The Browns are so confident that Cade York can lift the Cleveland curse for kickers, they made the LSU record-holder the highest-drafted kicker since 2016. (Associated Press)
Browns put on a third-day rally to make for a productive draft in the end
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from the last day of Browns draft …
It turned out the longer the Browns worked on draft weekend, the better it got.
After a tortured start on Friday – a curious trade out of the second round, a cornerback with their first pick, a blow-up of a proposed trade of Baker Mayfield – GM Andrew Berry and his staff made a furious rally on the last day of the draft.
All’s well that ends well.
In order they:
* Snatched highly-rated Oklahoma defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey with their first pick in the fourth round.
* Acquired Minnesota’s fourth-round pick in 2023 by moving down 38 notches into the fifth round with the middle of three picks in the fourth round.
* Selected LSU’s Cade York, the draft’s top-rated kicker, with their last pick in the fourth round.
* Traded nickel back Troy Hill to the Rams, his former team, for LA’s fifth-round pick in 2023, thereby validating the selection of cornerback Martin Emerson on Friday night.
* Selected Cincinnati running back Jerome Ford in the fifth round to join a stacked backfield and compete as a future receiving back; he had 42 catches as a slot receiver his senior year in high school.
With their remaining excessive late-round picks, the Browns added Oklahoma wide receiver Robert Woods II with pick No. 202 in the sixth round, and Oklahoma defensive end Isaiah Thomas (No. 223) and Texas Tech center Dawson Deaton (No. 246) in the seventh round.
So the Browns finished the weekend after three trades with two defensive ends and a defensive tackle, two wide receivers, a cornerback, running back, center and a kicker -- plus two picks in the 2023 draft.
“We’re certainly excited about the individuals we’ve added,” Berry said. “We’re very happy about the additional draft resources. But the reality is we still don’t play till September and there’s still work to do on the roster. We’ll take a quick breather and then really get back on the saddle. There’s still areas that we can fortify and add competition before camp.”
Still to be determined are the futures of free agent defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, unsigned No. 3 running back D’Ernest Johnson and, of course, exiled quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Perrion, my wayward son
Winfrey delivered one of the most stirring and entertaining Zoom interviews in Browns’ draft history.
Winfrey paced intently inside his house as he spoke passionately with beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.
Among his spoken gems:
* “I expected to go early, but to be honest, I needed this. This was a wake-up call, and this gave me all of the fuel and all of the fire I needed to come into the league and dominate, so I would not change a thing.”
* “[I bring to Cleveland] a dawg mentality. Come on now. I am coming in to kill right away with my boys. I am lined up next to Myles Garrett, the best defensive end in the game. We are fixing to take this over. It is over with. I am telling you, it is over with. I am going to come in and work every single day until I can’t work anymore. They will feel me every single day, sir. I am going to give it my all on and off the field. Anything that is a negative in my game, I will turn it into a positive by the beginning of the season.”
* “This is me. 100 percent concentrated. No smoke. This is how I wake up – juiced up. To be honest, I just woke up at 10:40 a.m. It is 11:30 a.m., and I am juiced. No coffee needed.”
* “My mom and my dad are the first two dawgs I have been around for my whole life. I say that because throughout any adversity that they ever went through, they showed me that you can get through it with a little hard work. That is why I am the way that I am. That is why I was born into being a dawg because my parents were already dawgs when I was conceived. That is why I play the game the way I play the game. That is why I come the way I come because of where I come from.”
Director of player personnel Dan Saganey described Winfrey as “an up-field penetrator all day … You guys are going to love watching Perrion practice. This is a guy I think the Dawg Pound is going to absolutely love. I feel like you guys are going to see it every day out there at practice and you are going to be able to feel him.”
The Duke of York
Since franchise legend Phil Dawson was escorted into free agency by former team CEO Joe Banner after the 2012 season, the Browns have burned through 10 place-kickers, including Cody Parkey on two occasions. They hope the curse has been lifted with the selection of York, who rewrote the kicking record book at LSU and became the first kicker drafted from the school.
Taken with pick No. 124 overall in the fourth round, York is the highest-drafted kicker in the NFL since Tampa Bay took Roberto Aguayo 59th overall in 2016.
The Browns did re-sign kicker Chase McLaughlin, but Saganey views this selection as “hopefully solidifying the position going forward.”
York made 54 of 66 field goals in three years at LSU (and 164 of 168 PATs). Among his school records if 15 field goals of 50 yards or more, in 19 attempts, including a legendary game-winner of 57 yards in a dense fog in an epic, 37-34 win over SEC rival Florida in 2020. Watching that game-winner from the Florida sideline was Evan McPherson, the hero of the Cincinnati Bengals’ Super Bowl run as a NFL rookie last season.
York said he “totally believes” that he could have a similar impact for the Browns, but he doesn’t want to peak as a rookie. He said he’s aware of the unique conditions that have made Cleveland a kicker’s graveyard since Dawson departed and has worked since his freshman season to steel his mental game to allow muscle memory to take over in pressure situations.
Dawson, by the way, was familiar with University of Texas kicker Cameron Dicker, who was not drafted, but didn’t know much about York other than he is a native Texan.
Could York be the one to break the kicker curse in Cleveland?
“I need to study him,” Dawson texted. “Hope so!”
Stacking the running back room
Some might question the selection of a running back, but it makes sense if you consider Kareem Hunt is in the final year of his contract and No. 3 D’Ernest Johnson technically is not under contract.
Ford had a 1,319-yard, 19-touchdown breakout year for Cincinnati in his second season after transferring from Alabama. He also had 21 receptions, showing the skill-set which makes Hunt so valuable and Johnson lacks.
In his senior year at a Armwood HS in Mango, FL, Ford was used as a slot receiver to get him on the field because the backfield was so loaded. He had 42 catches for 827 yards.
Area scout Max Paulus cited Ford’s “electric speed, burst and explosion” as qualities the Browns wanted to add to their stacked running back room.
Ford said his position coach had UC running backs watch video cut-ups of NFL backs. He studied “every run [Nick Chubb] had in his NFL career.”
Ford said he intends to soak up everything he can from Chubb and Hunt “because they are pretty much doing what they are supposed to do in the league, and they are big names in the league. I would want to one day have my name up there with theirs.”
