A Look Back: 2000 NFL Draft
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 3:00 AM EST
138 comments
This isn't much prettier than the first go round.
Courtney Brown or trade down! We should have traded down.
Part one is here in case you missed it.
If you weren't around for the lead up to the 2000 NFL draft, here is a quick run down. It was Courtney Brown. At the end of the '99 season the above slogan was hung on a banner in the Dawg pound. Courtney Brown had it all you look for in a defensive end. He was the perfect prospect.
6-4, 285lbs and he ran 4.52 at his pro day. Think about that for a second. Someone who is the size of roughly Eric Steinbach but is faster than Pat White. And this wasn't just a projection on just size and speed.
Courtney Brown dominated the BigTen. He set career records at PSU in tackles for loss (70) and sacks (33). He set single season record of 29 TFL's. He was defensive POY in '99 and was All BigTen for three seasons. He also had a 3.45 GPA at PSU.
In other words, he had no holes in his game. He played the run as well as he rushed the passer. He was a slam dunk. This was a pick that could have been made the second the Super Bowl was finished the prior season. He was Ndamukong Suh 10 years ago.
And the Browns had him. Everyone was ecstatic. Peter King gave the Browns draft a B for Courtney Brown alone (P.S that article is hilarious for just for the fact that King gave the Raiders an A- for taking a kicker in the first round! A KICKER! Then he craps all over the Bears for taking a workout myth in Brian Urlacher. Gotta love Peter King).
By the way, just to make this even more painful, if the Browns would have taken the Saints trade offer the prior draft for Ricky Williams, the Browns would have been picking first and second. But no, we had to have a face of the franchise! God forbid our face of the franchise was a smart GM.
Without any further ado, I give you the Cleveland Browns 2000 NFL draft.
1st Pick, 1st Round, 1st Overall: Courtney Brown, DE Penn State University
He was almost never healthy. Played one full 16 game NFL season, his rookie year. That rookie season he showed flashes of being worthy of the number one pick. He had a 3 sack game against the hated Steelers and he was much better than anticipated against the run than we ever could have hoped for, bagging 70 tackles.
Before the 2001 NFL season, Brown had a bum ankle and missed the first 6 weeks of the NFL season. After the bye week, Brown was back and he was awesome. In the next 4 games, he was everywhere on the field. He racked up 21 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and knocked down 4 passes. He was becoming the monster that we had all envisioned on draft day.
The following week, Brown injured his knee. He would miss the rest of the season. He would never be the same. His knee was a horrible injury that lead to further surgeries, some even the experimental kind (I think he was one of the first players to ever undergo micro fracture surgery).
He was never the same. He never had the same explosion. The explanation was always that "he just thought too much" out on the field. I don't buy it. I just think that the injuries were worse than he ever let on and the guy was just always hurt. His body just couldn't handle it. He played in 11, 13, 2, 13 games the rest of his career. He never again showed the athletic gifts that he possessed. Courtney Brown may be the greatest "what-if" player in Browns history behind only Ernie Davis. Who knows what he could have been without the knee injury of 2001.
Career Stats
206 tackles, 19 sacks, 6 forced fumbles, 8 fumble recoveries, 1 defensive TD
Players we could have drafted: (Yes I know this is stupid and 100% subjective to many factors, but I always like looking back at who we "could have drafted" just for fun.) LaVar Arrington and Chris Samuels went 2-3 in this draft, but like I said before, there was ZERO chance that the Browns were not taking Courtney Brown.
1st Pick, 2nd Round, 32nd Overall: Dennis Northcutt WR University of Arizona
Once again, the Browns decided that Tim Couch needed another WR instead of a blocker. Don't get me wrong, Dennis Northcutt was a great college wideout. His senior season he had 88 catches for 1,422 while adding in 19 yards per punt return. 19 yards per punt return is hard in NCAA'10 let alone in real life. What Northcutt lacked in size (5-11 172lbs.) he made up in shiftyness and wiggle.
Northcutt started 8 games for the Browns in '00 and finished second on the team in receptions and third in receiving yards. He also was the Browns punt returner averaging 11 yards per return.
In his time with the Browns he never became more than a decent number three option and a great punt returner. Of course if you ask any Cleveland Browns fan about Dennis Northcutt, you will probably hear about this (Don't click and read if you just ate, or don't feel like crying like a bitch for the next 30 minutes).
Career Stats (I will only list Browns stats since Northcutt is still in the NFL):
276 catches, 3438 yards, 12 TD's (11 receiving, 1 rushing), 10.6 YPPR, 3 punt return TD's
Players we could have drafted: Mike Brown, Ian Gold, Chad Clifton and Marvel Smith. Some OT's would have been nice. Hell I would have settled for Cosey Coleman.
