Senior Bowl Notes: Browns Related Thoughts

The Senior Bowl is here and gone and the Cleveland Browns are in progress of their off-season evaluations. The college scouts have been looking at players all season, the pro scouts have been scouting other teams, as well as the Browns, and Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer are putting together a game plan to attack their roster.

Last year Joel Bitonio and Pierre Desir, among others, made an impact on the Browns brass. Those two ended up with the Browns and are expected to be long term pieces to the puzzle for the team. Bitonio was considered one of the best offensive lineman in the league while Desir was basically red-shirted but the Browns have high hopes for him.

The Browns official site had some interesting notes from the Senior Bowl that we wanted to touch on:

"The Senior Bowl’s problem in 2016 might center on which quarterback from 2015 will be poster-worthy.Baylor’s Bryce Petty was the biggest name and drew the biggest spotlight, but most analysts viewed him as inconsistent as he adapted to a pro-style offense."

Many fans do not think either Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston are going to make it to the Browns in the 1st round, nor do they seem to value the QBs in this draft. Many want to fill other holes then hope for a developmental quarterback like Bryce Petty. The Browns even reportedly like him a lot. The problems with Petty are many, including terrible accuracy in a spread system, and were on display at the Senior Bowl. From all reports, the Browns should either draft one early or not draft one at all, especially of the senior QBs.

"It’s a good year to need a fullbackThough it might be the opposite in terms of glamour when compared to quarterback, the fullback position garnered some headlines throughout the week because of how well some of them performed."

Good news for the Browns as their running game never figured out how to use the fullback, or found a fullback that fit. They go on to note a few of the players as well as OC Joh DeFilippo coming from a team, the Oakland Raiders, that sent Marcel Reece to the Pro Bowl from that spot. Tony Grossi will be happy if the Browns bring in a guy.

"There were a number of candidates to add to the list as the next Pierre Desir when it pertains to small-school players showing they belong on the big stage.Offensive lineman Ali Marpet of Hobart, a Division III school, had a good week and projects as a Day 2 or Day 3 player. Wide receiver Dezmin Lewis of Central Arkansas, who was the tallest receiver at the Senior Bowl, led all players with three receptions for 59 yards in Saturday’s game."

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Last year, Desir, Isaiah Crowell and Jeff Janis were all on my list of small school players. Marpet got a ton of attention and could be a great mauling guard in the 3rd round for the Browns. Lewis, as a big receiver, will obviously draw attention from Browns fans. Small school receivers haven’t had a ton of success recently in the NFL but they are always intriguing.

"Even though the Senior Bowl was loaded with talented players, most will not land with teams in the first round. The first nine players in ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr.’s first mock draft of 2015 were not in Mobile last week. Of his top 20, only two (Pittsburgh’s T.J. Clemmings and Washington’s Danny Shelton) participated in the Senior Bowl."

We are very excited about the Combine and hope to be covering the event live from Indy. The Senior Bowl was a dud to some extent because of the lack of talent, especially with the players that pulled out. The Combine should be more interesting but will still be full of players who will pull out for fear of injury.

For now we are excited as things start to ramp up to the NFL Draft. This Draft, and the overall off-season, is a vital one for a young Browns team that seems to be on the cusp of something special over the next 4 years. Yes that is high expectations but we feel almost confident having them.

What Senior Bowl players stood out to you?

Next: Former Florida Offensive Coordinator Could be Next Browns QB Coach

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