Mind Character

Celebrity, fame, and power are seductive forces that are hard to resist for anyone. There's a lot to be optimistic about when it comes to what Baker is likely to be as QB and leader of a franchise. There are definitely incorrect and convenient misperception narratives that get peddled around about Baker that have no basis in reality. However, I don't think it's a "narrative" to suggest that 1.) There's some negative trends, 2.) Th ere were signs of some of the negative trends in college that made their way to the pros, 3.) There's enough good mixed in with some negatives to acknowledge that we don't yet know how things will shake out. Recognizing and acknowledging the truth of a person's positive and negative aspects is not singling anyone out nor is it bashing someone. Recognizing and acknowledging that Baker has a huge ego is not a claim I've made to suggest such a quality is all bad or atypical of professional athletes. Human characteristics and personality traits are often double-edged swords that can help a person or hurt a person depending on how it's used. Saying someone wields a big double-edged sword (i.e., ego, irrational self-belief, emotional intensity) is not the same as saying a person is bad. Baker's ego, irrational self-belief, and emotional intensity are double-edged swords. I and many others including yourself have spoken of such things often in the past and present. There's a positive and negative dual nature to those traits such that the same characteristic that has helped Baker thrive in the NFL and get to this level is the same trait that can undo him and hurt his growth, success, and interpersonal relationships. My points have always been that when a person wields a double-edge sword they have to have a certain mastery or control of that tool to make sure they don't harm themselves and others. Baker at his younger age has yet to master and control such a tool. That's not to say that he can't, but I don't think it does him or anyone a service to act as if he doesn't have walk around with a huge double-edged sword (i.e., huge ego, irrational self-belief, and emotional intensity). Now, as to my claim that "he loves celebrity and fame," I base part of my evaluation on respected scout assessments of Baker coming out of college combined with my observations of his willingness to seek out celebrity spotlight and interactions. Interestingly enough, one of Dorsey and Scot McCloughan's public concerns with Baker were that he loved what came with NFL QB1 a little too much. They like many didn't think it was fatalistic and more having to do with the trappings of a young star athlete. Has nothing to do with doing commercials. There's a reason why he spends his off-season in Cali mingling with the stars and hobnobbing with Hollywood types and celebrities (his aspiring actress/model does too), and it's because being around the rich, powerful, and famous is a wild and good time. In moderation it's all good, but too much and one begins to lose focus on the main thing. And such activities though often suggested as such aren't what "everyone is doing." QBs in the league especially the elite ones are different cats who aren't out there like their teammates or less successful counterparts. Again, none of this is fatalistic for Baker's future success, and acknowledging trends isn't bashing. From the outside looking in, we have to assume many things that may not be the case. No matter what though I'm not sure how anyone can look at the data/evidence that's out there and think to themselves "Baker's an elite worker and preparation guy who trains and studies obsessively even in the "off-season" like his elite working counterparts. Even still what is/what isn't may not be in the future. Ultimatley we'll find out what's what in time.

People are complex entities with good and bad aspects. There are those that paint Baker as all good or all bad and neither have a clue of what's what. He's always taken ownership and accepted blame. He's not in optimal shape and a little chubby. He loves celebrity and has a huge ego. He does commercials. And he doesn't need a QB trainer. He had a good 1st year; a sh*tty 2nd year; and who knows what becomes of the 3rd year ...

