SB Nation Mock Draft: Dawgs By Nature Selects SS Patrick Chung at No. 50

by Chris Pokorny on Apr 15, 2009 3:28 PM EDT in General News

With a linebacker (Brian Orakpo) and a wide receiver (Percy Harvin) already on board for the Browns in this mock draft, there was one more position I wanted to address in the first two rounds.

No. 50

CLEVELAND
BROWNS
Pick by Dawgs By Nature

Patrick Chung
Strong safety
Oregon

Some of you really had an interest in Patrick Chung, while others thought we could have gotten someone else of similar talent in a later round.

Chung would join a young Cleveland secondary. I would have preferred more veteran leadership, but since we're past that point, it's time to get excited for what Chung can bring to the table.

[Read my full analysis at Mocking the Draft]

That was our final pick in the SB Nation Mock Draft, since the mock only lasts two rounds. Overall, I would say that I was pleased with how things turned out. Sure, getting someone like Aaron Curry is the best-case scenario, and trading down from the No. 5 position is also intriguing, but I addressed three significant holes on our roster nonetheless.

Poll

Considering who was on the board at this point, do you agree with selecting Patrick Chung?

Yes

221 votes

No

149 votes

370 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 37 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

I think that’s a round too high for Chung.

by gahnki on Apr 15, 2009 4:27 PM EDT reply actions

Not really. And the best safeties will be gone in the 4th

by BradyQuinnisBeast on Apr 15, 2009 5:23 PM EDT up reply actions

We shall see.

by gahnki on Apr 15, 2009 5:51 PM EDT up reply actions

I love Patrick Chung. Remember the kid started college at the age of 16. He is a 21 year old kid that has 51 college starts under his belt!

He was also a standout special teamer and I think he will only get better.

by Bernie19Kosar on Apr 15, 2009 5:19 PM EDT reply actions

I thought he started at 17 and was redshirted?

by rufio on Apr 15, 2009 8:44 PM EDT up reply actions

I meant that he started attending college at 16. He didn’t play until he was 17. Still he will be 21 on draft day.

by Bernie19Kosar on Apr 15, 2009 9:58 PM EDT up reply actions

He’s a 5 year at college guy?

by cboldt12 on Apr 15, 2009 7:45 PM EDT reply actions

If he does hip stretches 2 hours per day every day between now and training camp, he could play like a 1st rounder. He can certainly hit (1:15-1:35) but his hips look too tight(0:37) to really be a stud. Certainly something he can work on, but you would rather see someone more agile(0:40, 0:55, 2:04).

The real problem with letting Jones walk was that there are no stud SSs in this class. Jenkins will probably make a great FS eventually, but I am really down on the SSs this year. If I had defensive control of the Browns, an impact SS would be really important to me as DC.

It seems like Romeo and Mangini’s defenses only require intelligent safeties who can do one thing well (a la Rodney Harrison), while a guy like actual defensive coordinator Rob Ryan would require a more dynamic S to really implement what he wants to do.

I don’t consider Chung an impact guy. He could prove me wrong and become a stud, but I just don’t see it. I would have rather seen a guy who I think can be an NFL stud right away like Rashad Jennings here. I realize I am in the minority when I say Jennings should go in the 2nd and could again end up being completely wrong. I was right about Matt Forte last year, though.

by rufio on Apr 15, 2009 9:22 PM EDT reply actions

Am I the only one who thinks that Pool could play SS? Maybe make them interchangable? Have two semi-hybrid Safeties? I know that Mangini used Rhodes is some pretty unique ways the past couple of years. Just an idea.

by Bernie19Kosar on Apr 15, 2009 10:03 PM EDT up reply actions

I would love to hear more about how Mangini used Rhodes. I honestly don’t know much about that.

Pool could play SS. Would he be a home run there? I doubt it. He would be solid though, I think. If we took Jenkins and viewed him as a FS, I would definitely shift Pool over. That would make our secondary look a lot better to me, but we’d have to use the #5 pick to do it.

Interchangability is probably good, as is versatility. When Ed Reed is healthy, he can play the center-field role like he did last year or he can come up in the box. Dawkins can play in the box and deep too. For what its worth; teams who have two interchangeable guys usually play more cover-2. Really aggressive defenses usually play more cover-1 or cover-3.

by rufio on Apr 15, 2009 11:45 PM EDT up reply actions

I tried to find the article, but it was almost two years old. It talked about how Mangini loves to give QB’s total different looks every play, and he starts it with his safties. He loves to bring Safety blitzes and will use both safties as cover 1 type guys.

I remember this article, because I said to myself “Why can’t the Browns do this?” It was the original reason I asked this question. I would rather see us draft the best safety we can and just use Pool and Unnamed S as a dual role. If we start next year with Mike Adams next to Pool, we are going to be getting beat deep. A lot.

by Bernie19Kosar on Apr 16, 2009 1:21 AM EDT up reply actions

Safeties are usually the fastest and most telling read of a defense you can make and moving them absolutely messes with a QB. “Cornerbacks lie, but Safeties always tell you the truth”, or something like that.

I would love to see us moving guys around like crazy. Problems arise, though, when you get a safety playing a role that he really shouldn’t be playing. Lets say we grab Jenkins or Delmas or Chung or whoever we think is the best S in this class and team him with Pool. Any of those guys except Chung can probably play the centerfielder role, and Chung arguably can.

But if we were to do lots of moving them around, there would be some point in time where they would be matched up man to man on players such as Antonio Gates, Wes Welker, and Maurice Jones-Drew. Would Jenkins or Delmas be able to stay physical with Gates? Could Chung change directions with Welker?

