Daily Dawg Tags: From UDFA to Browns best No. 68
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns are 68 days away from the start of the NFL regular season, which is also the uniform number of one of the best undrafted free agents in franchise history.
The Cleveland Browns will open their second season under head coach Hue Jackson on Sept. 10 as they host the Pittsburgh Steelers at FirstEnergy Stadium.
That is just 68 days away, which is also the uniform number of former offensive lineman Robert E. Jackson.
An undrafted free agent out of Duke in 1975 – at a time when the NFL draft lasted 17 rounds – Jackson arrived in Cleveland with as little fanfare as one could imagine. Not only would he win the starting right guard slot during his rookie season, he wouldn’t let go of his spot on the offensive line until 1985.
Jackson played alongside some of the best lineman in Browns history and was a mainstay of a position group that worked together, as he told clevelandbrowns.com in 2014:
"“It was never about any one of us individually. We were a group. A smart, athletic, adaptable group. We never were known as a physical bunch that overpowered people, but we worked together.”"
Jackson was inducted into the Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
Cleveland Browns news:
Browns unlikely to add a veteran wide receiver
The Cleveland Browns may be short on experience at wide receiver, but signing a player like Dorial Green-Beckham would not help solve the problem.
PFF selects Jamar Taylor as a secret superstar
Cleveland Browns cornerback Jamar Taylor has quickly gone from a minor draft day trade acquisition to one of the defense’s best players.
Breaking down the notable roster subtractions
The Cleveland Browns are building a young roster, meaning several veterans were let go this offseason to clear space for the youth movement.
NFL news:
Bears should let Mitchell Trubisky compete for starting job (ESPN)
"What happens if Mitchell Trubisky outperforms Mike Glennon in the preseason? It’s a fair question."
While rest of NFL sleeps, two teams work overtime (Washington Post)
"It is the quietest time on the NFL calendar, with the Fourth of July holiday looming and the opening of training camps still weeks away. Yet these are an extremely important couple of weeks for the Washington Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers."
Colts not even close to contending (Yahoo Sports)
"When you land quarterback Andrew Luck with the first pick of the draft, expectations come with that. It has leveled off since then. Two 8-8 seasons brought about significant change this offseason, as the Colts try to turn things back around."
The NFL offseason injury progress report (The Ringer)
"The first few weeks of July are the deadest time of the NFL dead season — OTAs are over, players are on vacation, and coaching staffs are dispersed as everyone gets their last chance to relax and spend a little time with friends and family before training camp gets underway. At this time of year, we can’t even rely on all those trusty reports of players developing chemistry or moving up and down on the offseason depth chart to satisfy our football fix. For now, the only thing that matters for teams and their fans over the next few weeks―and the only thing that should really matter from now until the season kicks off―is for their star players to get healthy and stay healthy."