2020 NFL Draft "My Guys" OTs: Top Tier to Himself Jedrick Wills Jr., OT Alabama -- (3rd to 12th Overall Pick) Tier 1 Robert Hunt, OT/OG Louisiana-Lafayette -- (2nd to 4th Round Pick) Jack Driscoll, RT Auburn -- (2nd to 4th Round Pick) Tier 2 Matt Peart, OT UCONN **As a ZBS OT** -- (3rd to 6th Round Pick) .... I've finally seen the Light on Peart as a ZBS OT @brownplaque @candyman93 @NudeTayne Prince Tega-Wanogho, LT Auburn -- (2nd to 4th Round Pick) Tier 3 Terrance Steele, RT Texas Tech -- (3rd to 5th Round Pick) OGs: Tier 1 Netane Muti, OG/OT/OC Fresno St. -- (1st to 3rd Round Pick) Tristan Wirfs, OG Iowa -- (Top 20 Pick) Daishawn Dixon, OG San Diego State -- (3rd to 6th Round Pick) Shane Lemieux, OG Oregon -- (2nd to 3rd Round Pick) TEs: Tier 1 Adam Trautman, TE Dayton -- (2nd to 5th Round Pick) Brycen Hopkins, TE Purdue -- (2nd to 4th Round Pick) Tier 2 Thaddeus Moss, TE LSU -- (3rd to 5th Round Pick) Harrison Bryant, TE FAU -- (3rd to 5th Round Pick) Tier 3 Josiah Deguara, HB/TE/FB Cincinnati -- (5th to 7th Round Pick) WRs: Tier 1 Jalen Reagor, WR TCU -- (1st to 2nd Round Pick) Denzel Mims, WR Baylor -- (2nd to 3rd Round Pick) Justin Jefferson, WR LSU -- (1st to 2nd Round Pick) Joe Reed, WR/KR/PR Virginia -- (5th to 7th Round Pick) Michael Pittman Jr., WR USC -- (2nd to 4th Round Pick) Tier 2 Tyrie Cleveland, WR Florida -- (4th to 6th Round Pick) Antonio Gibson, WR/RB Memphis -- (4th to 6th Round Pick) Tier 3 Lynn Bowden Jr., WR/KR/PR Kentucky -- (6th to 7th Round Pick) DTs: Tier 1 Javon Kinlaw, DT South Carolina -- (Top 15 Pick) Ross Blacklock, DT TCU -- (2nd to 4th Round Pick) Jordan Elliot, DT Missouri -- (2nd to 3rd Round Pick) LBs: Tier 1 Troy Dye, Hybrid-LB, Oregon -- (2nd to 5th Round Pick) Tier 2 Akeem Davis-Gaither, LB Appalachian State -- (2nd to 5th Round Pick) Malik Harrison, LB Ohio State -- (4th to 5th Round Pick) Tier 3 TJ Brunson, LB South Carolina -- (5th to 7th Round Pick) CBs: Tier 1 Kristian Fulton, CB LSU -- (Top 20 Pick) C.J. Henderson, CB Florida -- (2nd to 3rd Round Pick) Bryce Hall, CB Virginia -- (2nd to 3rd Round Pick) Tier 2 Noah Igbinoghene, NCB Auburn -- (2nd to 5th Round Pick) Darnay Holmes, NCB UCLA -- (2nd to 4th Round Pick) Tier 3 Trajan Bandy, NCB Miami -- (5th to 7th Round Pick) Ss: Tier 1 Antoine Winfield Jr., SS Minnesota -- (2nd to 4th Round Pick) Tier 2 Xavier Mckinney, FS/SS Alabama -- (2nd to 3rd Round Pick) Tier 4 Jalen Elliott, FS Notre Dame -- (5th to 6th Round Pick) 2021/2022: Tier 1 Jamien Sherwood, NS/SS/LB Auburn

We honestly should've kept Ogbah and Nassib. One of them would've been worthwhile to have moving forward. Before getting injured Ogbah was balling and Nassib did so as well. Those were two bad moves. Replacing Nassib with Anthony Zettel and the Ogbah for Eric Murray trades were really bad.

Seems to me that KS must be waiting on someone or has other plans other than hiring Rich Scangarello as QBC with the run game coordinator designation. If we were going to hire him, it seems as if that would've already happened. I'm interested to find out how the remaining staff is filled out, but I also wonder if the Browns change their strength and conditioning coaches back to the trends they had before the Dorsey and Freddie hires. There's some rumors out there that Mike LaFleur goes to Philadelphia as OC which for him is a more stable at better career move to add the Pederson offense to his repertoire and likely work for a coach with more job security. One interesting thing about Stefanski's staff is that Callahan did not receive the Assistant Head Coach title which makes me wonder who is it saved for. Could Joe Woods convince Wade Phillips to come on board? ------- Staff Tracker: HC: Kevin Stefanski QBC: n/a OC: Alex Van Pelt RBC: Stump Mitchell OLC: Bill Callahan TEC: Drew Petzing WR/PGC: Chad O'Shea OQC: n/a OQC: n/a DC: Joe Woods DLC: n/a DEC: n/a LBC: n/a DBC/PGC: Jeff Howard DQC: n/a DQC: n/a ST: Mike Preifer

Literally anything and everything from helping the HC stay on schedule to getting coffee or lunch so the coach can keep focused on a particular task to fining players for tardiness to getting players scheduled to meet with the coach to relaying messages from the coach to other coaches to working with various elements of the business and media sides of the organization to make sure the coach's cultural message are integrated into the building environment and procedures. It's a thankless and tireless job where the person has to put out mini-fires all day so the coach doesn't get buried by an overload of tasks each day. I wouldn't want to do that sh*t but kudos to her.

