May 18, 2013

On the Browns and Taylor Mays

August 15, 2011 by 23 Comments

I’m not even sure, exactly why I am talking about Taylor Mays.  I guess mostly for a couple of reasons.  Last year before the Browns drafted Joe Haden and T.J. Ward, Taylor Mays was one of the many draft options in the forefront of many Browns fans’ minds.  There were questions about his maturity, attitude and his size being a bit too big to play NFL safety in coverage.  Those questions ended up causing him to drop into the second round where Mike Singletary and the 49ers snatched him up with the 49th overall pick.  Fast forward and Mike Singletary is out and ESPN reported that the 49ers sent an email blast letting everyone know that Mays was available.

Again, why am I even talking about this?  The Browns don’t have a spot for Taylor Mays with T.J. Ward at the strong safety and Usama Young and Mike Adams at the free safety.  Plus, free safety seems like a pretty bad fit for Mays as the question marks around him are related to his ball skills and inability to play in space.  Even still, I can’t help but wonder if this is the kind of project that the new Browns’ regime would be interested in entertaining.  Why?  Check it out.

Tom Heckert has acquired almost all young players recently.  Brandon Jackson is 25, Usama Young is 26, and Jayme Mitchell is 27, but was 26 when he was acquired a year ago.  The Browns haven’t parted with draft picks for older veterans on the move like  30 year-old Lee Evans.  Maybe I am just trying to figure out Tom Heckert here.

A 23 year-old kid with decidedly good athleticism and football pedigree, who happens to be a bit of a tweener is available.  He signed a 4-year $3.91 million contract including a $2.075 million signing bonus.  Assuming the Niners have already paid that bad boy out, the Browns could try and develop this kid over the next three years for under $1.5 total.  Add on the fact that the Niners will almost undoubtedly be forced to give this kid away considering just how available they made him with an email blast, and it just makes me sit back and wonder if this isn’t something right up Heckert and Holmgren’s alley.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not in love with Taylor Mays, by any means.  I am always wary of players with suspected attitude problems.  We’ve seen more than our fair share of bad apples make their way through Cleveland in the past ten years.  Still, maybe this is finally the adversity that Mays needs to buck up and embrace trying to be a linebacker.  At 6’3″ and 230 pounds he is already bigger than Kaluka Maiava.

More interestingly is whether or not this is the kind of thing that interests this Browns regime.  It seems to me that it just might.

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  • Matt

    I agree Craig, the Browns are in desperate need of use strong tacklers to shore up our linebacking corps, and Mays has the measurables and pedigree to become a high-risk, high reward trade. Don’t we have cash that we didn’t spend in free agency? Could we pair it with a pick?

  • JK

    So… what you’re saying is, he’s gonna get traded to NE for an 8th round pick, then be a star in a couple years.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com DP

    Craig, are you suggesting they try to mold him into a LB? Otherwise, what project would he be with Ward blocking him, who is the same age and has shown some promise?

  • Vengeful Pat

    Interesting… I could see him as a weakside linebacker with that size and speed. It does make me wonder why SF wasn’t willing to try him there though.

  • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

    Mays simply isn’t that good without Matthews, Cushing, Maualuga (and even Maiava, I guess) around to do the heavy lifting, as evidenced in his apparent regression during his last year at USC.

    Chalk this win up to the Browns scouting department.

  • Harv 21

    @ Chris: agree.

    Overall, appreciating Heckert’s college player evaluations, both the picks he’s made and temptations he’s avoided. On the other hand, every time I see a feature about the Ravens’ Ngata or our second rounders in ’09 I feel naus.

  • mgbode

    2 ways I would trade for Mays (and only a 6th round ‘flier’ pick)

    1. He backs up Ward and is okay with that (I doubt he would be okay as a pure backup, but we do have very little depth at S)

    2. We convert him to WOLB and ST demon (he should be decent here eventually but it would take time).

    What I would want is switching him between the 2 positions. We would have to decide right away and keep him where we project him.

    I was super-high on him with the USC-LB crew and watched him completely fall apart w/o them and then for SF. He has all the physical tools, so a flier pick for him is fine. But, nothing more than that (IMO).

  • mgbode

    “what i would NOT want” – that’s an important word I left out.

  • Subadai

    No… Just no.

    1) Heckert had a chance to draft him and passed.
    2) His OWN COLLEGE COACH had a chance to draft him and passed.
    3) Another college coach who torched him twice took over his team and now wants to dump him.

    Three people specifically (and the rest of the league generally) who are alot smarter than us about football think the guy is radioactive.

