Survive and Advance: Ohio State outlasts South Dakota State, 81-73
March 15, 2018Kam Williams stepped up when the Buckeyes needed him the most
March 16, 2018Happy Friday everyone! Let’s get on with the WWW.
Joe Thomas Retiring Makes Me Feel Old
(Because it’s all about me, right?)
Certain things in life make you feel old. Getting married ends an era of being single and the youthful immaturity of dating culture. Having kids ends an era of selfishness that you had no idea you had before you cared so much about your new babies. More superficially, when your favorite rock albums and movies from your childhood start turning 10 years and then 20 years old, and as some of the artists pass away at non-tragically young ages, it pokes at your joints like arthritis. “Face it, kid. You’re old.” I long since accepted the fact that I’m older than the veterans in most professional sports. I’ve also gotten used to seeing players I loved as a kid retire from the game. Joe Thomas retiring is another level, however. Joe Thomas is like a third or fourth wave in terms of eras of professional sports for me, and now he’s retired too.
WFNY turned 10 this year and Joe Thomas retired after 11 seasons. It’s causing me to realize just how much sand is piled up in the bottom of the hourglass now.
I am proud of the work that WFNY put together this week and I loved Kyle’s post yesterday on Joe Thomas. He did a Top Ten List of fake (but somewhat believable, if you ask me) Joe Thomas facts.
- Joe Thomas is 90 percent granite and 100 percent hunk.
- Joe Thomas was conceived between a 11-foot tall Kodiak bear and one of the Wrangell Mountains. Don’t ask me how that “worked.”
- If you go to a bar and ask for “A Joe Thomas” they hand you a suitcase full of beers.
- Legend has it that Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes were created by Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe. Well, Wisconsin has 15,000 lakes and they were all created by Joe Thomas.
- Under Wisconsin state law, Joe Thomas is permitted to announce himself the governor of the state at any moment in time. The then-sitting governor must give himself a wedgie and jump headfirst into a trash can at the nearest Arby’s.
Go check out the rest. I love when Kyle’s WWW shows up and there’s something for him to talk about.
Talking about Browns Trades
We have plenty of time to talk about all of the Browns moves, but I wanted to talk about the trades first, now that I’ve had a minute to let them marinate.
I see no real downside to the Tyrod Tylor deal. The Browns didn’t have a quarterback and I can make a reasonable argument that they landed the best bridge QB of them all. I liked the Teddy Bridgewater acquisition by the Jets too, but it’s a question whether he can come back from that gruesome injury. Once you remove the legit starters like Drew Brees and Kirk Cousins and unless Nick Foles ends up becoming available, nobody can definitively make the case they did better with a temporary bridge starter than the Browns did by acquiring Tyrod Taylor.
The Jarvis Landry acquisition is another good one. I’m not positive what Landry will be able to do for the Browns, or how he’ll fit in with a new offense and a new quarterback, but I’m confident it’s one of the most talented wide receivers the Browns have acquired since 1999. They gave up a few picks and they have to pay him a lot of money, but I don’t care about Jimmy Haslam’s money.
Now that those two trades are out of the way, I have some nits to pick.
The Browns acquired Demarious Randall from the Green Bay Packers, and he’s just the kind of player you want to acquire. He’s deep in the heart of his prime and he’s going to play a position of need moving to free safety for the Browns. At the same time, the Browns gave up on Deshone Kizer to get him. Kizer had a miserable year, but I think we would all admit he was in a very tough spot. I still think Kizer has a chance to have an NFL career even if I’m nearly positive he doesn’t project to be a top ten starter. Maybe the situation was untenable and the Browns were smart to move along from Kizer. The Browns also got real value in return in a proven starting caliber player in his prime, formerly drafted in the first round. So, while this makes me scratch my head, I can’t say it was the wrong move. It’s just not the sure bet that I think the first two trades were.
Lastly is the trade of Browns fan whipping boy Danny Shelton. He was drafted to play nose tackle for Mike Pettine and his 3-4 defensive scheme. He was miscast in the latest version of the Browns’ defense. He was never going to achieve maximum value for the Cleveland Browns. Danny Shelton was also never going to live up to his draft billing no matter how long we waited him out in a Browns uniform. All that said, I think Shelton was undervalued both by Browns fans and by John Dorsey with the trade to the Pats. The Browns got basically nothing when they traded Shelton and a fifth rounder in 2018 for a third rounder in 2019. All my feelings about Danny Shelton being a mismatch in Cleveland moving forward doesn’t mean that I think he should have had so little value.
And fair’s fair. I’ve been critical of Sashi Brown and complimentary of John Dorsey. That doesn’t mean I think Dorsey is going to be perfect or that he’s incapable of mistakes, small and large. This isn’t anything catastrophic, but it feels like change for the sake of change. Danny Shelton wasn’t a problem. NFL teams need depth, even if all the pieces don’t fit perfectly. It’s up to coaches to scheme and substitute to make the most of the talent they had. Trading Danny Shelton didn’t create a huge hole in the roster, but it also didn’t solve any issues that I can think of. So at best it’s change for change’s sake. That’s a waste of energy.
That’s it from me this week. Hope you have a nice St. Patrick’s Day! I’m going to leave you with some more of the band Typhoon because I’m aboslutely obsessed. I need to see them live this year.