumblr.com/38a1aa896bedb9b5ef88561d6e31d471/tumblr_ns6jn0YOEq1uzae1ko1_500.gif
Will Jordan Payton’s first contract be enough to get him into a tax bracket that’s acceptable for a Kasich supporter?
hi RGB … good reads … especially the one about trading down.
Will, good stuff. Although I have to say, your cobbling together of NFL draft tweets with inelegant corporate branding, shameless product placement, and ubiquitous #dawgpound hashtags makes me queasy. An unpleasant veneer over top a sport that does major damage to young men’s bodies and brains. God help me, why do I continue to watch and care even the slightest bit about this spectacle…?
/Existential meditation over
“What’s the sound of a tree falling in the woods?”
“Timberrrrrrrrrrrr……”
As long as he doesn’t crash his Mystery Mobile while doing stunts in a parking lot
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_upF4Etvqv9Y/SrpXcFc9usI/AAAAAAAAEM8/D9ykQfwDyvA/s320/PuttPose.jpg
His signing bonus probably won’t cover a ticket to a Hillary fundraiser.
Only Syndric Steptoe, should he come out of retirement
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“apart” != “a part”