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- Andrew Berry isn’t a wing it guy, and we’ve figured out the Browns GM and his plan (cleveland.com) - The mystery is gone, Andrew Berry. By next year, Browns fans should be calling out your draft picks before they are announced. The Browns general manager has proven to be the kind of guy who makes a list of errands for a weekend, and then drives around and completes the errands and doesn’t even stop for an unplanned doughnut. Time and time again, the Browns have an area where it looks like they could use some help, areas we all can identify, and then they address those needs.
- Browns safety selection overcame injuries from motorbike accident (Beacon Journal) - The day Browns fifth-round draft choice Richard LeCounte III, safety out of the University of Georgia, gave one of his best performances of his college career, fate had different ideas for him. After colliding with a car in Athens while riding a motorbike, LeCounte, 5-foot-11, 196 pounds, found himself in the hospital with foot and shoulder injuries and out for the rest of the regular season.
- Browns go smaller, faster at linebacker with Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Tony Fields II (Browns Zone) - The Browns got faster and smaller at linebacker with second-round pick Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah from Notre Dame and fifth-rounder Tony Fields II from West Virginia. Owusu-Koramoah is 6-foot-1½, 221 pounds and Fields 6-0, 222. National scout Charles Walls doesn’t want people to get the wrong idea.
- Browns ‘stayed true to the process’ and ramped up versatility across the board (clevelandbrowns.com) - The more you can do. If you’re looking for a one-sentence summation of the Browns’ eight-man, 2021 draft class, that might just be the best way to describe it.
NFL:
- Tom Brady Charted a New Path. Aaron Rodgers Struggles to Do the Same. (New York Times) - When Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks like Brady, Rodgers and Russell Wilson grow frustrated with their teams, the nature of N.F.L. contracts makes it hard to scramble away. Brady ultimately succeeded by running out the clock.
- NFL draft 2021 takeaways: The QB rush continues, plus lingering questions and top surprises (ESPN) - By most measures, NFL offenses last year produced their best season in the history of pro football. Never had the collective environment been more conducive to scoring, especially via the pass, and new records were set for points, touchdown throws and completion percentage. So after taking three months to analyze their rosters and project trends, decision-makers voiced a full-throated response during the 2021 NFL draft: We need more!
- 32 thoughts for 32 teams after the 2021 NFL Draft (NFL.com) - After 259 selections and a refreshing semblance of a return to normalcy, the 2021 NFL Draft is over. I broke down winners and losers on Thursday and Friday; now let’s wrap up with one final thought on each of the 32 teams coming out of the draft.
- How two Pitt students took home a $25K prize from NFL for an advanced stats model (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) - NFL coaches love to talk about the concept of complementary football. Offense and defense feeding off each other’s success toward the common goal of victory. As it turns out, complementary mathematics can be just as crucial on the analytics side, as two University of Pittsburgh doctoral students recently proved in the league’s 2021 Big Data Bowl, a massive data science competition in which more than 200 teams from all over the world compete to impress a panel of judges — including coaches — with fresh ideas.