Browns Select Dawson Deaton

     The Cleveland Browns final pick of the draft was an interesting pick to not only build depth but to hedge their bets on Nick Harris being able to replace the released J.C. Tretter at center.

Cleveland's seventh-round selection of Texas Tech center Dawson Deaton gives the Browns a young center that perhaps could challenge or step in for Nick Harris in case of injury or subpar play as Harris attempts to replace the steady play of Tretter, who was waived during the off-season rather than pay a substantial contract.

The 6'6 310 pound Deaton is a little tall for a center but started thirty-five games in his Red Raider career and was second-team All-Big 12 in both his junior and senior seasons.

Deaton surprisingly is better in run blocking than in pass protection for the time being, which is a surprise considering his time with the throw-first Red Raiders.

Deaton is mentioned as mobile for the position but needs to develop strength in the lower half of his body, which makes sense for a 6'6 center.

Seems as if Deaton was the best player on the board for their final pick and it made sense for the Browns to have a potential fallback in the event Nick Harris would disappoint in the next season or two.

Sometime later in the week or so, I plan on talking about the Browns draft and reviewing the Cavaliers season, which I've worked on somewhat before putting the post on hold during draft week.

Browns Select Isaiah Thomas

    The Cleveland Browns had two picks in the seventh and final round of the NFL Draft and with the first of the two choices, it was another Oklahoma Sooner, the third in this draft for Cleveland, in defensive end Isaiah Thomas.

Thomas, a rangy 6'5 rush end, finished last season with eight sacks for the Sooners and eleven tackles for loss in twelve games.

Thomas has long arms and like Perrion Winfrey, a very high motor that doesn't stop until the whistle and doesn't take plays off.

Thomas is a bit light at 265 pounds and Ourlads states that Thomas can be pushed away from the passer against heavy power blockers, so Thomas may have to get stronger and heavier to be more than a reserve level player but I've seen linemen before that don't check the boxes physically yet still turn out to be very productive players as part of a rotational defensive line corps.

When it comes to late (or last) round picks, I like to see one of two types of players selected.

You can select a player with high potential that may have had off the field issues or injury problems or one can take a player that may have physical limitations but is a high effort player and can perhaps work themselves onto the roster.

I would think Thomas has a chance to stick on the roster but is going to have to have a great camp as you would think after Myles Garrett, hopefully, Jadeveon Clowney, new arrival Chase Winovich and third-rounder Alex Wright, there could be only one slot available between Thomas, Curtis Weaver, and Stephen Weatherly.

Browns Select Mike Woods

   The Cleveland Browns were expected to take two wide receivers in the 2022 draft and they took their second one in the sixth round when the team drafted Mike Woods from Oklahoma.

Woods spent last season in Norman after playing his first three seasons with the Arkansas Razorbacks and caught thirty-five passes for 400 yards with two of those catches for touchdowns.

Woods wasn't rated very highly by most scouts but what was consistently mentioned was his excellent hands and ability to catch the deep pass despite a lack of elite-level speed.

Woods was rated by most draft ratings as being a priority free agent than being drafted, so as a sixth-round pick this does appear to be a mild overdraft.

However, it wasn't as if there was a receiver that stood out that the Browns chose over Woods, and considering the team's needs on the depth chart at wide receiver, I can understand why the Browns picked Woods.

Woods may have difficulty making the regular roster against what is expected to be an eventual veteran signee and may wind up on the practice squad for 2022...

Browns Select Jerome Ford

   I didn't spend very much time on running backs when prepping for the Cleveland Browns preview posts but in hindsight, that was an error as the Browns added Cincinnati running back Jerome Ford with their fifth-round draft choice.

After the Browns selected Ford, I began to think about why and then I realized that Kareem Hunt and D'Ernest Johnson are unrestricted free agents at the end of 2022 and it makes a lot of sense to bring Ford into the depth chart as the possible, if not likely second back for 2023 behind Nick Chubb.

Ford began his career at Alabama and after two seasons as a reserve transferred to Cincinnati for two seasons- one as a starter.

Ford rushed for 1,320 yards and scored nineteen touchdowns for the undefeated Bearcats in 2021 as their every-down back and caught twenty-one passes out of the backfield.

At 5'10 and 215 pounds, Ford is a little undersized for the position but he is a fierce blocker, can catch the ball well, and is physical after the initial hit.

Sounds a lot like Kareem Hunt to me and seems to be an excellent fit as the future backup for Nick Chubb.

Running backs are never guarantees but it is the position that seems to produce the highest number of breakout performers from late-round picks and unsigned free agents.

I wouldn't go as far to say Jerome Ford is a future star but he does seem to be set to be a solid backup at a reasonable price at a time when the Browns will lose a chunk of their running back depth,

Boxing Challenge: Stevenson dominates Valdez

    Shakur Stevenson faced his toughest career test and while I wouldn't say that Oscar Valdez was flicked aside with ease, Stevenson dominated most of the fight and won a lopsided unanimous decision over Valdez to add the WBC junior lightweight title to his own WBO championship.

The fight was competitive for the first five rounds and although I scored only one for Valdez (the third) Stevenson wasn't dominating until he scored the fight's only knockdown in round six on a right hand that dropped Valdez seat-first along the ropes.

Valdez wasn't hurt and rose quickly but the fight was never close again as Valdez's rushes became more clumsy as the fight moved on and only the tenth would go into his column on my card.

The scorecards reflected that with Stevenson taking scores of 117-110 and two of 118-109, which is how I saw the fight.