1st Pick, 3rd Round, 63rd Overall: Travis Prentice, RB Miami University
Travis Prentice, or Touchdown Travis as he was known back then, destroyed the MAC. Here is a list of his records when he left Miami University:
- Career Rushing TDs (73)
- Career Total TDs (78)
- Career Points (468)
- Career Points (Non-Kickers) (468)
- Games with TDs (35)
- Game with Two or More TDs (25)
- Consecutive Carries Without a Fumble Season (365)
- Consecutive Carries Without a Fumble Career (862)
Not too shabby right? Well he sucked as a pro. Once again, I don't know how much I could blame Prentice at this point. His offensive line was horrid, but 3.0 YPC out of a guy that started 11 games is inexcusable. Prentice was cut after the '00 season and was cut by the Vikings a year later. The Browns first third rounder of '00 was out of football in two seasons. Yikes.
Career Stats;
525 Yards, 2.8 YPC, 9 TD's, 38 catches, 201 yards, 1 rec TD
Players we could have drafted: Laveranues Coles, Mark Simoneau and Hank Poteat (I know he sucks now).
16th Pick, 3rd Round, 79th Overall: JaJuan Dawson, WR Tulane
Don't lie, you have no idea what he looks like. This could be someone else for all you know.
JaJuan Dawson put up some nice stats at Tulane catching passes from future pro (and first rounder) Patrick Ramsey. He had 96 catches for 1051 yards and 8 TD's. His Wes Welker like YPC could have been a huge red flag, but what the hell, this was the third round and the Browns needed WR's!
Well Dawson sucked and was cut from the Browns after two seasons and 31 catches later. He caught on with the Texans for one season, but was out of the NFL after that. For those keeping score at home, the Browns had two third rounders that played a combined 5 seasons in the NFL and only three of those were with the Browns. (P.S. That is Dawson in the picture above.)
Career Stats:
52 catches, 664 yards, 2 TD's
Players we could have drafted: Darrell Jackson, Reuben Droughns, Damion McIntosh, John St. Clair (I know he sucks now).
1st Pick, 4th Round, 95th Overall: Lewis Sanders, CB University of Maryland
Lewis Sanders had a good career at Maryland. He was All ACC in '99, semi-finalist for the Thorpe award and the Sporting News third team All American. He had 2 kick returns for TD's at Maryland and ranked seventh all-time at Maryland with 10 INT's. Came out as a junior.
Why did he last all the way to the third round? No one really knew if he was a small safety or a big cornerback. He fell into the awkward middle I like to call the Mike Adams zone. He stuck with the Browns for four seasons, playing in all 16 games two of those four, before he was let go and signed on with the Texans. He has bounced from Houston to Atlanta to New England. A roster filler.
Career Stats:
230 tackles, 1 sack, 2 FF, 5 INT
Players we could have drafted: Na'il Diggs, David Barrett, Terrelle Smith (It was an ugly round for the whole NFL.)
15th Pick, 4th Round, 110 Overall: Aaron Shea, TE University of Michigan
I always thought that Aaron Shea was a myth. I always would hear about this talented TE on the Browns roster, yet it seems like I never saw him. He was a TE/FB at Michigan where he used his decent blocking and decent hands to become a decent college H-Back. He was never going to be a great blocker or game changing receiving TE.
He started off with a good rookie season where he split time with Mark Campbell. He caught 30 passes for 302 yards. Sadly, both of those would be career highs.
Shea could never shake the injury bug. For the rest of his career he appeared in 12, 7, 4, 15, and 12 games. After the 2003 NFL season Shea sold his number 80 to Kellen Winslow Jr. for a package of suits, meals and vacations that totaled up to 30,000 dollars.
Shea has since retired and now works for the Cleveland Browns selling suites.
Career Stats:
97 catches, 851 yards, 7 TDs
Players we could have drafted: Cooper Carlisle, Isaiah Kacyvenski and Tyrone Carter
1st Pick, 5th Round, 130 Overall: Anthony Malbrough, CB Texas Tech University
Full disclosure. I cannot remember Anthony Malbrough. So I did some digging. He played with the Browns for one season, in which he had 15 tackles in his rookie season. After that he played some in NFL Europe and has since become a mainstay in the CFL.
He didn't do anything jaw dropping at Texas Tech his senior season, he wasn't even really considered a draft prospect. Even CNNSi didn't have a work-up done on him for their coverage of the draft. Yet the Browns thought he was worth a fifth rounder.
Career Stats:
15 tackles
Players we could have drafted: Shane Lechler (Don't laugh, we drafted a long snapper the previous season), Clark Haggans, and Ralph Brown
16th Pick, 5th Round, 146th Overall: Lamar Chapman, CB Kansas State University
Full disclosure. I barely remember Lamar Chapman. Through this old article, I found out that Chapman made the '98 All Big 12 team. Anyways, Chapman's career with the Browns and the NFL was short lived at best. he made it through two seasons with the Browns and was out of football after that. Again, for those keeping score at home, the Browns two fifth rounders lasted a combined 3 seasons in the NFL.