Indeed and of course. There usually is overlap in an athlete's commitment to a lifestyle of elite sports performance preparation and their physical fitness. That's not always the case (especially with naturally big guys with crazy natural athletic talent like Big Ben), but generally speaking an obsessive athlete who takes their QB training/drilling seriously with daily routines often has a stringent diet/nutrition and exercise and recovery routine. Engaged or Obsessive daily work habits tend to find their way to other aspects of living. So, in the end you very well might be right that Baker's outward body/physical fitness might not actually be indicative of an overall work habit/routine approach to his QB skills development, but in truth physical fitness is often indicative of other underlying approaches to elite work habits and athletic performance.

Not a gosh damn thing ... lol Like I said, my general or man-blocking OLine rankings are much different. When the Snows piled up high and icy a shovel works best in a straight line. Thomas is the amazing straight line one way forward shovel. Unlike Becton he has terrible balance issues and is on the ground too much especially when asked to horizontally block or run horizontal to a zone for a cut off or seal redirect block. He also has bad target or zone recognition skills and often attempts to reach the wrong defender on zone calls. All that alone puts him down the list as a ZBS blocker imo coupled with the buzz I've heard about some of his commitment to the game and work habits issues. As a man or gap blocker he's still a top prospect. in ZBS, there are better prospects imo. Much like a guy like Josh Jones who just gets guys blocked and is a fantastic linear man blocking Tackle, but he's one of most stiff Tackles from head to toe I've seen in a long time for a top tackle prospect. He doesn't do well with sudden horizontal agility or change of direction or getting to a point/zone. Therefore, he's low on the list of ZBS Tackles despite being a quality prospect in another scheme. Players like Wills are just good in both.

Did it before .. probably at least a trillion words...

I don't believe in any of that foolery. It's not about one year. It's about the career pattern and trajectory. I think there are wide-variety of things even we as fans can look at and see that Baker may not be the elite, obsessive sports performance athlete in the manner in which we've grown accustomed to hearing about the other greats/historic players at his position. I do believe and have always believed and stated that nothing fatalistic or has been decided with Baker. Even while people buried him this year, they were wrong and I stated as much. This past year was rife with markers for potential growth and improvement from a mentality, awareness, and approach perspective. Only Baker can decide which path he'll take at the fork in the road. If Baker learns, grows, and sustains improvement it won't be because Baker never needed to learn or grow as he had it all along and it won't be because someone on the internet calls him out... it will be because he took his career into his own hands and decided to elevate his commitment to improving his sports performance and mentality as a way of life.

Come on stop it man... I have never argued that Baker doesn't work hard, or that he hasn't had a solid work ethic. You can be a periodic and solid hard worker and get flabby in the off-season, but that's a different worker and different committed athlete than the lifestyle all in worker athlete. R.I.P. Kobe, but in the released clips of him talking to the Browns he spoke about how a lot of guys work hard but a lot of guys are sporadic or episodic hard working and not consistent with it. It's the consistent and elite hard work that is required for greatness. I have questioned and asked whether or not he's willing to do what's necessary to compete with elite, obsessive workers like Deshaun Watson, Russell WIlson, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Dak Prescott, etc. I have questioned whether he's willing to invest and commit to the way of life it takes to race those elite athlete up the mountain to greatness. I think there's evidence that suggests that he might not be that type of worker or at least if he's the hard working type he may not be the Smart-Hard-working type that's aware that he doesn't know what he doesn't know and other experts can help him faster along the journey to elite sports performance and skills development. He was heralded as elite worker and elite leader of men. A culture changer. The elite athletes like Lebron, Brees, Brady, Russell Wilson, and even younger athletes like Prescott, Wentz, and Watson treat their bodies like multi-million dollar investments that require leading a way of life, nutrition, fitness, and development that has them a certain way all the time. It's not just one thing man. If this was one thing in isolation it wouldn't matter or it wouldn't be worth paying attention to. It's just trends and patterns manifest that Baker might not be the elite obsessive smart-worker, football as a way of life type. That doesn't mean he can't be good, but given his physical and other limitations it may very well mean that he might not have what it takes to compete to win against those QBs that are all in on the life. And.... I've posted a picture of him looking flabby while next to all those guys in shape with the following message "Baker looks like he's getting into good offseason shape... ... he's got it all figured out... ... and by it ... I mean fast-food menus ..." ... that's good times..

