Trumaine Johnson is a guy I have been watching a good deal on film and have been liking so I decided to do a profile. Johnson is a small school guy who may slip into the 2nd, but most likely will be there for the taking in the 3rd. He played CB in college, but I see him as a FS.

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I was just over at mocking the draft and they did a mock draft so I figured I'd share the results (since their reaction page doesn't have a direct link and it's kinda hard to follow the way they organized it. I don't know if it was one of us at DBN who did it, but I figured it would be interesting to see everyone's opinions. Personally, I give it around a B-. Judge for yourself

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I am turning 21 tonight (January 7th) at midnight. Obviously everyone knows what that means.

I still live in Cleveland too. This is basically an OT to ask a few questions about beers/local places and stuff like that. Also, the season is over and it feels about time for the first OT of the thread. I always thought the ones where people talked about beer and stuff were interesting.

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Isn't the Lockout so boring?  I really hate it.  Thankfully, I just left for a vacation to NYC to distract me.  However, I just realized I have very little of my trip planned out.  I decided to come here for ideas.

I figure people on this blog have a good idea of what there is to do in NYC.  I like doing things that are unique, memorable, and not at all touristy.

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Quinton Carter is a great all around safety with a nose for the ball.  He is a guy that can play SS or FS, but is fast enough and skilled enough to play Free Safety in the NFL, which we would need him to play.

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Oftentimes free agency is all about connections.  As we say with Romeo Crennel and Eric mangini, they brought in several players who ran their system, they had a connection to and knew what they could do, and could communicate to the other players what the coaches looked for.  With the recent moves cutting several veterans, I believe we are going to see (if the CBA gets done), a multitude of signings by the browns, picking up players with connections to this team.  We freed 16 million dollars in cap room and I doubt H&H are going to let that go to waste.  I will break down players who are currently free agents that I think will be targeted.  I will highlight their connection to the team, a brief summary of their skills, and why they will fit the browns.

Now, not all free players in free agency are guys with a connection to the team but it definitely helps and there are options at our positions of need that have connections to our coaching staff/front office.

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Well, a few weeks ago, Kimble did a comparison article of the '09 browns compared to the '10 browns.  I figured we could make it a weekly thing.  This one will be more stats oriented (especially Football Outsiders stats).  the one thing I thought would be interesting would be to compare the browns of week 10 last year to browns in week 10 this year.

2009 Browns through week 9

Points Per Game: 9.75 (t-31st)

Yards: 221.1 (31st)  Passing: 121.5 (30th)  Rushing: 99.6 (22nd)

Turnover Margin: -11 (32nd)

Points Against: 26.1 (28th)

Yards Given up: 409.5 (32nd)  Passing: 239 (24th)  Rushing: 170.5 (31st)

Point Differential: -16.35 (31st)

We were REALLY bad for the first half of last season...possibly the worst team in football.  I think this is nice to see, just to show how far we have come.

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I was at the game on Saturday and also ended up watching the replay on TV.  There were some things that really stood out to me.  Some were good, some were bad, and some were plain ugly to watch.

Edit by Chris: I promoted this to the front page and adjusted the formatting a tiny bit.

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In case no one here heard, Adam Carriker just got traded.  He was traded from the Rams to the Redskins.  the trade was the teams would switch draft picks in the 5th and 7th rounds.  So, the Redskins got a guy who might fit a 3-4 defense better for almost nothing.  (as a sidenote, it is interesting to see how Shanahan is forming this team this offseason).

So, what does this mean for the draft?  I think it could mean that Suh has a better chance at going #1 overall.  There was talk for a while about Ndamukong Suh going to the St. Louis Rams. The talk died down and it seemed as though they were enamored with Bradford as a QB.  Last couple weeks, even though Bradford was considered pretty much a lock, it didn't seem like they were as enamored with him as was first thought.  Still, there were some legitimate arguments against drafting Suh, such as:

-The Rams had recently drafted Adam Carriker.  Adam Carriker is payed first round money at the DT position.  Usually you don;t want to pay 2 people at that position that kind of money.