Career Stats:
12 Tackles, 1 Fumble recovery, 1 INT
Players we could have drafted: Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, Dante Hall, and Sammy Morris
1st Pick, 6th Round, 167th Overall: **TRADED** for Karim Abdul-Jabbar
We traded a 6th round draft pick for six starts of Abdul-Jabbar. SIX starts. He was let go after the '99 season. This is the exact reason this team has sucked. Instead of building a roster through the draft we were hoping to strike lightning in a bottle with Jabbar. Didn't happen. What will piss you off even more is the player that was taken right behind this traded draft choice. Unreal.
Players we could have drafted: Marc Bulger (the 168th pick, and before you say, wait a second Matt [my name], we just used the number one pick on a QB the previous season, there is no way the front office would be dumb enough to draft a QB the next season. Just wait for it.), and Dhani Jones
I guarantee that this pass was incomplete.
17th Pick, 6th Round, 183rd Overall: Spergon Wynn, QB South West Texas State
Just when you think that this front office was as dumb as they could possibly be, Spergon Wynn happens. The kid throws for a 49.8 completion percentage at South West Texas State, and this front office thinks, "Awesome, instead of drafting a blocker for the face of the franchise, let's draft a back-up that can play when Tim Couch is killed from a look out block!" When you can't complete 50% of your passes at a Southland Conference School, you have to be a NFL QB right? Add in the fact that your TD-INT ratio was a healthy 14-13, why you have a recipe for success.
As much as I want to defend some of the early picks the Browns made (Couch and Brown) there are moves that this front office made that just completely cut this franchise off at the knees. This wasn't a case of a good player that just keeps dropping and the value of drafting him is just too high (think Drew Henson and the Houston Texans), this was a front office that either had no idea how to draft a NFL team or didn't care. Either case isn't acceptable.
When you add in the fact that Wynn was let go after one season, it makes me want to kick my dog. He was out of the NFL in two seasons.
Career Stats:
585 Yards, 46.1 Completion Percentage, 1 TD, 7 INT; But who saw that coming right? It gets worse.
Players we could have drafted: Adalius Thomas, Robaire Smith, and Tom Brady (Yeah, that one.)
39th Pick, 6th Round, 206 Pick Overall: Brad Bedell, OG University of Colorado
Finally. This is the first offensive lineman that the Browns took since the expansion draft. 21 picks. We drafted a back-up QB before we drafted one offensive lineman. This isn't hyperbole, but the Browns should be a studied as an example of how NOT to build a franchise. We drafted 5 DB's and a long snapper before one offensive lineman. This is how Jim Bundren starts for your football team.
Bedell was a flier at best. He was described as a waist bender and lacked agility to be a good blocker. Yes, everyone has holes in the 6th round, but at least we made a mistake on an offensive lineman.
Bedell was gone from the Browns after two seasons and bounced around for most of his career playing with Browns, Dolphins, Packers and Texans.
Players we could have drafted: Mark Tauscher, Alfonso Boone, and Rob Meier
1st Pick, 7th Round, 207th Pick Overall: Maniua Savea, OG University of Arizona
Back-to-Back! Too bad Savea never made the team. From what I can tell, he was cut before the start of the '00 season.
Awesome.
Players we could have drafted: Adewale Ogunleye, and Brian Waters
Undrafted Free Agents:
Shaun O'Hara, C Rutgers University: I have to give the front office credit for signing O'Hara and turning him into a good player. He left for the NYGiants and has become a Pro Bowler.
Draft recap:
This draft gave us zero starting offensive lineman. I hate to sound like I am kicking a dead dog here, but this was/is a major reason why we have never been able to get traction as a franchise. We have never been able to control the LOS. It is the reason that Pittsburgh and Baltimore push us around every season. It is a major reason why this seasons last four games made me so happy. We were killing people at the LOS.
As for the '00 draft SIX of the above 10 draft picks were no longer on the Browns after two seasons. 60%. I don't have to be Gil Brandt to realize that sucks. Big time. The Browns were handed extra draft picks by the NFL and they pissed them away.
The fact that Butch Davis had this franchise in the playoffs in the 2002 season is a freaking miracle.
I don't mean to sound angry, but I am. I think we can all agree that the draft is a crap shoot. Look at Courtney Brown, all the tools, all the character, but just plain bad luck. But some of this teams bad luck was brought on by foolish moves and even worse drafting. I think we can all agree, thank God for Mike Holmgren.
Spergon Wynn, if by some stroke of luck you are reading this, I don't hate you. I just hate the fact that we drafted you.
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Well done again. Love the reads.
Till what year are you going to do this by the way? 2005?
Probably the only Cleveland Browns fan in all of Sydney, NSW.
Haven’t decided yet. I am thinking up to ’08 but it is so hard to judge a draft class after two seasons.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 2:03 PM EST up reply actions
What a horrible draft.
I remember circa 2003 or 2004 there being a lot of hand wringing over the Courtney Brown pick. Everyone and their brother suddenly becoming the lone person to have insisted on Arrington over Brown on draft day.