Indeed, he did that with surprising agility for a big man... Yes and No. I agree and disagree. Blocking a wide-9 rush end isn't a reach block in the true sense of the term unless there's a defender head up on the Tackle that isn't the wide-9 defender or if the OT has to down the line block a wide-9 aligned defender. You're right though and it's true that he was able to get to the rush/block leverage point against wide-9 defenders on occasion which is impressive for such a big man, but I'd disagree that he did so consistently in terms of handling speed rushers (not just wide-9 per se). He is an agile, coordinated athlete but his feet in terms of lateral quickness and agility give him some trouble on specific tasks required in a ZBS. He's far more explosive and quick-footed straight ahead or straight back as a linear athlete. That's why when he climbs to the second it level it's like watching fleet footed bulldozer. It's a sight to see. However, if you ask him to kick step out wide with quickness or move down the line and flip his hips with quick change of direction for a cut-off or reach-redirect block he struggles a fair amount to cause some concern. Horizontal blocking schemes that really require him to reach back, seal off, or cut off zones cause and flip his hips and his blocking angle suddenly give him some struggles. If I had to bet on Becton or Thomas, it would be Becton all the way, but I still see Becton as a power, agile, man/gap blocking Tackle... not a horizontal flexible hip and change of direction zone or cut off blocker. Now, it's not like he can't do it at all as is the case for a Stiff from neck to foot and Powerful athlete like Josh Jones who is an exclusive man blocking tackle with worse later flexibility/agility... it's just Becton has limited functionality imo in a ZBS or wide/tight zone heavy offense. Will be interesting to see if: 1.) He's available at the selection and 2.) How AB and the FO see him.

fifd

Rex was nervous as hell ... he didn't want any smoke... On how he can be better and just focus on what he can control: " ....not worrying about the outside stuff; not replying to you; telling you that if you don't wear orange and brown don't matter."

Moved it here so it won't get lost in roster talk... Indeed, props to Baker.... best thing "I can't worry about outside opinion and I think that's what happened last year." As I've said all season even while we were are giving our critiques of his negative play or behaviors: He takes ownership and battles. Those are longterm traits that give us hope that he can still be it year 3 despite all the mounting negative trends.

That's just a lie and misperception that confirms your pre-existing belief. When everyone was ready to throw Baker in the trash all season, I was one stating that we simply just won't know what Baker truly is until year 3; been saying that when everyone was worshiping Baker year 1 with the caveat that things looked promising, but ultimately as with all young QBs until around the 38-48 game mark you just don't know. I've posted tons of positive things about Baker and his play ranging from him gutting out the injury early season to how he owned his mistakes him pressers to tremendous throws and good play and everything in between. Or started threads/poll threads on "Rank who you attribute blame to the most when it comes to our offense... Freddie, OLIne, WRs, Baker, etc...".... of which I attributed Freddie and other issues more so. When respect and credit is due I'm glad to give it. I call it how it is. And I hope for better days with Baker. Since we drafted him, I've been an objective supporter who calls out the negative for what it is. Not that you'll read ... perfect example of the majority of my posts on Baker all season... worried of the negative trends; praising of the positive; questioning if he wants it like the Brees types... unsure of which way it will go in the end --------------------------- Nope, I've QUESTIONED IF he has the desire to be great ("Can/Will Baker pick up elite performance routines, commit like Brees and Brady, improve study habits and collab with receivers, etc) and stated that he's going to need to trend towards the Brees' of the world. That's different than saying "he doesn't have the desire to be great." If you haven't observed concerning trends with Baker you're blind. When he says "I thought things would come easier" or looks out of shape or unprepared it makes sense to question IF while maintaining that nothing is solidified yet. Unlike a lot of other posters, though I'm worried about where I see things trending I still reserve final judgment until Baker has more time. Along the way when he does well, I've given him props, but as things have trended downward and his emotional volatility has made things negative I've pointed out those negative trends as well.