Stevenson stated that he wanted the other two champions in the division but fights against WBA champion Roger Gutierrez and IBF beltholder Kenichi Ogawa are likely to be less competitive than Valdez against the young champion, few would be excited over those fights, and unless Top Rank was willing to overpay, I don't see either wanting to hand over their titles to Stevenson.

The easy take is comparing Stevenson with a young Floyd Mayweather and I can see where some would say that with the speed and skill of both fighters.

However, there are differences and Stevenson is a little more willing to engage in the pocket than Mayweather (even young Floyd) and he's not quite as elusive as Floyd could be.

Stevenson will not face an opponent to challenge him for quite a while but if you are interested in a possible future opponent to test Stevenson- root for Devin Haney to dethrone and then win his rematch against George Kambosis.

Haney's recent move to Top Rank makes this fight possible, as well as a Stevenson-Vasily Lomachenko match that would be easy to make, are the two most likely top opponents for Stevenson, although I have my fingers crossed for a Gervonta Davis break from Mayweather Productions for a superfight that should take place in either Baltimore or Washington.

In the co-feature to the Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano battle (which Taylor won via split decision, while I had Serrano a slight victor), a crossroads battle between veteran junior middleweights almost stole the show as Liam Smith and Jessie Vargas slugged it out toe to toe before the smaller Vargas eventually wilted with Smith scoring the tenth round stoppage.

Vargas won the first two rounds but as Smith began to assert his strength, the naturally larger fighter began to control the exchanges as he frequently trapped Vargas along the ropes and pounded him into the corner.

Both fighters bled throughout the bout and even though the exciting main event overshadowed a very good affair.

Smith should move up in the rankings of the WBO after winning a minor title and I'd wager he'll be in another crossroads fight next fight out.

As for Vargas, he should try to drop back to welterweight, if he can make the weight as he simply doesn't have the power to keep the stronger junior middleweights off him.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 69 Pts (3)

Vince Samano: 59 (3) 

Ramon Malpica: 56 (2) 

Browns Select Cade York

    The Cleveland Browns have been unable to replace Phil Dawson as their kicker since Dawson left in 2012 and they have tried to draft replacements that resulted in failure, so it wasn't a surprise that the team tried again by picking LSU kicker Cade York in the fourth round this weekend.

Cleveland drafted Zane Gonzalez in the seventh round in 2017 and Austin Seibert in the fifth in 2019 and even though both are still active with other teams (Gonzalez with Carolina and Seibert with Detroit) neither was especially successful as Browns.

York had been connected to the Browns by many draft evaluators with division rival Cincinnati drafting Evan McPherson to great success last year and Baltimore having perhaps a Hall of Famer in Justin Tucker and Cleveland's Chase McLaughlin connecting only 72.5 percent of field goal attempts (Worst in the league), the Browns were expected to look seriously at York or second-rated kicker Cameron Dicker of Texas at some point during the draft.

York kicked fifteen field goals of over fifty yards in his career at LSU, including his famous fifty-seven-yard kick through a deep fog to defeat sixth-ranked Florida in 2020.

York was fifty-four of sixty-six in his three years at LSU and seems to check all the boxes but who truly knows when it comes to kickers.

Even the most heralded booters discover that their resume means nothing under NFL pressure and kicking at a home field which is one of the most difficult in the league for kickers makes selecting kickers a "you never know" proposition for any team located in the north.

While I am all for the selection of York and think the Browns need to kick trying to address the problem at kicker, I can't say that I fully know that York will be the answer.

I liked Gonzalez when the Browns drafted him, and I thought Siebert was overdrafted when Cleveland selected him and neither proved to be the answer.

The only answer with kickers in Cleveland is that we just don't know.

I do know this- I would call Phil Dawson, cut him a check as a consultant, and have Dawson available for York to converse with and even walk the field together with various tips for York to learn from the one player that had success kicking consistently in that stadium.

I still have four more Browns to discuss and the Stevenson-Valdez fight for the boxing challenge to write, so I'll be working on those over the next day or so.   

Browns Select Perrion Winfrey

   The Cleveland Browns used the fourth-round pick that they obtained from Houston which was the third in the round to select a player that I would be thrilled to land with any of the three third-round choices that the Browns used on Friday night.

In Oklahoma defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey, the Browns not only landed a potential starter that has a motor that runs on every play but a personality that could make him very popular with the fan base.

At 6'3 and 290 pounds, Winfrey is fast, super-aggressive, and as noted plays through every whistle to the point of sometimes running himself past the play.

Dan Shonka of Ourlads stated that "Winfrey sometimes is too fast for his own good" and that if Winfrey is able to get stronger and develop some other pass-rushing moves Winfrey could be a disruptive force up the middle.

Shonka had Winfrey ranked higher than Houston's Logan Hall, who many connected with the Browns and was taken by Tampa Bay with the first pick of the second round.

Winfrey finished last season with 5.5 sacks with the Sooners and while he isn't a liability against the run, Winfrey will need some work to develop into an every-down interior lineman but has the potential to be a standout.

And then there was the explosive interview with the Cleveland media that is going to endear him to Browns fans as this guy is charismatic and excited to be a Cleveland Brown.

I love this pick and for pure value, this was the Browns best pick of the draft.

Winfrey was the first Oklahoma Sooner taken by Cleveland on day three of the draft but he was not the last as two more Sooners will be starting their career with the Browns and I'll be working on those posts tonight and tomorrow.