Despite his injury woes and quick exit from the league, Courtney Brown was absolutely the right pick that year. It took us until 07 to make better use of a first rounder.
I seem to remember JuJuan Dawson being, like, 26 or 27 years old as a rookie.
The O’Hara pickup was a good one. For me, nothing better demonstrates our ineptitude more than the fact that we’ve had three ProBowl centers on our roster in the expansion era (four if you count Pontbriand), and still found ourselves needing a center in the 09 draft.
Dawgs By Nature -- where Hitler, apparently, 'did some good things'.
Good point on the centers, I didn’t even think about that.
You are also forgetting that we had another Pro Bowl Center in LeCharles Bentley. That was just bad luck though.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 2:09 PM EST up reply actions
I was counting Bentley among the three — Bentley, Faine and O’hara. Who am I missing?
Dawgs By Nature -- where Hitler, apparently, 'did some good things'.
I was using my psychic powers on Alex Mack, your 2010-11 starting Pro Bowl center.
No, really I thought you had rolled Pontibrand in there also. My bad.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 4:45 PM EST up reply actions
I can see Mack in the Pro Bowl next year.
Dawgs By Nature -- where Hitler, apparently, 'did some good things'.
Do they take two centers? If not, it is going to be hard for him to make it over Mangold any time in the near future.
by TheDriveStillHurts on Jan 20, 2010 12:45 PM EST up reply actions
They take at least two players for any position. KR/LS being exceptions of course.
If I hear "There's always next year" one more time...
by SpecialBrownie on Jan 20, 2010 2:32 PM EST up reply actions
The comment on the centers is not fair. We let O’Hara go because we drafted Faine (both moves could be argued as incompetent), but we then traded Faine because we got Bentley, who was lost for good the minute he snapped a football for the Browns in a horrible, freak injury. That accounts for two PB centers being lost.
Also, no one would count our career long snapper as a center, because he’s not a center.
To this day, I think we should have started Faine at guard when we signed Bentley.
Instead we started the carcass known as Joe Andruzzi.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 2:49 PM EST up reply actions
Same for O’hara when we drafted Faine. He may not have been a ProBowl guard, but he was better than anyone we had at the position.
Dawgs By Nature -- where Hitler, apparently, 'did some good things'.
Yeah but I believe we were actually in salary cap trouble at the time. This was the reason Davis gave for letting all of our LBs go and sticking with the vaunted three sophomores in 2003.
O’Hara did play some guard in ’03. I think that he was losing his starting gig and took off to the Giants. He was replaced in ’04 by Kelvin Garmon.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 4:48 PM EST up reply actions
Instead we started the carcass known as Joe Andruzzi.
Unfortunate choice of words given that he has non Hodgkins lymphoma (just found that out while looking to see if he had been to a Pro Bowl).
Dawgs By Nature -- where Hitler, apparently, 'did some good things'.
Wow. Awkward. I did not know that. I apologize to Mr. Andruzzi.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 5:03 PM EST up reply actions
I don’t mean to sound angry, but I am.
I am too. No offense (because they’re very well done), but I might not be reading any more of these draft reviews.
You are reading my signature.
….I might not be reading any more of these draft reviews.
It takes a special sort of masochism, doesn’t it? Then again, so does being a Browns fan, so there you go.
by RelapsingDawgCatcher on Jan 18, 2010 9:55 AM EST up reply actions
Not to be a downer about the article itself, though. Good (if painful) reading as always, B19K!
by RelapsingDawgCatcher on Jan 18, 2010 9:56 AM EST up reply actions
And even more comes to light. From what it sounds, the Brown pick was the right one, even from a rebuilding standpoint. But even I knew that you have to pick up offensive linemen back when I was just learning about football (thank you Madden 06’, probably one of the best Madden years ever!).
still didn’t compare to NFL 2K5
I hate the steelers the way a mother loves a child.
by notthatnoise on Jan 18, 2010 10:57 AM EST up reply actions
Mutant League Hockey was more fun.
The sporting gods hate Cleveland, they give us false hopes, then yank it out from under us like a tablecloth.
by North Coast Flea on Jan 18, 2010 2:11 PM EST up reply actions
Oh yeah…
"I don’t dance too much." --Mike Holmgren
by johnnyphoenix on Jan 18, 2010 4:42 PM EST up reply actions
http://www.virtualnes.com/play/?id=NES-TW&s=9
"I don’t dance too much." --Mike Holmgren
by johnnyphoenix on Jan 18, 2010 4:45 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
i absolutely love that website, i’ve wasted so many hours playing mario on there.
I hate the steelers the way a mother loves a child.
by notthatnoise on Jan 18, 2010 6:24 PM EST up reply actions
“wasted” being a subjective term :)
I hate the steelers the way a mother loves a child.
by notthatnoise on Jan 18, 2010 6:24 PM EST up reply actions
This is an entertaining (if painful) series, B19K, and does really help to explain why the Browns have continued to flounder. It would be reasonable to expect several of these players drafted in 99 and ’00 to be still playing, anchoring their area, instead of being out of football. The failure to draft linemen (offensive in particular) is a huge, ugly, glaring mistake. It might have taken 10 years, but at least the team now seems to understand that you build from the interior out. Mangini in particular seems to hold this as a core philosophy.
