On the ever-growing importance of culture in sports: While We’re Waiting…
February 8, 2016Former Buckeye Orlando Pace elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame
February 8, 2016While many will be discussing Peyton Manning and Cam Newton after the Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50, as a Cleveland Browns fan all I can think about is Von Miller. He was named MVP of Super Bowl 50, and rightfully so. Miller played an all-timer in terms of big games, racking up 2.5 sacks, including a strip-sack that put the Broncos in the end zone. He was the star of the game and helped what turned out to be an underpowered Denver offense to do just enough to win the Super Bowl.
It’s easy to make peace with a banged-up Peyton Manning now after watching him for the past two years, but nobody would have ever thought that a hobbled Manning, without a dominant running back, would have found a way to hold up a trophy at the end of the game. Von Miller and his defensive teammates were the reason and it got me thinking. We talk about not getting a Peyton Manning. We talk about “the jersey” with all those QB names. But just as instructive, the Browns have never drafted a “Von Miller” any more than they have found that elusive star quarterback.
It isn’t like the Browns haven’t tried, of course. Courtney Brown was supposed to be on the level of Von Miller and he might have been able to if he hadn’t been so injury-plagued in his career. Brown only made it through 61 games over the course of six seasons with the Browns and one final season with the Broncos before he called it a day. Those things happen to many players and many teams that pick them, but since 1999 the Cleveland Browns have continued to fail to draft, develop, cultivate, or otherwise luck into stars on the defensive side of the ball.
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Instead of thinking realistically about watching your team on this large stage, you’re left dissecting the past missteps and false starts that have landed you firmly on the outside looking in.
It isn’t all about Von Miller and Denver’s superior drafting. We know Ward well, of course, but DeMarcus Ware wasn’t drafted by the Broncos. Neither was Aqib Talib. The Broncos supplemented their homegrown talent with some very good (and expensive) free agents. As an outsider, it still feels like it takes that one star to be at the center of everything else. Von Miller makes those high-priced free agents successful. He helps a fifth-round draft pick like Malik Jackson look good. He makes 2012 second-rounder Derek Wolfe that much better. We all know Ward is a good player, but there’s reason to doubt that he could have shined in Cleveland the way he has in Denver where they’re so well-rounded.
This also isn’t to belittle Karlos Dansby, who has been one of the very best linebackers for the Browns since they’ve been back in 1999. I’ve called Paul Kruger a cut candidate simply by nature of his contract, but that doesn’t mean I think he’s a bum. It’s just to say that without a keystone player on your defense, preferably homegrown via the draft for continuity, it’s really difficult to sign Dansby, Whitner, Tramon Williams, Kruger, and Desmond Bryant and think you’re going to be on par with the best defenses in the league. As much as it hurts to watch Jabaal Sheard and T.J. Ward play pivotal roles on playoff teams, I don’t necessarily think they transform this Browns defense from one of the worst in the league to one of the best.
There’s some debate as to whether this is nature or nurture. The Browns might have drafted guys who could have become Von Miller with a different coaching staff or different organizational structure around them. Then again, it’s hard to think that talent wouldn’t rise above it, as the Broncos just showed you can be a successful team, switch coaches, and then go on to even greater heights.
Such is life as a Browns fan the day after the Super Bowl. Instead of thinking realistically about watching your team on this large stage, you’re left dissecting the past couple of decades of missteps and false starts that have landed you firmly — and seemingly permanently — on the outside looking in. It’s brutal and awful and depressing and all those things that we’ve come to know as Cleveland sports fans, but the draft keeps us coming back. We’ve got Sashi Brown and Paul Depodesta working with Hue Jackson now. We’ve got a chance at the top quarterback in the draft, and it’s just like a bunch of Browns fans to bemoan the lack of an “Andrew Luck” in the year where we get to see our team pick the top signal-caller. But maybe we’re too quarterback obsessed for our own good. Maybe Joey Bosa is the next Von Miller and maybe, just maybe, the Browns will get him.
I’m not a draft guru by any stretch, so I’m not calling for it. I also almost reflexively hate to draft Buckeyes because people will think you’re one of those people who always wants the Browns to draft Buckeyes. I’m simply saying a day after watching the Super Bowl and Von Miller’s defense, I’m thinking about how the Browns have lacked an ability to draft stars at more than just the quarterback position. And Von Miller and his defensive teammates showed that they can be more valuable than any quarterback in a given season and during the most important game of the season.
- I left out Danny Shelton just to be fair to the rookie. [↩]
22 Comments
I thought Groundhog day was last week?
well , you should be happy that you won’t have to write any more of these articles on botched draft choices … those days are gone , my brother … there are new braniac sheriffs in town now.
Dang, as if watching a new SB champ isn’t bad enough. This is the equivalent of not getting the girl, and then the other guy walking out of her apartment the next day telling you why you failed to get the girl:(
“nip it in the bud”
Was Von Miller available even if we’d wanted him? Wasn’t he the second overall pick?
If “football guys” have been hired in Cleveland over the last 15 seasons.
And if “football guys” have completely botched these many drafts.
Then, I am of the opinion that being a “football guy” has very little to do with competently assembling personnel.