Had him as my 11th overall prospect in the entire draft. The 11th overall prospect is not such as a result of hate. Loved Sam Darnold exponentially more and thought he was the clear QB1. Posted a ton about how I didn't want Mayfield due to my perception that he was trailer not a tractor player, that he was too emotionally volatile, and I didn't think he could make sustained winning plays and be accurate in the face of interior or perceived pressure. Thought he fled the pocket right too soon; thought he was more of a goldilocks QB where everything around him had to be just right; thought he loved celebrity too much and couldn't block out the noise; and cracked some under pressure. Loved his ability to throw on the run with pinpoint accuracy; the positive upswings of his leadership ability; his ball velocity and redzone efficiency. My posts in the lead up I'm sure went over your head. I've been pulling for and rooting for Baker as much as anyone since we drafted him. But I call it like it is. Being out of shape, speaking out of turn against Duke Johnson and the players code, speaking out of turn against the medical staff, responding to stuff on twitter, blowing up and walking out in press conferences, saying one doesn't need QB trainer in the off-season and downplaying that resource, etc... If acknowledging such things as "not good trends" or linking them back to previous negative trends while hoping it's just a phase in Baker's development is hatred then we have different definitions of hatred.

He's the Browns Franchise QB and all Browns fandom sanity rests on his shoulders. I don't hate him in the slightest bit. I'm extremely worried that he won't ever reach his potential as his emotional volatility, love of fame, need to track & respond to trolls and Twitter, and his lack of awareness about not knowing what he doesn't know could very well stand in the way of him maximizing his gifts and ability. I hope more than anything that the negatives we've seen thus far are not sings of future negative downward trends but instead lessons along the road toward growth and sustained success. But there's some warning signs and there have always been along with positives.

Weight is symbolic of other performance and investment issues. It's not about weight per se, but with Baker it's a trend of something more. Baker does not have the margin of error to work with that other QBs have because of their natural athletic/size gifts. Totally different scenarios then those guys you posted later in their careers.. TB12 and the total insane commitment to sports performance of Brady that started early on in his career even before TB12 showed a QB that had a different level of commitment to greatness than we've seen thus far in young Baker Mayfield's career. Style of play for a 6'5" monster arm impossible to get down slipper pocket boulder Big Ben is different. He's been blessed with more athletic gifting than Baker and is dealing with a different margin of error than a 6ft less gifted different style of player. Peyton Manning was obsessive in the weight room, in-driliing, and receiving QB coaching... his lower body strength and year round fitness was totally different early on and in the prime of his career compared to late career Peyton that was pasted in that photo. Mahomes, Watson, Jackson, Wentz, Prescott, Murray, Wilson, Carr, Garoppolo, Stafford, and Goff. Those are the QBs Baker is racing up the QB mountain. The Brees, Big Ben, Rivers, Brady types are on their final laps. Most if not all of the QBs Baker is racing have already developed elite routines from nutrition, exercise/recovery, and/or skills/knowledge development. Baker has to find his or his talent will only take him so far.

----------------------------------------- Baker's not the freakish big guy Big Ben 6'5" type who has always been a bigger athlete that had to get in shape. Baker doesn't have Ben's elite athletic gifts to fall back on. Nor is baker the 6'4" Brady who struggled to keep weight on at the combine. The elite QBs are obsessed with the climb toward greatness. The pursuit becomes a way of life. Be it nutrition/eating habits or exercise/fitness or recovery or kills/knowledge development all of it matters in the race toward getting to the top of the QB/athlete mountain. Baker can't afford to needs a team of nutritionists, QB trainers/skills development staff, physiologists/sports performance support staff, fitness trainers, etc around him just like the Brees, Brady, Wilson, Wentz, Watson types. If it's good enough for them and other elite athletes than Baker's got to go all in at some point. ---------------------------------------- As much as I joke, the idea that at some point we'll have to come to the realization that Baker ain't it is truly unsettling... ... he's got to turn it around ... Stefanski, the coaches, his teammates, and Baker himself have to help him get back on track ... ... we F-in needs this sh*t to get back right ... it's gotta work out to the playoffs at least a few years... right?!

Baker looks like he's getting into good offseason shape... ... he's got it all figured out... ... and by it ... I mean fast-food menus ...