I’ve always been bothered by the fact that more has been made of the Northcutt drop than the change in strategy that put us in a position to make that play so important.
Here’s how I recall it (though I won’t say my memory is infallible):
Up to a point in the 3rd Qtr the Browns defense had been smothering the Steelers’ passing game by putting pressure on the QB. The Steelers D, on the other hand, had focused on less pressure and more pass coverage. On that muddy field the receivers had the advantage over the DBs. And then, inexplicably (to me) the Browns abandoned the pass rush and and sent everyone out to slide around in the secondary.
Yeah, Northcutt needed to make that catch, but if the Browns had stuck to a defensive strategy that was working instead of switching to one that the opponent had proven wasn’t working then the Northcutt drop play would either never have happened or would have carried less significance. That is what pisses me off.
Actually, I put more blame on Anthony Henry dropping an INT on the Steelers last drive.
But we are always going to remember a single play more than strategy just because it is much more glaring.
I still think that Fazio was screwed.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 2:13 PM EST up reply actions
Yea, it’s actually amazing that the Browns decided to draft a QB in that round and went for the guy from the tiny conference and awful completion percentage.
I remember when the Browns drafted him they were trying to get some hype surrounding him by saying that no other player in the NFL could throw the ball with more rotations than Spergon Wynn (meaning he threw really hard.)
Wynn FTL
The sporting gods hate Cleveland, they give us false hopes, then yank it out from under us like a tablecloth.
by North Coast Flea on Jan 18, 2010 2:22 PM EST up reply actions
Wynn was one of the dumbest picks ever honestly. I thought this before I even realized what B19K pointed out in the article. He just was never fit to play in the NFL…
I still wonder if we only traded for Karim because of his name. he was never anything special in the NFL before we traded for him…maybe we hoped he could shoot the jump hook well.
Oh yeah I remember him too. My first (and only) Browns game was when I was in like 4th grade. I didn’t even care about football then but my friend invited me. It was against the Raiders and we won. I remember getting a Northcutt jersey at the game because my friend’s family was loaded and they offered to buy it for me, haha.
My first (and only) Browns game was when I was in like 4th grade.
Jesus. Now that you mention that our draft when I was in in 4th grade wasn’t much better. (At least we got Matt Bahr, though).
Browns’ 1st Round pick traded to Buffalo along with Browns’ 3rd choice in 1984 and 5th choice in 1985 for LB Tom Cousineau
2. Brown, Ron WR Arizona State
3. Camp, Reggie DE California
4. traded to San Diego for LB Don Goode
5. Contz, Bill T Penn State
6a. Stracka, Tim TE Wisconsin (acquired from Chicago for C Gerry Sullivan)
6b. Puzzuoli, Dave NT Pittsburgh
7a. Belk, Rocky WR Miami (acquired from Chicago for LB Bruce Huther)
7b. traded to Philadelphia for DE Thomas Brown
8. McClearn, Mike G/T Temple
9. traded to San Francisco for K Matt Bahr
10. Hopkins, Thomas T Alabama A&M
11a. Green, Boyce RB Carson-Newman
11b. McAdoo, Howard LB Michigan State (acquired from L.a Raiders for Greg Pruitt)
12. Farren, Paul C/T Boston University
"I don’t dance too much." --Mike Holmgren
by johnnyphoenix on Jan 18, 2010 5:08 PM EST up reply actions
Drafting of OL continues to be an area that lacks focus. Since Savage took over in 2005, in five drafts, we’ve selected four offensive linemen. Of course, two of those were with #1 picks, but the other two were Sowells and the illustrious Jonathon Dunn. In fact, since the resurrection we’ve used exactly two picks on the OL between rounds two and five.
Holmgren drafted 15 OL in his ten years in Seattle. Heckert and co. picked 16 in his nine years of involvement. I think it’s safe to say these guys are big on linemen. I expect at least two of our picks to go OL.
I believe Savage explicitly said that his philosophy was that you get OL help in FA and trades. Thomas was just too good to pass up. Steinbach and Fraley were the type of OL moves Savage liked.
Not saying it was right or wrong, just that he had a strategy.
fka "DaytonDogg". Now a contributor to SBN's Dawgs By Nature. www.dawgsbynature.com
by Ryan Kelsey on Jan 18, 2010 12:57 PM EST up reply actions
Oh I know, and I would say he actually did a good job of it, especially considering the freak loss he/we suffered in Bentley. His tactic did have the potentially negative side effect of having a hugely expensive OL, but really he brought us Pro Bowlers in 3 of 5 spots, as well as Shaffer and good C/G depth. He committed to the line and gave us most of what remains a relative strength of this team.
