Yesterday, in reading Peter King’s column Football Morning in America, I ran across this statement:
“Cleveland had 11 first-round picks in the eight drafts between 2009 and 2016. None are left on the team.”
He mentioned this in the context of the recent trade that sent WR Corey Coleman from the Browns to the Bills for a 7th round draft pick in 2020. Coleman was indeed taken in the first round by the Browns; they used the pick they got from the Eagles when they let the Eagles move up to #2 in the draft to take Carson Wentz. Just so there is no misunderstanding, getting a 7th round pick two years from now for a player is roughly equivalent to getting a used kicking tee and an Egg McMuffin.
I know not to doubt Peter King when he makes a declaration of that sort, but I did have to go and see who the Browns’ first round picks were from 2009 to 2016. I wondered if the guys were just players who did not work out for the Browns or if they washed out of the league. So …
- 2009: Alex Mack played 7 years with the Browns; now with the Falcons. He has been to the Pro Bowl 5 times
- 2010: Joe Haden played 7 years with the Browns; now with the Steelers. He has been to the Pro Bowl twice.
- 2011: Phil Taylor played 4 years with the Browns until they released him. He is out of the NFL.
- 2012: Brandon Weeden played 2 years with the Browns until they released him. He is out of the NFL.
- 2012: Trent Richardson played 1 year with the Browns until they traded him to the Colts. He is out of the NFL
- 2013: Barkevious Mingo played 3 years with the Browns until they traded him. He is in the Seahawks’ camp this summer.
- 2014: Johnny Manziel played 2 years with the Browns. He is now in the CFL
- 2014: Justin Gilbert played 2 years with the Browns until they traded him. He is now serving a 1-year suspension for violation of the NFL substance abuse policy.
- 2015: Cam Erving played 2 years with the Browns until they traded him. He is now with the Chiefs.
- 2015: Danny Shelton played 3 years with the Browns until they traded him. He is now with the Pats.
- 2016: Corey Coleman played 2 years with the Browns until they traded him to the Bills a few days ago.
That is a monument to poor scouting that would be difficult to replicate in the modern era of football. In fact, that span of ineptitude poses an interesting topic for debate/discussion:
Which draft was worse in terms of first round selections?
- The 2014 draft that produced Manziel and Gilbert – – or – –
- The 2012 draft that produced Weeden and Richardson.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is not an easy choice; they were both miserable.
Recall back at the ACC Media Day, UNC coach Larry Fedora ranted about how there was a war on football and that if football failed America would go down with it. Let’s just say that I was not the only commentator to ridicule him for that level of hyperbole. Well, Larry Fedora’s UNC team is back in the news and not in a good way.
UNC changed its shoe company this year and part of the deal was that Nike gave athletes specially designed Air Jordans; these were not going to be sold in stores or online. Well, a bunch of the players turned around and sold those shoes and that is an NCAA violation. So, UNC has suspended 13 players for anywhere between 1 and 4 games this season and the starting QB is one of the players on suspension.
UNC was 3-9 last year. If the Tar Heels go 3-9 again this year and have to suffer through the ignominy of this sort of blockheadedness on the part of their “student-athletes”, Larry Fedora will no need to worry about any war on football; he will need to look for a job
- And isn’t it special that “The Heels” are in hot water for improperly selling shoes…?
Another college coach has announced that he will retire at the end of the 2018 season. Jimmye Laycock has been the head football coach at William and Mary for 38 years; that makes him the Division I coach who has been in his job for the longest time. William and Mary has won the Division I-AA championship twice in his tenure and his record going into this season is 245-189-2. Laycock is also an alum of William and Mary. My guess is that if he ran for mayor of Williamsburg, he would be a formidable candidate.
Bonne chance, Jimmye Laycock.
The Dallas Cowboys welcomed Randy Gregory to camp after he had been suspended by the NFL for a year due to substance abuse violations. This is merely the latest in a series of suspensions for the same reason. A couple of weeks ago, Jerry Jones said without any modifiers that if one of the Cowboys did not stand on the sidelines for the national anthem, that player would not play for the Cowboys. So, a serial drug abuser is OK but …
Finally, Brad Rock had this observation in the Deseret News recently about the PAC-12 Media Day:
“Heisman candidate Bryce Love skipped the Pac-12’s media day, saying he was too involved in studies to attend.
“Ute fans are already telling him, ‘Don’t forget the Oct. 6 Stanford-Utah game will be during midterms’!”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
Makes you wonder if they changed much in the offices… at least the first two guys have Pro Bowls… Mack was good, and Haden was a very good CB for a while..
oh, you want inept drafting…. 1990 Edmonton Oilers. 11 picks. 1 in each of the first 10 rounds.
None ever played a single game in the NHL.
Ed:
WOW! That is a draft record for the ages. Isn’t that about the time frame where the Oilers traded Wayne Gretzky away? If my memory is corrrect and those two decisions are proximal, that would be “Front Office Hall of Fame Level – – Stupidity”.
It’s a little after the “trade”, which occurred in 1988. I say the “trade” because although there were a number of players involved, the main item was the big chunk of change (I seem to recall about $15,000,000 but my memory may be faulty) that went from McNall (LA owner) to Pockington (Edmonton owner). Pocklington TOLD the then GM/head coach Glen Sather that he was “trading” Gretzky and that was that.