In that case, I am fully on board with intelligent people, who aren’t necessarily “football guys,” being in charge of the Browns.
I hate the notion that the ability to say “hey he’s good” or “that guy blows whale hole” is some divine talent bestowed from on high with which only a select few “football guys” have been graced.
HEY!…narrative.
“And Von Miller and his defensive teammates showed that they can be more valuable than any quarterback in a given season and during the most important game of the season.”
I believe this was exactly the mindset of our most recently excused FO/Coaching staff. Having a target and hitting that target are very different things. Yes, we should draft more stars.
“that guy blows whale hole”
Contextually, I’m not sure how to properly use that phrase, but I will begin using whenever possible.
I think the past few Super Bowls have proven that you don’t have to have a QB playing at an elite level to win. Or maybe, that you need more than just a QB. Seahawks won with Defense. Broncos won in spite of the Offense. The Eli-lead Giants don’t beat the Patriots either time without a dominant pass rush.
Of course, this just makes not drafting a Khalil Mack hurt more.
No. Sorry for the confusion. I meant a “Von Miller” kind of talent. JJ Watt is one of those guys. The Browns haven’t had a crazy star defensive player since 1999 either was the point.
With the 4th pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns select…
https://media1.giphy.com/media/V7WRH4qaqBt3q/200.gif
That’s all you had to do, Ray. That’s all you had to do…
And I’m sticking to it!
Use it artistically! Free form whale hole.
The Browns have probably drafted better than we give them credit for. Unfortunately the organization has been set up to fail our picks miserably and only the very fortunate few escape this cesspool of talent development.
The guys on other teams that produce at a high level, with few exceptions, have consistent and quality coaching for at least a couple of years. They also generally have some veteran mentors to help them.
In Cleveland, when they do get a guy with talent they are either put into positions to fail immediately or when the next guys “system” is put in place. Guys that actually showed promise seem to regress when that new system does not match that players skillset (especially on the defense). The guys that manage to produce seem to bolt as soon as free agency allows them to and really, who can blame any of them? But these are the guys that should be providing the upcoming players mentorship
So we have a bunch of guys that may or may not be playing to their strengths, learning a new system every 2 years, and with no established veteran presence to mentor them. I believe there are some good players that would have been able to produce had they been given a fighting chance.
Does this mean that all of the teams drafts picks were good had they only been developed? Of course not. But I suspect with a more stable organization we’d have less “busts”.
As it appears Sheard, Ward and Skrine all attest.
I can’t imagine a universe where the following players pan out for a stable Browns team. (I’ll leave the earliest years out because the Browns were a fledgling expansion team.)
– Justin Gilbert
– Jonathan Manziel
– Trent Richardson
– Brandon Weeden
– Brady Quinn
Gilbert doesn’t seem to care about playing, or returning punts for pro scouts. Manziel is obviously self-destructive, and stability isn’t fixing that. Richardson failed to catch on with multiple teams over multiple years because he is bad. Ditto to Quinn and Weeden. Honorable mention to Braylon Edwards who was kind of okay, but ultimately bad.
In an alternate (but stable) universe, maybe Mingo is developed Winslow doesn’t jump on that bike, and Wimbley stays in Cleveland.
In an alternate, (even more stable!) alternate universe, maybe we don’t trade down, passing on future HOFer Haloti Ngata, giving him to our division rival, and drafting Wimbley.
no but Watt was.
it just figures that the year the top-5 are all perennial All-Pros, the Browns pick 6th. Actually, the top-6 are perrenial all-pros but the Browns traded their pick. haha. Browns.
That’s a tough list to refute. I think Gilbert could be mentored and could be a good player with a strong organization. That he doesn’t seem to care about playing begs the question is it really him or is it the organization? Unanswerable I know.
I could see Ngata being forced into a 4-3 here and ending up being a “bust”. Again, no way to know but Cleveland seems to have a way of using guys incorrectly. (Sheard, Skrine, and currently Krueger).
In an older line of business we had the 10/10/80 rule. 10% hate you no matter what, 10% love you no matter what and the 80% in the middle are the ones you put the effort into. I would modify that to the 10/20/70 rule here.
10% of your acquisitions are going to be good no matter what (Thomas, Ward, Mack, Haden)
20% (maybe more in Cleveland) are going to be busts (your list serves well and I’ll throw in Greg Little too).
The rest- 60–70% are guys in that “gray area”. Mid level or later round picks, UDFA’s, waiver pick ups, etc. Those are the guys that could potentially develop into solid contributors given the right circumstances. Montario Hardesty, Eric Wright are guys I think of off the top of my head as guys that could possibly have done more given the right circumstance. Who knows about all the other nameless guys that have come and gone.
The snowball effect these picks have are killing them. They are constantly drafting for need because they are missing on so many picks, and have been unable to re-sign key guys. This year will be case in point where they have to go QB at No 2, when a guy like Bosa will likely be there. This team is many years away, still, from being really competitive.
hi JPF … good post , but would not say “many years away” … heck , even this rag-tag group was at 7-4 at one point last year. i see more players needed on the defensive side of the ball versus the offense … but with some better drafting , coaching & organization , it may not take as long as some might think.
good post …