That said, we need a youth infusion on both lines. Spending some picks between rounds 3 and five on the OL would be great for this team. Unlike previous regimes, history seems to indicate that we can expect this from Heckert/Holmgren.
Who other than Thomas and Bentley is a ProBowler?
Dawgs By Nature -- where Hitler, apparently, 'did some good things'.
Steinbach was elected as a reserve in ’08.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 4:51 PM EST up reply actions
thank you. my eyes are now spraying both tears and blood simultaneously. i was and am still under the impression that the staff back then thought they had a free pass simply because the browns were back in the league. it felt as though their answer to criticism was always “well, the browns are back baby!”(paraphrased of course). i don’t think they put the time or effort into things the way they should have and believed they could just hang their hats on the fact that we were all happy to have a team again and would settle for anything. either that or they just outsmarted themselves trying to find too many “hidden gems.” either strategy has had us screwed royally to this day. that’s one fan’s opinion.
I think the word that best describes the new Browns formative front office is “hubris.”
It feels weird putting that period on the inside of the quote…
I think the word is “overmatched.” Dwight Clark should have never been hired as a GM. The NFL screwed the team by waiting so long to choose an owner (in order to get the most money) and didn’t give the team enough time to prepare. Clark should have never been given that job because he wasn’t qualified for it, and it showed.
by Buckeye Brad on Jan 18, 2010 5:03 PM EST up reply actions
And I see that Bernie already mentioned this below. As he said, read the Pluto book to see how the new Browns were set up to fail.
by Buckeye Brad on Jan 18, 2010 5:05 PM EST up reply actions
my eyes are now spraying both tears and blood simultaneously.
Well put and fully empathized with, DN.
by RelapsingDawgCatcher on Jan 18, 2010 1:57 PM EST up reply actions
thanks for the support, RDC. i’m not a great statistician, but looking our first 2 drafts, i’d guess the odds of “busting” on so many picks is almost astronomical, and i’d also bet no other team even approached that many busts in the same 2 draft classes.
Well, the Lions didn’t look so hot either. But, we had more picks and probably more guys that exited stage left nearly immediately. Still, Couch had a completely predictable career. I don’t consider him a bust, really.
yeah, i agree on couch. he was not a bust. in fact, maybe bust isn’t the right word for all of them (brown, northcutt); but we certainly had an outrageously high number of picks who didn’t work out well for us overall, for a variety of reasons.
It’s not even that they didn’t become stars. They weren’t even relevant.
We were drafting guys that didn’t last two seasons in the NFL. Now I can understand a 5th rounder not sticking on a playoff team, but this roster sucked.
Maybe I could have one a better job explaining it, but the expansion draft was brutal for the Browns. By ‘99 teams had figured out how to manipulate the cap. There were ZERO impact players for the Browns to choose from. I’m warning you, that list is fugly.
Not to mention that the NFL changed the draft rules from the Jax-Carolina expansion (Carolina had THREE first round picks in their draft, Jacksonville had four in the first two round!).
The ‘99 Browns had a horrendous roster that should have been filled by these picks. The fact that these guys couldn’t stick on the poor of a roster shows how bad these drafts really were.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 4:29 PM EST up reply actions
And if you did look at that list, it is the same Kurt Warner that is going to be a hall of famer.
In all honesty though, if the Browns had taken Warner, he would have never been the same QB he is. In fact, we probably never would have heard from him ever. Your welcome America.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 4:33 PM EST up reply actions
Those were some bad players and I do agree…I was looking at the list though and I saw Reggie White. could the browns have gotten him?? I know he retired 2 seasons later but he was still a talent. He still had about 22 sacks in 99 and 2000.
He retired in ’08.
There was a lot of retired players on the list, Moose Johnson was another.
Teams did this so they could try and shed those deals off their salary cap, plus they didn’t have to risk losing another player. I think the limit was set at 1 retired player per team.
Then the team would contact the Browns and try and work out a deal. If the Browns selected a horrible contract, they would then get to select a player that both teams agreed on.
Reggie White had a huge contract (for that time period) and was just not worth drafting for the Browns.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 4:55 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah…if Reggie had retired in 2008 he definitely would have been eligible for the Mutant League by that point…
“Hey…um…Regg…you…uh…dropped your arm there bro…”
"I don’t dance too much." --Mike Holmgren
by johnnyphoenix on Jan 18, 2010 5:23 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
rec…
Some might say that is too soon (because he only died about 5 yrs ago) but I appreciate comedy. in my book of comedy, it is very rarely too soon…maybe gilbert gottfreid making fun of 9/11 about a week later but it was still hilarious looking back.
these two comments back to back is pretty funny.
I hate the steelers the way a mother loves a child.
by notthatnoise on Jan 18, 2010 6:30 PM EST up reply actions
Some might say that is too soon (because he only died about 5 yrs ago)
What, too soon to retire?!?
No, I think for everyone’s sake retiring FIRST was a better idea.