-The Bigger need May be at Quarterback.  You don't want to pass again on a possible Franchise QB.  You did it last year with Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez. 

-DTs do not always make as big of a splash as a QB.  If Suh lives up to the hype, that is good.  If he doesn't, then from his production, he may not be worth the #1 overall pick.  While there is not a salary cap this season, there will likely be one in the future and you do not want to gamble large amounts of future money away on a guy who even if he reaches his ceiling, will not win 4-5 games for you on his own like an elite Quarterback will.

However, with the trade of Carriker, this could be a move to free up money at the position (when the cap comes back) and make room for Suh. These are some of the reasons that they might go after Suh.

-By many scouts Suh is rated as the most talented player by far in this draft.  Yes, DTs don't always hit but Suh may be that once in a generation DT like a Warren Sapp that teams will look back on and regret passing on.  Suh really has all the skills and does everything asked for from a DT; Stop the run, Rush the Passer effectively, and impacts the game in a big way.

-The St. Louis Rams had one of the worst Run Defenses last year.  They really couldn't stop anybody from running the ball really, and they faced some of the worst running teams including Indy and Seattle.  They Ranked 27th in Yards per game and last in the league in Touchdowns allowed.  They were 30th in percentage of Rushes for a first down with 25.4.  Plain and simple, their run defense inhibited them from making stops and from stopping teams from scoring.

-They do not have Legitimate talent on the inside and no one who can truly Dominate.  When you look at their D-Tackles last year, you see a lot of average NFL players.  You see no one who was drafted in the top 100 of the NFL; a lot of young players who as starters, are really marginal.  They really need Talent and pass rushing ability inside..  They did add Fred Robbins, but he had a very subpar 2009 is now 33, and is a stop-gap player at best.

-St. Louis needs a guy who is a threat to rush the Passer.  Ndamukong Suh has shown consistency all throughout college.  He has shown he can rush the passer and put pressure on the QB in the backfield.  The Rams have 2 solid Ends in Chris Long and Leonard Little.  Little may only have one or 2 more seasons at this level though.  A guy like Suh on the inside can make both of their lives easier.  If Suh can dominate and rush the passer effectively from the inside, it lets Long and Little rush the passer more freely now that the defense also has to focus inside.

-They are not ready to win now and Jason Smith still might not be all the way there in his development as a solid LT. The Rams got their Left Tackle of the future in last years draft.  However, he has played almost extensively at Right Tackle.  He is coming along as a player but his technique might not be all the way there to be anything more than an average Left Tackle at this point.  The rams may think that it is better to get their QB of the future when Jason Smith improves to the point where he is more than average.  They are not yet a good blocking team, especially in the passing game and would not want to expose a Sam Bradford or Jimmy Clausen to a Tim Couch-like first year experience.  

-They do not NEED to take an elite Quarterback out of this draft and have him start right away.  They need a QB but not to the point where taking one high is "necessary". Bulger isn't a long term option but isn't terrible. They also got AJ Feeley, who is a very capable backup and can start in a pinch. Feeley and Bulger are similar to what we have in cleveland with Delhomme and Wallace but they may be better than our QBs. The Rams may like what they have seen so far with Keith Null.  Yes he didn't have good outings when asked to start, but he is a Division II prospect who has prototypical staring QB skills (arm and size). He showed some promise in 2009, but is still adjusting to the difference in game speed between D II and the NFL, and could be a solid QB with a year or two more experience. It's not out of the question that the rams look to their later picks to get a developmental guy like a Pike, Lefevour or maybe even Snead.