The reason I probably wouldn’t take a safety in the 2nd is because to really optimize what your safeties can do, you need a guy like Polamalu. I was watching film of him last year and there was a play where he was showing blitz in the A gap (standing in a 2pt stance right on the Center), and on the snap he ran back to cover a deep half of the field and he broke up a pass to a WR running a go route down the sideline. That’s messing with an offense’s head.

Regardless of who we draft, I would love to see us do more than rush 4, play cover-3 behind it (and show cover-3 15 seconds before the snap) and wait to tackle RBs until they get 5 yards upfield. No more vanilla, please.

by rufio on Apr 16, 2009 4:17 AM EDT up reply actions

this makes me hope we have a shot at taylor mays next year.

by DontCallMeJoey on Apr 16, 2009 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Now that’s the kind of S prospect you want. Eric Berry isn’t too shabby either.

by rufio on Apr 16, 2009 1:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Eric Berry >>>>>> Taylor Mays.

He doesn’t have the hype, but is much more talented.

by gahnki on Apr 16, 2009 1:42 PM EDT up reply actions

well, that’s just silly. i don’t know as much about berry as i do taylor mays, but no safety in college football is much more anything than taylor mays. berry’s excellent, but so is mays.

by DontCallMeJoey on Apr 16, 2009 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions

The only thing is we dont really have 2 good safeties to play this year and how do we no that we can get mays next year. Its an interesting though of Mays vs. Polamalu, though. If we pass on safety day 1 we should take Chip Vaughn or Michael Hamlin if they slip to the 4th

by BradyQuinnisBeast on Apr 16, 2009 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions

We don’t know we can get Mays next year. It would probably take a lot of tanking. Scouts will be drooling over him by draft day.

by rufio on Apr 17, 2009 12:37 AM EDT up reply actions

And again, do you see my point about how there really isn’t that playmaker safety in this class? When we talk about Mays or Berry, those are guys who are probably going to change games. Will Chung do that? Vaughn? Anyone in this class?

by rufio on Apr 17, 2009 12:43 AM EDT up reply actions

No but they could at least play solid or good for a season and then we could see if we have a chance at berry or mays next year.

by BradyQuinnisBeast on Apr 17, 2009 5:14 PM EDT up reply actions

So why spend a draft pick on a position that we assume we would spend a pick on next year? It would be like spending a 1 and 4 on only one player.

by rufio on Apr 18, 2009 3:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Taylor Mays does not impact games as much as Eric Berry. Eric Berry will be the next Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu type.

Taylor Mays will test well. He will have a great forty, he will bench well, he will jump well, etc. He hits hard, but he has more in common with a linebacker than a defensive back. Eric Berry changes games. I would draft him over Mays every day of the week.

by gahnki on Apr 16, 2009 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions

Berry reminded me so much of Reed when I saw some tape of him. He just has that “how is he always getting his hands on the football?” skill. You can’t measure that.

Mays is fast and can lay the wood, but I think his versatility is limited because he is a high cut guy and I haven’t seen him really try to break down and change directions. I feel like he isn’t as agile as I would like. Still, you can find a place to play a guy that big and that fast who hits that hard.

I think I agree at this point about drafting Berry over Mays, but am not as convinced as you are.

by rufio on Apr 17, 2009 12:41 AM EDT up reply actions

Every time I watch a UT game, which is pretty often here in the south, Eric Berry makes at least one play a game where you say to yourself “Where did Eric Berry come from?”

He is the definition of playmaker.

by Bernie19Kosar on Apr 17, 2009 2:32 AM EDT up reply actions

Mays

Hey, I’ll take a LB type that runs one of the fastest 40 times of anyone at the combine or in the NFL for that matter and put him at SS any day of the week. I will agree Berry appears to be more of a play maker, more interceptions for touchdowns and what not but a saftey that plays like a linebacker and runs like a DB, sure sounds like a dream SS to me! Remember a SS is called on a lot in blitz packages and run support too, it’s not all about interceptions and coverage skills.

by ridaring on Apr 16, 2009 8:39 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t mean this to disparage Mays at all. He’s still a first round talent. I just believe that Eric Berry is so good that he makes other safeties pale in comparison. He can hit like a truck too…knocked Moreno out of the Georgia game.

It’s quite crazy to think that USC almost had both of them in the backfield at the same time.

by gahnki on Apr 16, 2009 9:40 PM EDT up reply actions

It’s quite crazy to think that USC almost had both of them in the backfield at the same time.

Err, secondary.

by gahnki on Apr 16, 2009 9:42 PM EDT up reply actions

Did Berry use to play for USC?

by BradyQuinnisBeast on Apr 16, 2009 10:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Taylor Mays hasn’t had an INT in two years. Eric Berry has 12. Eric Berry also averages something like 40 yards an INT return. I like Mays also, but Eric Berry is an alien.

by Bernie19Kosar on Apr 17, 2009 2:41 AM EDT up reply actions

My bad, Taylor Mays had 1 in 2007.

by Bernie19Kosar on Apr 17, 2009 2:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Lets wait till he actually runs the 40 before we let Mays’ tale grow any taller.

by rufio on Apr 17, 2009 12:42 AM EDT up reply actions

FYI, the latest SI mock draft has the Browns taking Crabtree in the first, and Alex Mack and Josh Freeman in the 2nd round. Cushing actually went #7 overall in that draft.

by talonk on Apr 17, 2009 3:12 PM EDT reply actions