"I don’t dance too much." --Mike Holmgren
by johnnyphoenix on Jan 19, 2010 10:00 PM EST up reply actions
some people are just workaholics…
I hate the steelers the way a mother loves a child.
by notthatnoise on Jan 20, 2010 12:36 AM EST up reply actions
yeah…very good point. I didn’t think about what the contract situation was and it probably was a large contract. I was just surprised he was on there.
you were right, he retired in ‘98. I was looking at his career stats and somehow misread that as being ’99 and thought he had a great year. he did come back for a season but wasn’t that good.
If anyone is interested, bar far the best book outlying the struggles that this front office went through rebuilding this team is False Start by Terry Pluto.
It is a tiny book that you could read in a couple of days. Some incredible facts, some that I will drop in later articles, but the one that stands out to me is that Policy went to the NFL to beg that the NFL push back the Browns first season to ’00 because the front office was under prepared. I would recommend the book to anyone who calls themselves a Browns fan.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 2:23 PM EST up reply actions
I will check into it. I have heard good things about the sports books pluto writes.
I have heard too of a little of these stories about the front office.
Pluto has written many great sports books. I don’t even remember how many I’ve read, but they’re all outstanding. I haven’t yet read his new book about LeBron with Brian Windhorst but I’m sure it’s great since both of the writers are fantastic.
by Buckeye Brad on Jan 18, 2010 5:06 PM EST up reply actions
yes. I do agree it is fantastic. I will try to check those books out sometime. i always enjoy his columns.
For a great book on Browns history, check out his book When All the World Was Browns Town about the ’64 Browns. Great history lesson about Jim Brown, Art Modell, Paul Brown, Blanton Collier, and the history of the team leading up to and including that season.
by Buckeye Brad on Jan 18, 2010 5:22 PM EST up reply actions
I read the LeBron book (“The Franchise” is the title, I believe). It wasn’t great, but full of good information. Plus pictures of LeBron, early in his career dunking on Mo Williams and Delonte West.
fka "DaytonDogg". Now a contributor to SBN's Dawgs By Nature. www.dawgsbynature.com
Eh. Probably a good read…but aside from on the court…I’m all lebron’ed out. Let’s just hope there’s no new books about him the next few years a la “Betrayal: How the ___________ lured the biggest Free Agent in NBA History.”
"I don’t dance too much." --Mike Holmgren
by johnnyphoenix on Jan 18, 2010 5:31 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah, this book came out before LeBron leant his name and credit to a book and a movie(s?) about his upbringing and the like.
The Franchise is cool because it goes through the struggles of the Cavs, pretty much from their inception in 1970 and the rising star of LeBron James in Akron- and how the the franchise and the star met at the perfect moment. (It was written during/just after the season where they lost in the Finals to the Spurs.)
fka "DaytonDogg". Now a contributor to SBN's Dawgs By Nature. www.dawgsbynature.com
I just finished reading Shooting Stars. It was pretty interesting, telling LeBron’s life story from his perspective and also about the other members of the Fab 5 at SVSM. Not a great book by any means but a good look at his life growing up before the fame and what he dealt with being a superstar in high school.
by Buckeye Brad on Jan 18, 2010 5:50 PM EST up reply actions
I’d love to read that one…sounds very interesting.
"I don’t dance too much." --Mike Holmgren
by johnnyphoenix on Jan 18, 2010 4:52 PM EST up reply actions
I am in the middle of reading The Draft: A Year Inside the NFL’s Search for Talent by Pete Williams.
It is looking back at the ’05 draft in which we got Braylon Edwards. I plan on having it done by the time I get to my ’05 draft look back. I have really learned a lot about how certain teams looked at the draft that year.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 4:59 PM EST up reply actions
Thanks for recommending “False Start” B19K. I remember hearing about that and thinking I should pick it up, and the reminder is perfectly timed….
by RelapsingDawgCatcher on Jan 18, 2010 5:08 PM EST up reply actions
I can only laugh at some of the names on these posts. What else can I do? Cry?
Unfortunately, due to some sadistic quirck…I remember all of these guys. It must be the pain of playing madden every year with the browns and having to start out with a bunch of 50’s and 60’s. Shit, the beginning of every franchise mode for me involved releasing half the team….
"I don’t dance too much." --Mike Holmgren
by johnnyphoenix on Jan 18, 2010 4:55 PM EST up reply actions
Always. Half the team gone before preseason.
If I remember right, Spergeon Wynn was rated in the 40’s one year.
Dawgs By Nature -- where Hitler, apparently, 'did some good things'.
If I remember right, Spergeon Wynn was rated in the 40’s one year.
Even that is too high.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 5:01 PM EST up reply actions
I thought he was just a “?”
"I don’t dance too much." --Mike Holmgren
by johnnyphoenix on Jan 18, 2010 5:15 PM EST up reply actions
my eyes are now spraying both tears and blood simultaneously.
My bowels and bladder evacuated both simultaneously, and explosively.