That would be a tremendous draft. Outside of few things the draft couldn't go any better imo. A Free-Agency main class of Anthony Harris, Brandon Scherff, Case Keenum, and Demarcus Robinson would be amazing. Harris and Winfield Jr. ... Bitonio and Scherff .... Baker and Case .... OBJ, Jarvis, and Demarcus ... Tretter and Cushenberry III ... Wills Jr. and (replace Wilson with Hunt/Driscoll) .... Ward, Greedy, Mitchell, Arnette, Carrie ... ... would be a seriously elevated roster... except for the fact that our front 7 would be decimated .. maybe a few key signings at DLine and LB would go along way to make sure it doesn't fall off a cliff.. ------------- 1.) Despite all the talk about Stefanski's system not having enough room for a WR3 (not true anyway), our personnel and offense needs a pass-catcher that can create space, stress the defense, gravity pull defenders away from OBJ and Jarvis' route zones, and allow us to use Jarvis in the slot. I think Demarcus Robinson is a fantastic candidate to help accomplish such things as he has really good play speed over timed speed. He is such a strong runner after the catch as well and would be a great Boundary WR option allowing Jarvis to be a gadget and slot playmaker that also sees his share of boundary WR2 reps in 2-WR sets. Out of all the FA WRs, I think that he's now my favorite and I hope we go in that direction. 2.) Wills at 10 would be amazing, but those of us on the forum aren't the only ones that believe he's the best tackle in the draft. It seems that once minority opinion is turning out to be now consensus belief amongst the big draftnik media types, and various elements in the scouting community. That's just based on the tape alone, but as the red flags manifest for Andrew Thomas it will be a Wills and Becton race for OT1 with the younger Wills likely winning out. I hope you're right though. 3.) Those first 4-5 picks are en fuego, although I don't know if Isaiah Wilson is a scheme-fit for a lot of the lateral wide and tight zone blocking we'll eventually implement. Swapping out Wilson for Robert Hunt or Jack Driscoll would be optimal. 4.) Cephus has all the talent in the world and plays a lot like a less forceful, less strong, and less twitched up Quincy Enunwa. His off-the-field issues would serve as an interesting test case for what the new front office thinks about off-the-field concerns. 5.) Shea Patterson is buttcheeks.

This guy's dialed in to the truiest of the true trues ... ... like other weaponized words ... each a latch-on term to conveniently explain/externalize issues/evils people see in their worlds even though there's no understanding of what the term(s) actually represents or how it is misused to distort the reality of things ...

Definitely agree that nothing good can come from it... nothing good at all. All those shows are trash who's sole purpose is to generate polarized engagement with their show. It's going to be a sh*t show, and I don't know why he'd seek such an appearance out... I just wish he'd lay low and grind and shut everyone up on the field. Though all of those guys are entertainers and carnival barkers, Marcus Spears' takes relative to Stephen A's and Rex Ryan's have had more nuance and substance than the sensationalized Stephen A. or Rex Ryan takes (though that's an extremely low bar). I don't think Marcus Spears has proven to be all that combative, confrontational type with guests like that so I highly doubt he'd be cutting him off like that unless Baker starts getting combative than it might get wild. The critiques I've heard Spears give are indeed hater-entertainment, but a lot are right or we'd agree with if one of us posed the critique. His main critiques I've seen are that 1.) That Bake never had the ability to be considered a top QB (wrong), 2.) Baker isn't the leader he was cracked up to be in college and is too emotionally volatile to lead men in the NFL through times of adversity (a lot of us are hopeful this isn't the case as he can grow but there's some kernels of truth there thus far), 3.) That Baker criticizing Daniel Jones was unfounded and showed poor character and Daniel Jones was better than Baker (Spears was wrong because it turns out that Baker may not have actually said such things), 4.) that Baker's leader of men act is a sham and is a try-hard act to mask insecurity (he might be more right than any of us want to believe), 5.) Baker runs his mouth out of turn and too much (a lot of us might agree with that generally in the case of Duke Johnson and the medical staff critique). A lot of those things Baker can't really pushed back against. I hope he just owns his issues and looks forward instead of going on a show just to be defensive.

