THE DAILY BLOVIATION
Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!
It's Monday morning, and I'm impatient. I'm impatient for my right leg to heal so that I can walk normally. I'm impatient for this caffeine to kick in so I can write furiously. But mostly, I'm impatient for the draft, so I don't have to wade through article after article of mostly recycled stuff that we've been talking about here for months, presented by mainstream outlets for casual fans who are just waking up to the fact that the Draft kicks off Thursday.
I find it hard to blame fans for turning their attention elsewhere after the team's embarrassing loss to the Houston Texans to exit the playoffs. But I'm not going to present the mainstream media's paywalled "Three defensive ends who might interest the Browns at Pick 54" article in the Newswire as if it's something of value to the people who have been on this site every day all Winter and Spring as we've done ten articles looking at the subject ten different ways. Why would I send my loyal readers to paywalled articles containing content they've seen explored, generally better, many times before?
I'm probably missing a vast swath of my audience by catering to fans who track the Browns daily rather than fans who have been elsewhere since early January. But this, after all, is the OBR Daily Newswire, and it's your job to read the stupid thing every day, just as it's my job to produce it. I don't rouse my lazy butt before the Sun comes up for nothing, people. Chop chop.
Consider it your obligation to read the OBR Daily Newswire much like you must pay taxes. It's painful and annoying, sure, but this is far less costly and helps keep me busy when I would otherwise be on the Cooler posting confusing and obscure Futurama references, raging against the existence of Ratbirds, and generally trying to wheedle free beer whenever I see the opportunity. It's far less trouble for everyone if you wade through this mess every morning and stay up to date on whatever I think is important in the Browns newsverse.
I'm glad we had this talk.
4. A COUPLE MAJOR MOCKS
Cleveland Browns 7-round mock draft: Cleveland gets Keon Coleman, help at offensive tackle - (pff.com)
Cleveland Browns 7-round mock draft: Finding value despite no first-round pick - (theathletic.com, paywalled)
A couple of mock drafts from sites that generally tend to know what they're talking about. The PFF draft has them go WR in the first round and then punishes them by taking a swing offensive lineman with poor posture who translates best to guard with an eye to 2025. Interestingly, they then have the Browns pick up a couple of linebackers.
The Athletic's mock is similar, with the Browns going WR (Troy Franklin) in the first and a more polished OT (Notre Dame's Blake Fisher) in the second.
3. TONY GROSSI HAS LIMITED EXPECTATIONS
Why expectations are especially low for this Browns’ 2024 draft - (thelandondemand.com, paywalled)
This left me a little less enthused about the Browns' upcoming draft, as Tony Grossi discusses recently failed picks at the Browns' draft slots and their historical failures at similar slots.
The key to enjoying the draft is the "hope springs eternal" nature of looking at the potential upside of players and assuming that the Browns front office sees something that other folks don't. So, I'm just going to the annoying nature of history and "facts" and enjoy the draft and the potential treasures Andrew Berry will unearth. In the immortal words of David Byrne: "Facts just twist the truth around." To heck with 'em.
2. REMEMBERING HOW BERNIE OUTWITTED THE NFL
How Bernie Kosar Found a Loophole to Be Drafted by His Childhood Team - (givemesport.com)
A site I usually don't pay attention to unexpectedly had an article on Bernie Kosar worth checking out. At a pivotal moment in Cleveland history, with a town that felt depressed about itself, Bernie just wanted to come home and play for the Browns. If you weren't around then, it's hard to relate how much this mattered to Cleveland and Browns fans. This article talks a bit about that and how Kosar pulled it off.
1. YES, ANDREW BERRY STANDS OUT
What General Manager Trends Might Tell Us About The 2024 NFL Draft (SumerSports)
The highlight today is this article about GM drafting tendencies, which highlights two things about Browns GM Andrew Berry that you undoubtedly already know if you've been reading this site for a long time: He tends to stick to age guardrails and focuses on premium positions in the draft. It's a relatively short read, but says a lot about how we interpret the draft and front office moves here at the OBR.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
THE LIFT
Positive news from the world of sports and beyond...
See How This AI Prototype Can Detect Asian Hornets And Protect Bees (Forbes)
Artificial Intelligence was a technology I worked with extensively in its infancy in the 1990s. I gave it up to write about football, so my own biological intelligence is, well, questionable. I believe that AI is useful for more than creating fake articles and graphics or powering Terminators. In fact, if handled wisely, it can be an enormous boon to mankind as it's just another tool that we determine how we will use. It will cause as much good or damage as humans decide it will. Which, I guess, is the scary part, given how much we enjoy using the latest and greatest technology to kill each other.
At any rate, one thing that's about as scary as AI is to most people is the invasive Asian "Murder" Hornet, a huge species capable of decimating entire beehives in minutes. Each hornet can kill a honeybee in 14 seconds. To stop our precious pollinators from being wiped out as these hornets invade the US and UK, AI is being utilized to spot their progress so that humans can limit their spread. Good can come of AI, I swear it. It's not just Terminators.
YOUR MORNING NEWSWIRE SOUNDTRACK
The OBR Weekly with Fred Greetham - 4/17: The OBR's beat reporter Fred Greetham answers questions from The OBR community and forums
OBR VIDEO
JACK DUFFIN ON DRAFTING A DEFENSIVE TACKLE
OBR ARTICLES FROM YESTERDAY
Final Cleveland Browns Age RAS Guardrails 2024 Draft Board - (Jack)
Top Cleveland Browns Draft Targets At Pick 54 - (Jack)
Cleveland Browns News 4/21: Kickoff Rule Experiments, Draft Countdown, and Graceful Webdorks - (Barry)
Cleveland Browns 2024 NFL Draft Sleepers 20 - (Brad W)
FROM THE FORUMS
NEW! OBR VIP Discord Coming Soon!
Meanwhile, here are some new threads in the OBR’s discussion forums:
ASK THE INSIDERS (VIP)
Final Guardrails Chart
THE WATERCOOLER
RIP Roman Gabriel
OT: Dining out - does it seem like a poor value to you?
Funny United Air commercial
Browns Replays
OT - Finally after two years Bruce plays Columbus tonight
LiveWire Thread for 4/21 - Twitter, Articles, Videos-OPEN THREAD
WRAPPING UP
When not fleeing the very idea of a "Murder Hornet", 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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