Well, after two posts yesterday, I went to the Frederick Keys-Carolina Mudcats and surprisingly had my whole family with me!
Great time and a really good pizza, which surprises here in Maryland whenever that happens.
I also wrote that I had plenty to still write about and I'll start with the final day of the Browns draft.
I'll make further notes on posts to come at the bottom of the page.
The Cleveland Browns traded up twice on the final day of the NFL draft, made some interesting decisions, and just might have wound up with their best draft class in years.
I'll have a total recap with grades later in the week, but for now, let's stick to day three!
Cleveland did not have a fourth-round pick after trading it to Green Bay in the trade to land David Njoku but swung a deal to trade two of their three picks in round five to obtain Houston corner, Howard Wilson.
I loved Iowa's Desmond King here as well, but I watched quite a bit of Wilson last year as I watched a lot of Houston games and was impressed.
Wilson is six foot (nice size for a CB) and has great ball skills (5 picks,15 knockdowns).
I preferred Desmond King of Iowa, but I'm high on Howard Wilson, he needs to work on his tackling a bit, but I think he is going to push for playing time.
The Browns traded up again in round five to corral Roderick Johnson, an athletic offensive tackle from Florida State.
The good news-Johnson won the last two ACC O-lineman of the year awards and his nearly 6'7 frame with long arms shows that he has the potential to develop into a fine player.
The bad news is-his technique needs a lot of work and he needs to spend lots of time getting stronger or he never would have lasted into round five.
Johnson is a project, but one worth working with at this stage of the draft.
Cleveland took a risk in their only selection of round six with the choice of defensive tackle Caleb Brantley of Florida.
Brantley was expected to be a day two pick before an alleged battery incident two weeks before the draft.
If Brantley is cleared of these charges and actually shows up in Cleveland (Sashi Brown says if Brantley is not cleared, the team will release him), he brings a similar-sized player to third-round pick Larry Ogunjobi with a pass-rushing ability more than a run-stuffing type.
This was a risky selection, but I'm ok with it as long as the Browns have some teeth behind their commitment for a team that won't tolerate off-field issues...
The Browns had two seventh-rounders and used the first on the best kicker in the draft in Zane Gonzalez of Arizona State.
Gonzalez was the Lou Groza award winner, hit a long of 59 yards in his career, holds the all-time record for field goals made (96), and hit 82 percent of his attempts. My friend Joe Plum watches a lot of Arizona State games and he thinks the Browns have a good one here.
Gonzalez will challenge Cody Parkey for the kicking job.
Cleveland finished their draft with the next to last pick and grabbed Matthew Dayes, a running back from N.C.State.
Dayes rushed for over 1,000 yards last season and is an excellent pass-catcher out of the backfield.
A bit undersized at 5'8, Dayes has a chance to stick as a scatback and pass catcher.
I still have to do a full grade of the draft, my trip to West Virginia, Inbox cleaning-lots to do!!
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