At this point in the process, as I've alluded to for quite some time I strongly believe that the only Tackle worth taking top 10 is Jedrick Wills Jr., Alabama. He's special and will be an immediate high quality starter and pro-bowl caliber player. I don't see the staying power of Andrew Thomas, Mekhi Becton, or Tristan Wirfs at Tackle in such a way that it should take precedence over any and all trade down scenarios. If I had to bet on the upside and ability of one of those 3 at 10, I'd edge to Becton as he carries his weight better than Thomas and has higher reliability-factor upside due to reported off-the field intangibles and work ethic in comparison to Thomas' red flags. I've already made the point ad nauseam that Tristan Wirfs will struggle as a Tackle and should be a guard; thus, if considering him as a Tackle then imo there are more preferable options. If a lot of the intel on Thomas is true, he's not a guy we should consider at 10. Even still, there are better Tackle options that I believe will be more sustainable quality players at Tackle at lower draft capital costs (i.e., Robert Hunt, RT Louisiana-Lafayette, Jack Driscoll, RT Auburn, Prince Tega-Wanogho, LT Auburn). I have a strong feeling that 2 if not 3 of Andrew Thomas, Mekhi Becton, and Tristan Wirfs will be on the board during the Browns selection, but it will be important for the Browns to pass on the desire to take one to hopefully fill a need position right away unless we select Wirfs to play Guard (or possibly Becton depending on how the process goes). Fans will be pissed if we passed on all 3, but ultimately I think that would be the correct decision assuming we either 1.) Trade down and require great value in terms of draft capital for present and future drafts, and 2.) If Jeffrey Okudah is still on the board and we select him. Outside of selecting Wills, Okudah, or trading down, I can talk myself into scenarios where Javon Kinlaw makes sense at 10. Those 3/4 scenarios are the ones I hope the Browns pursue if possible. ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- The Browns Draft Scenarios Ranked by Order of Preference and Desirability: The Perfect Scenarios: 1.) Select Jedrick Wills Jr., OT Alabama at 10, 2.) Select Jeffrey Okudah, CB Ohio State at 10, 3.) Trade Down (or Trade down multiple times and accumulate quality present and future value before a quality selection) ------------ Scenarios that make some sense and could produce immediate quality starters, but wouldn't be the best use of draft capital 4.) Select Javon Kinlaw at 10, 5.) Select Tristan Wirfs to play Guard, OG Iowa at 10, 6.) Select CeeDee Lamb, WR Oklahoma at 10, 7.) Select Isaiah Simmons, LB Clemson at 10, 8.) Select Derrick Brown, NT Auburn at 10, 9.) Select Kristian Fulton, CB LSU at 10 10.) Select Mekhi Becton, OT Louisville at 10, ---------- Meh scenarios that would not be a good use of draft capital at 10, but could be quality starters 11.) Select Jerry Jeudy, WR Alabama at 10, 12.) Select AJ Epenesa, DE Iowa at 10, ---------- Least favorite scenarios that would not be a good use of draft capital at all due to many red flags 13.) Select Andrew Thomas, LT Georgia at 10, ---------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- 2020 Mock Draft -- A Likely Top 10 Scenario: 1.) Bengals -- Joe Burrow, QB LSU 2.) Washington -- Chase Young, DE Ohio State 3.) Lions -- Jeffrey Okudah, CB Ohio State 4.) Giants -- Jedrick Wills Jr., OT Alabama 5.) Dolphins -- Tua Tagovailoa, QB Alabama 6.) Chargers -- Justin Herbert, QB Oregon 7.) Panthers -- Isaiah Simmons, LB Clemson 8.) Cardinals -- Mekhi Becton, OT Lousiville 9.) Jaguars -- Derrick Brown, NT Auburn 10.) Browns) -- In this scenario, the Browns should pass on Andrew Thomas due to the red flags and seek a trade down. If they stay put, selecting Javon Kinlaw or Tristan Wirfs to play Guard would be desirable options but not more so than a trade down imo. ------------------ Browns Value-Maximization & Trade-Down Full Draft: 1(18-25). **Via Multipe Trade Downs** AJ Epenesa, DE Iowa 2(41). Robert Hunt, OT/OG Louisiana-Lafayette 2(42-55) **Via Earlier Trade Down** Xavier McKinney, S Alabama 3. Antoine Winfield Jr., FS/SS Minnesota 3. Ross Blacklock, DT TCU 4.**Via Earlier Trade Down** Jack Driscoll, RT Auburn 4. Brycen Hopkins, TE Purdue // Thaddeus Moss, TE LSU // Adam Trautman, TE Dayton 4. **Via Earlier Trade Down** Darnay Holmes, CB UCLA 4.**Via Earlier Trade Down** Troy Dye, Hybrid-LB Oregon // Malik Harrison, Hybrid-LB Ohio State 6. Joe Reed, WR/KR/PR Virginia 7. Best RB Available // Best OG Available // BPA 7. Best RB Available // Best OG Available // BPA