    All of that equals… no.

  • http://www.morningjournal.com/content/articles/2011/01/31/sports/doc4d463b0cd062d819200129.jpg Return of the (Alex) Mack

    2013 AFC Pro Bowler for New England?

  • TSR3000

    #5/#9- Exactly. Stay away.

  • REEPJP

    The Defensive side of the ball equivalent to Terrell Pryor. Extremely impressive measurables, great college program/big game experience, and very raw talent. However, questionable football IQ, questionable character/work ethic, performance significantly influenced by the players around them, and chances to succeed increase significantly if the player is moved to a different position they are unwilling to try.

    Much like Pryor, I think there is a team that he makes sense for, but that isn’t our Brownies as this point in time.

  • Woods

    I have to agree with Subadai and REEPJP, and will do so with a quote from Tony Siragusa. “There are guys that look like Tarzan but play like Jane.”

    If Taylor Mays could perform on the field anywhere close to his freakish physical talents, he wouldn’t be available from a talent bereft team like SF.

    Heckert seems to be picking up guys who are 25-27 (Greco, Patterson, Young) who have been backups behind players on decent teams for a few years, and I am totally cool with that. (I know that Greco is a stretch, but I am guessing that Shurmur vouched for him…)

    Go Browns.

  • Vengeful Pat

    @REEPJP, oh you are going to get some serious tOSU backlash on this website my friend… one thing you don’t do is speculate that Terrell Pryor will be anything but a starting QB in the NFL and the savior of whatever team picks him. Okay maybe that’s more Cleveland.com and less WFNY.

  • fte88

    There’s a reason we passed on him in the first place. That reason being that he’s an abysmal football player.

  • REEPJP

    @Pat…haha…I’m a huge OSU supporter myself, live in Cbus, and tailgate for every game, but every once in a while I’m able to take off my scarlet covered glasses and realize that just because they were a good or even great player at tOSU, doesn’t mean they’ll be great for the Browns (or any other NFL team for that matter).

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Craig Lyndall

    @ Pat indeed… I think Rick wrote two separate articles railing against even the mere idea of the Browns getting Pryor.

    I am more of the mindset that I don’t think it is a great idea, but if it doesn’t cost anything and he basically takes the spot of Jarrett Brown on the roster, why should I get all crazy about the Browns trying to develop a great athlete?

    Of course, if the Browns gave up a 4th rounder, I think it would probably be too high for the level of speculation it takes to consider Pryor in the NFL.

  • Vengeful Pat

    @REEPJP I’m in the same boat with Tyrod Taylor. I want to pretend that he could be a starting QB in the NFL based on his college prowess, but I would only be lying to myself. He’s Troy Smith 2.0, from his numbers to his abilities to his build… it’s almost scary how similar they are, which makes him a career backup in the NFL at best.

    @Craig, absolutely… I have no problem with drafting athletes to see if you can teach them something when the cost is low. Also, I should have stipulated that I meant commenters rather than writers, and even then I think there are only a few rabid Pryor supporters that visit WFNY (the homers with no factual data usually get shamed away from this site by intelligent people). It’s mostly Cleveland.com commenters who would consider my comment blasphemy.

  • bobby

    We passed on Mays for a 2nd round pick. Thats a steep price. A 6th/7th (Heck even a 5th IMO) with a 1.5 mil for 3 year contract, thats something to be said. Maybe there are some flaws with him but I would be too tempted with his potential. Work on coverage and let him battle Young at FS (down the road) or convert to OLB where we have a bunch of UDFAs.

  • Stevo

    Eh… worth the gamble to me if he can develop into OLB.

    Also, I personally do not know any tOSU fans (myself included) who ever thoght TP was a good quarterback. Good athlete yes, QB… no way.

  • Garry Owen

    Now that the space shuttle program has been deactivated, how will we ever know if he can play in space?

  • Falcon115

    I don’t want Mays. Not even a little. I like the Terrelle Pryor comparisons, they’re very spot on…but I’m not buying the Terrelle-Troy Smith connection. Smith was undersized at 6’0 if I’m not mistaken, while I think Pryor is closer to 6’6″. Big difference, Pryor is more of an NFL height, but regardless, I still think his attitude/maturity will lead to a lack of success in the NFL

  • Foghorn Leghorn

    6th round pick and a 1.5 mil 3 yr contract. Why not? If he thinks he’s entitled to something as a 2nd round pick thats been basically cut then he will probably never learn. If he takes this as a second chance to prove himself on a young team, he could do some damage.