"Man, he does NOT look like Jonah Hill at all."
Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta are bringing a new era to Cleveland Browns football. All they're doing differently is making a more informed decision and creating more value than they previously had. Which should be welcomed among Browns fans after all we've been through. So lets look at each pick and identify just what traits this front office is looking for and why.
So, to determine a player's value you should take into account five main categories:
- Athleticism/Size- This not just how fast a player runs his 40 or how many times he bench presses 225 lbs. I will be using each player's RAS or Relative Athletic Score to determine where each player's athleticism ranks. Please follow the link to understand more on how the scores work. High RAS grades are proven to correlate to NFL success, but are not a prerequisite.
- Production- In my opinion PFF is the best place to go for production stats so that is what I will be using. You can look at their stats on ESPN if you want, but that doesn't take into account their competition or offense. PFF is also much more detailed than any other production stat you will find.
- Character- Pretty self-explanatory.
- Team Need/Scheme Fit- Again. Pretty self-explanatory.
- Age- This is not the biggest factor and is taken into account much more for free agents or trades, but nevertheless it is something to be considered.
15th Overall- Corey Coleman WR Baylor
The Browns traded back twice in the first round and selected Corey Coleman with the 15th overall selection.
Lets see how Corey ranks in the five aforementioned categories.
1. Athleticism/Size- Corey is small player at 5'11" 194 which RAS takes into account. You should also notice that all of his other scores are extremely high. He also scored a 133.9 SPARQ rating which puts him in the 94th percentile of all NFL players. Players with this kind of athleticism do not come along often and when they do, they're usually not as productive as Coleman was at Baylor.
2. Production- Corey was one of the highest producing receivers in the NCAA last season and won the Belitnikoff award for best receiver in the FBS. He averaged 3.97 yards for each route run which is third best in the class. PFF ranks him in the top 10 players in the draft. The only problem he has is questionable hands at times, dropping 10 out 84 catchable balls this year.
3. Character- Coleman had a rough go of it as a kid, you can read about it here. No red flags, coaches love him and his tenacity.
4. Team Need/Scheme Fit- Do I need to say much about this? He should be fine in any offense that uses a WR.
5. Age- Coleman is 22 years old which is on the younger side of draftable players this year, especially when compared to Josh Doctson who will be 24 before the season starts. What's 2 years difference? Well, exactly that. Two more years of production in his prime.
Overall this seems like a homerun pick at 15. He checks every single box and the fact that the Browns traded down twice and still got a player this good at a position of need is something to celebrate. The only knocks on him are drops and height. He could be an Odell Beckham-esque player. Personally, I think if he was 6'1" or taller he would have been heavily considered as high as any non-QB in the draft.
I was planning on writing one of these for every draft pick, but I think I'll post this and see if anyone has any ideas on what they'd like to see emphasized more or if I could improve anything on future posts. Thanks for reading!
