CLEVELAND, OHIO (TheOBR.com) - Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans! Some mornings here at the OBR World Headquarters and Technology Campus, I have the pleasure of waking up to a nice, huge pot of coffee (I drink a lot of coffee) and the peaceful, serene knowledge that the Cleveland Browns have a clear vision to become the fun, competitive team that we all want them to be
This is not one of those mornings.
THE DAILY BLOVIATION
Indeed, the OBR Daily Newswire is filled with stories that are all over the map, pointing frantically to all the various offensive needs of the Cleveland Browns at wide receiver, offensive line and, because they're the Cleveland Browns, quarterback. Alarmingly, I'm looking at about two dozen tabs in my browser. There's no shortage of content to surf around, but answers are scarce, and speculation is rampant.
SPENCER FANO IS A BULLET: Yesterday's shocking news that Utah offensive lineman Spencer Fano has a mere (gasp) 80.25" wingspan and 32.125" arms laid the groundwork for further consternation about whether he's an ideal fit at offensive tackle for the Browns. Fortunately, the Browns also need guards, which means Fano could be drafted, and the team would figure out the ideal fit for him later. Fano's still an amazing prospect, and tested through the roof otherwise at the combine, with a 9.74 RAS score. And we all know that Browns GM Andrew Berry likes those high RAS scores.
Cleveland.com's Lance Reisland either didn't know of Fano's tragic deformities or didn't care as he put him atop that outlet's wish list of the top four offensive linemen in the draft. Fano is commonly assumed to be at the top of most teams' OL wish lists and did little to dissuade teams of that notion over the weekend despite the smaller-than-expected arm length.
Spencer Fano
Spencer Fano manages to play well despite his grotesquely small arm length. (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
Georgia's Monroe Freeling appears to be the darling of the combine, referred to as a "fast riser", which generally means that his metrics from the combine are good and is a designation that simply nods to game tape while drooling over measurables. I tend to look skeptically at players who "rise" on draft boards after the actual football has receded from memory. But that's just me, and I spend way too much time doing things other than watching large people exert themselves at the Combine.
CARNELL CHAOS: Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate remains the focus of controversy about forty-times, largely by people who ignore the history of success that Ohio State wide receivers have generally had in the NFL.
I wrote yesterday about the fear and panic brought about by Tate's forty-time, and to the rescue came none other than Adam Schefter, who wrote that other people, using old-fashioned stopwatches or whatever, rather than lasers more accurate than those used by the Department of Defense, had clocked Tate a bit faster, "in the range of 4.45-4.47 seconds".
Schefter was immediately blasted for the tweet, which was assumed to serve some ulterior purpose other than just informing the general public that Tate was really, truly faster than the times measured by supercomputers and quantum lasers. The cynicism of the general public is incredibly distasteful, I find, and far inferior to the cynicism of your humble narrator. I, at least, have a lengthy resume of suffering through losing football, and have earned the right to be skeptical about anything and everything, to the point where I can simply plug the phrase "defeatist attitude and certain doom in a Cleveland Browns news recap" into ChatGPT and get a nice draft of this article.
I'm still above Team Carnell, although Mel Kiper's agreement with the notion has me deeply concerned. PFF has him already off the board before the Browns pick, going to the New York Giants at #5.
FALLING SHORT ON THE MEASURABLES: The Senior Bowl, once a place where mere media could hobnob with NFL execs, has decreased in value to the point where most media types just watch the practices remotely. Is the Combine headed down the same path?
Front Office Sports is reporting that attendance from coaches and GMs is down, as they watch the events remotely rather than putting up with getting pestered by mortals while they do their work. All those rumors you hear from the Combine? A large number of them come from the media talking to the media, not executives. At least there's less discussion of making the Combine a traveling roadshow, which was all the rage a few years ago. Indianapolis is a great place to hold the Combine, and I hope the NFL just leaves it alone.
TY SIMPSON RISES: There's a little bit of revisionist history going on with Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, who has emerged as the consensus #2 at the quarterback position in Indianapolis. Rather than being judged on his play later in the season, the story goes that his injuries piled up, and that his early (far better) play is more reflective of his true value. This makes his tape even smaller and more selective, given that he only started his final year.
I guess he did well during the 73-0 win over Louisiana-Monroe, but the hopeful narrative has sort of taken hold and rewritten the book on Simpson's season, leading to him now being considered as a potential first-round pick. I've seen him mocked to the Steelers at #21, and there's obviously going to be talk of him going to the Browns at #24. And, of course, there's the Todd Monken connection.
Meanwhile, the rumors out of Indianapolis are that the Browns are less likely to chase Malik Willis than one might otherwise imagine, partially because Deshaun Watson's agent is the same as Willis' agent, which might make things awkward. If Willis turns out to be successful in the NFL, while Watson was part of the reason that he wasn't signed by the Browns, that might make me even less patient with Watson's Browns tenure. If that's possible.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
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THE LIFT
Positive news from the world of sports and beyond...
Treacherous 43-Day Mountain Search Finally Reunites Dog With Owner After it Bolted During Road Trip: 'It was amazing'
They found Rocky! Rocky the dog! I can't imagine how happy and relieved his owner must have been that Rocky survived a blizzard ordeal that lasted over a month. Never lose hope, I guess, is the message here.
WRAPPING UP
When not cheerily optimisic, Barry McBride is the Publisher and Founder of the OBR and bloviates this nonsense every morning. You can follow him on Twitter @barrymcbride or write him at barry@theobr.com if you are so compelled.
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