-With Suh, he can start right away, whereas with Bradford, the team will likely want to sit him on the bench but eventually start him and throw him in too early.  We have all seen this before.  A team drafts a QB extremely high but decides to sit him until he is ready.  The GM isn't happy because he has a large cap number (and he drafted him) and he's on the bench.  The Fans aren't happy because they want to see the first round pick play.  Finally the coach succumbs to the pressure and puts him in, often too early.  If Sam Bradford is taken by the Rams, I see this scenario being quite possible.  I like him in college college but have my doubts if he can handle NFL pressure because he never faced serious pressure in his face at Oklahoma..  Jason Smith is the Left Tackle of the future, though that future is not 2010 and may not even be 2011. If taken first, the pressure on the team to start him may be too great and he will be forced in too early, which would hurt his career.

-This team of GM and Coach are Committed to fixing the Defense and Offensive lines of this team.  In New York, Spagnuolo came from a team that dominated the line of scrimmage on defense and really hit you in the mouth. Spagnuolo really liked to get pressure from his Defensive Tackles in New York and brought pressure from many positions. In the 2 drafts the GM Bill Devaney has had a hand in, the Rams have really built up their Defense.  the one position that they haven't targeted much, is DT.  Quite possibly he was hoping Carriker (drafted before he got there) would pan out.  Now that Carriker is now a failed experiment there, maybe he goes after a premier player at the position.  Looking at the history of the Coach and GM, Suh in a way makes more sense.

What are your thoughts?

I have a question that I still haven't been able to answer.

How old is Jason Pierre-Paul???

I have looked up on South Florida's website and they list his age as unknown.

I have found birth years of: 1999, 1985 and even on Rotoworld (I think it was) January 1st 2050.

In the gran scheme of things, his age doesn't matter much.  It is still weird and confusing that I can't find it.

First of all.  I just have to say how much the jamison trade was just brilliant.  we gave up almost nothing for him.  we did give up Z but there is still a decent shot Z signs back with us.

I have decided to go over the trades over the last couple years and seriously look at how this team has changed.  First though we have to look at the roster that made it to the finals.  This roster had such names as Damon Jones, Scott Pollard, Donyell Marshall, Ira Newble, and Larry Hughes.  Many of these guys were guys Ferry got but did not work out.  We got to the Finals but got destroyed.  I think that loss in a way was key.  It seemed to have changed Ferry.  He took a much more active role in forming the team.  Instead of just going after a few free agents, he tried to get players that fit Mike Browns system and would complement Lebron.  He learned from his mistakes like Donyell and Hughes and tried to truly build a championship team.

Lets Zoom to late February 2008.  The team is struggling and many guys Ferry had acquired in Free agency such as Damon Jones (but I still love to call him Amon Ones) and Donyell Marshall, were struggling.  Ferry felt like he needed to do something, so he pulled off a trade.  This is what he traded:

-We give up Donyell, Ira Newble, Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Shannon Brown, Cedric Simmons, and in return we get Wally Z, Ben Wallace, Delonte West, Joe Smith, and a 2009 Draft pick which we used on Danny Green.

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News coming out of AP is that Mo Williams has sprained his shoulder and it could be for 4-6 weeks.  This could be serious and might hurt the cavs season. 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4845554

It is not clear yet if Mo will need surgery.  It does put into question the depth of that backcourt now.  Who will the cavs start now that Mo is out.  Can they rely on Delonte West to be consistent?  Will they consider having boobie start since he has rebounded this year?  How will the cavs do without him??

John Lucas Lambasts the former Cavs front office.

Sources now say that the Cavs tried to tank the 2002-2003 season to acquire lebron james in the draft.  Ex-Coach of the Cavs John Lucas claims that the reason the team did poorly was the front office, purposely tanking the team to lose so they could pickup lebron.  Unsurprisingly Gordon Gund has denied this saying that the team just didn't have chemistry and there is no guarentee of the #1 pick because of the lottery.  This is in fact why the lottery is in place, to stop teams from tanking.  It would interesting to get people's thoughts on this.  Is this a legitimate thing that happened?  Or did the team just want to get younger in a rebuilding year??  Did they force John lucas out because he wasn't tanking the team well enough, or did the team just have bad chemistry??  These are all unanswered questions.  I wonder what everyone's thoughts are.