NFL Draft week is upon us. As a Browns fan, I like to spend this week making sure my living will is up to date and settling final affairs because the painhammer will soon be landing on me like the cosmic cockroach I am.
But this year my hopes are buoyed by the amount of Buckeyes about to hit that portal into the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE.
NUMBERS TO KNOW. Did I mention the draft, starting this Thursday in Chicago, will feature a copious amount of Buckeyes? Here are some numbers to know.
From scout.com:
32
A total of 25 teams have picked at least one Buckeye in the draft. The Browns lead the way with 32, although Cleveland hasn’t taken a player from Ohio State since it chose hometown receiver Brian Robiskie in 2009. Rounding out the top five are the Bears (30), Rams (27), Packers (24) and Eagles (23). The Rams played in Cleveland from 1936-45.53
Since the AFL-NFL merger, Ohio State has had more defensive backs drafted than any other position with 53. Second is linebacker with 48 followed by wide receiver (37), running back (33), offensive tackle (22), defensive end (15), offensive guard (14), quarterback (14), defensive tackle (11), tight end (11) and center (9).56
Ohio State is third in the nation with 56 first-round picks during the common era (since 1967). USC is No. 1 with 68 picks while Miami (Fla.) has had 58. The next Big Ten team on the list is Michigan with 34.
Looks like Ohio State can put a dent in Southern Cal's lead on the No. 1 school producing first-round picks. If things keep trending it won't be be long before the Buckeyes supplant the Trojans.
CARDALE JONES GETS A NEW TUTOR. Cardale Jones hired QB guru George Whitfield to work with him leading up to the draft. Whitfield is a busy man, however, so Whitfield hired Jimmy Raye, a former Michigan State quarterback with three decades of NFL coaching experience, to help rear the Cleveland Catapult.
From dispatch.com:
Raye grilled Jones in the classroom. Jones prefers listening to information and absorbing it in his mind before putting it to paper. Raye wanted him to take notes as he taught. Jones complied, mostly out of deference to Raye.
“Class has been slow, methodical, dynamic, even antagonistic at points,” Whitfield said during the NFL combine in February. “You put him on the board and as he starts writing, you interrupt him and make him second-guess himself. Then after a while, he says ‘I don’t have to second-guess myself. This is the answer.’ That’s what you want.”
If you have some time, the profile of Jones' predraft workouts makes for good reading. I also thought Jones' comments about #QBgeddon rang true too:
In 2014, Jones was frustrated when he didn’t get a chance after Ohio State’s offense struggled early in the season, most notably against Virginia Tech. He asked then-quarterbacks coach-offensive coordinator Tom Herman for an explanation.
“He said, ‘We have two great quarterbacks, but you have to make one feel like he’s the guy. You have to make that guy feel like we’re going to win or lose with you,’” Jones said. “That was a great point coach Herman made.”
Now, before someone accuses Cardale of throwing ol' Tim Beck under the bus, he did add he only played "one or two games" in 2015 at a high level. Still, last year caused me to #djbyrnesflipflop on the whole "Two good quarterbacks are actually no good quarterbacks" prophecy. It went from "Something that sounds like Instagram 'wisdom'" to "100 emoji" in two weeks.
ZEKE-GUAPO, 1-2 KNOCKOUT PUNCH? The San Francisco 49ers' Carlos Hyde ran for 168 yards on Monday Night Football on Sept. 13 against the Minnesota Vikings. It looked as if Hyde was about to make a monster leap in his sophomore season.
Unfortunately, Hyde only ran for 308 yards in the next six games before a stress fracture in his foot sidelined him for the rest of the season. The 49ers averaged only average 86 yards a game on the ground after that.
It's a new era, however, in San Francisco with Chip Kelly, who inexplicably got a job despite duffing his first professional coaching job during three years with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Niners have a lot of needs, but they could do worse than taking the best player in the draft, which would undoubtedly be Ezekiel Elliott should he be there at No. 7.
From ninersline.com:
So while the 49ers “needs” haven’t included running back when talking about the seventh-overall pick leading up to the the first round Thursday, one player that hasn’t been discussed nearly enough for San Francisco is Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott.
[...]
Consider: Ohio State employs the same zone-based running scheme Kelly ran both at Oregon and with Philadelphia, which Hyde is looking forward to working in.
[...]
With Kelly’s up-tempo offense, it would make plenty of sense to have two high-end running backs to rotate in, keeping the other fresh while defenses gasp for air.
That’s why Kelly was eager to add DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews to Philadelphia’s offense in 2015 after dealing LeSean McCoy to Buffalo. Not only is having two running backs important for insurance/injury purposes, but it makes his attack that much more difficult to prepare for when two running backs are healthy.
I'm not saying the 49ers would become my favorite NFL team if they did this, but they'd be a solid No. 3.
The only downside is both guys have the talent to be a single workhorse back in the NFL, and I don't doubt that's how both those guys see themselves. It's a situation, though, that could add a couple of years on the backend of a career. A man can only take so many hits at the hands of 222 to 310-pound men in his career.
11W MEME NEWS. I honestly didn't think my weekend could get worse after Barfolomew's Photoshop Phriday entry turned comedy-tragedy masks into a GIF featuring Happy Jamarco juxtaposed against my Crying Jordaned fifth grade photo.
Then my mom sent me this from the Buckeye signing event at Polaris Mall on Saturday:
The silver lining to all this is my father and grandfather will soon be in the NFL, which I don't think anybody has ever been able to say before.
TIME AND CHANGE. Eli Apple went from Ghana to New Jersey before landing in Columbus, Ohio in 2013 to play football for Urban Meyer. While he might not yet need to leave the state, it will be a new chapter for him regardless. Those #feels hit him Sunday afternoon:
Officially emptied out everything in my apartment.. It's been real Columbus
— Eli Apple (@EliApple13) April 24, 2016
The cool thing about Ohio State is even if Apple never lives in Columbus for another day of his natural life, he'll always have a home here (unless he gets drafted by the Steelers, in which case that house will sold to the highest cash bidder found through an all-caps Craigslist ad).
THOSE WMDs. A civilian con-artist moved into Fort Braggs' Special Forces barracks... First direct evidence of ancient Mars' oxygen-rich environment... Now you see him, now you don't... Return of HBO's best shows actually spells doom... James Harden in one picture.