"I don’t dance too much." --Mike Holmgren
by johnnyphoenix on Jan 18, 2010 5:25 PM EST up reply actions
It sounding kind of like “JA-JUAN!!!”
"I don’t dance too much." --Mike Holmgren
by johnnyphoenix on Jan 19, 2010 1:28 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Man, LaVarr and Courtney Brown. That Penn State defensive line was sick. Amazing how far their program has fallen with JoePa’s aging. They are a sleeping giant.
An old neighbor who has long since moved played with them both at Penn State. I wish I would have asked more about them. The guy actually became a Browns fan because they drafted Courtney. He had no doubt he would be a star.
I would not say that their program has fallen at all.
yes, they aren’t as good as they were at their peak but their peak was in the mid 80’s. Joe Pa has won the Big 10 twice since brown left. he has had some great players like Larry Johnson, Paul Posluzny, Dan Conor, and Daryl Clark just to name a few.
Right. Penn St. has been right behind OSU in the Big Ten over the past 5 years so I don’t think they’ve fallen that far.
by Buckeye Brad on Jan 18, 2010 5:08 PM EST up reply actions
Yes. they had a little dip when that great draft class left and then they were back to the ol’ nittany lions greatness. I remember i truly didn’t start following college sports until around 2000. at first I really though Penn State was a bad team, because I started following when they were on a very bad stretch.
Compared to where JoePa had them in the 80’s and 90’s, they’ve fallen very far.
2000 5–7
2001 5–6
2002 9–4
2003 3–9
2004 4–7
2005 11–1
2006 9–4
2007 9–4
2008 11–2
2009 11–2
A couple strong recent seasons make people forget how much they’ve struggled this decade. But there was a very big portion of the PSU fanbase that wanted him gone before they won the Big Ten in 2008.
Couple that with recruiting struggles (this year not included), and it’s easy to see where the frustration comes from for PSU fans.
When they get a coach in there who actually recruits, Penn State will come on strong in the Big 10.
except for a couple struggles at the beginning of the decade, they were just as good as they were in the 90’s. the 80’s were the golden years for the program and even the 90’s were not even as good. compared to where they were when arrington and brown played, they haven’t missed a beat really in recent years.
Yeah, they struggled during the early part of the decade (which I remembered), but they’ve been pretty good since 2005. That’s what I was talking about. Their past five season have been as good as all but 5 or 6 teams in college football.
by Buckeye Brad on Jan 18, 2010 7:49 PM EST up reply actions
Penn St. has been right behind OSU in the Big Ten over the past 5 years
actually, they’ve been right ahead of ohio state 2 out of the last 5 years.
Arrington was a linebacker in college (won the Lambert and Butkis awards).
Dawgs By Nature -- where Hitler, apparently, 'did some good things'.
Well, surprisingly enough…Penn State has had a bit of a resurgence the last few years….Although JoPa does about as much actual coaching nowadays as my grandfather does…and he died in back in ’98.
"I don’t dance too much." --Mike Holmgren
by johnnyphoenix on Jan 18, 2010 4:51 PM EST up reply actions
since we are talking about browns books, I want to mention one of my favorites. i don’t know if anyone has read it.
It is called The Best Show in Football: The 1946-1955 Cleveland Browns, by Andy Piascik. It is about the early browns dynasty and how it was truly great. This is a great read and combines interesting facts that any browns fan would love, with statistics to show the greatness of the browns, for those sabrheads.
The book won the Nelson Ross Award for “outstanding achievement in pro football research and historiography”. The award was by the PFRA (professional football researchers association). the author, Piascik is an expert on the AAFC and is the chair of the PFRA AAFC committee.
He also wrote another book about early players that came out last year. Its called Gridiron Gauntlet: The Story of the Men Who Integrated Pro Football, in Their Own Words. I am guessing that (since I haven’t read the book) it focuses a lot on Marion Motley and Bill Willis.
I may to pick it up.
I got the Amazon Kindle for X-Mas. As of right now, it has a severe lacking in Browns books.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 5:40 PM EST up reply actions
I can’t type.
I may have* to pick it up.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 5:41 PM EST up reply actions
It is a great read with tons of history. the guy is an NFL expert on those years in history.
Does the kindle work well? (random question)…
I have just heard a lot about it recently.
my grandpa has one and he loves it. i also know a few people who got one for free through my college, and they like it as well.
I hate the steelers the way a mother loves a child.
by notthatnoise on Jan 18, 2010 6:36 PM EST up reply actions
Awesome.
I couldn’t be happier with it.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 18, 2010 7:44 PM EST up reply actions
Nice work Matt.
If you're at the table and you don't see a sucker..... you're it.
by Brownie's Year on Jan 19, 2010 12:54 AM EST reply actions
From Ain'ts to Champs in less than a decade - can the Brownies do it?
Hey, if the Ain’ts can crawl out of the cellar of the league in less than a decade, can the Browns do it?
I don’ t have another decade to wait.
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