A dozen Browns drafts takes now that all of the picks are in. Hue Jackson doesn't close the door on Baker Mayfield playing early. Antonio Callaway conjures memories of Jeremiah Pharms. Why the Browns preferred Mayfield to Darnold. More.
1, The picks are in. No sending them back now.
Maybe Baker Mayfield will be a shorter and better Bernie.
Perhaps Denzel Ward will be Minnifield and Dixon squared.
Possibly in his willingness to cross a couple of lines John Dorsey stole a couple of players.
This draft needs to have been good.
We know from experience that most of the picks are short-timers, ships passing in the night.
The end of an epic Browns draft gives us pause to think back to other drafts, of faces that have dissipated into the mist.
Carlton Mitchell was a real good guy who won a lot of Twitter followers. Jordan Cameron was going to break Ozzie's records. Armonty Bryant was going to be worth the "character risk."
Johnny was going to be money. Terrance West's NFL debut with 100 yards at Pittsburgh was merely a taste of bigger things to come.
"We got paid today," Mike Pettine said when some of the picks were playing well.
They all have come and gone, like some ode to Quincy Morgan. Except for a few.
With luck, from among picks at 1, 4, 33 and 35 and from other creative stabs, Dorsey will have hit on more than a few. Four or five, even.
The Browns surely need something. Brother, are Browns fans due for a break.
The picks are in. Is it too much to ask that enough of them will pan out for a change?
2, Tyrod Taylor is the starting quarterback, until he isn't.
Hue Jackson, who has said "I get it" a million times across two lost seasons, gets this:
"Any time you draft a quarterback No. 1 overall, everybody wants to see him play."
Jackson is telling Tyrod Taylor what he no doubt wants to hear, that he was brought in with his 22-20 career record to start, for now.
"Tyrod's gonna be the starter," Jackson said after the draft wrapped Saturday. "Baker's going to compete. However that unfolds, it unfolds, but right now Tyrod's the starter.
"We have a plan. Can a player supersede that? You never know."
The first four games are against he Steelers, Saints, Jets and Raiders. Don't bet the farm that Taylor will be starting Game 5 against Baltimore.
3, Jackson was hired in 2008 by Baltimore to be rookie Joe Flacco's position coach. The Ravens were coming off a 5-11 year.
Flacco, a No. 18 overall pick, started every game for a team that improved to 11-5.
4, Five years ago, Browns draft chief Joe Banner spent a No. 68 overall pick on Leon McFadden, with "The Honey Badger" still on the board amid "character concerns."
At No. 69, Bruce Arians' Arizona Cardinals pounced on Tyrann Mathieu.
On Friday, at No. 103, the Houston Texans picked a wideout from Baker Mayfield's first college team, Texas Tech (Keke Coutee).
The Browns were up at No. 105. Star-crossed wideout Antonio Callaway was still available. John Dorsey didn't pass.
"Sure," Hue Jackson said later, "some guys in our group have some 'spots' on 'em."
5, The selection of Callaway, who was suspended for Florida's entire 2017 season, obscured the fact the Browns were picking at 105 after a flurry of trades.
Bill Belichick had acquired the 105 spot in a trade with the Bears. On Saturday, he was on the clock when he swapped 105 to the Browns for selections at 114 and 178.
Crazy Bill. He then flipped the 114 (a mid-fourth rounder) to Detroit in exchange for the Lions' third-round pick in 2019. Belichick picked an Arizona State linebacker, Christian Sam, at 178.
6, To whom does second-round pick Nick Chubb liken his running style?
"Maybe Frank Gore," he said.
Gore, a third-round pick in 2005, has rushed for 14,026 yards and caught 443 passes and is still ticking. Go ahead, kid. Be like Gore.
7, Chubb had a big national semifinal game for Georgia against Baker Mayfield's Oklahoma Sooners.
They are Browns teammates now.
"(Mayfield) makes throws you are not supposed to make," Chubb said. "He is a very fierce competitor. A week before we played him, our head coach comes to the offense to tell us we need to score points, because it is going to be hard stopping Oklahoma's quarterback."
Chubb ran for 145 yards and two touchdowns in Georgia's 54-48 double-overtime win.
8, Antonio Callaway's failed drug test at the 2018 Combine isn't the worst mistake committed shortly before a draft by a Browns selection.
That honor goes to Jeremiah Pharms. At about the time Pharms was being selected at No. 134 by Butch Davis in 2001, he was making his way around campus at the University of Washington.
According to police reports, Pharms spotted a stash of marijuana during a visit to an apartment, came back a while later in a ski mask to steal the pot, and was shot in the foot while making away with the booty.
Pharms did a draft-day conference call with reporters covering the Browns, but he never came to camp after the story broke.
The Browns drafted Callaway at No. 105 overall Saturday.
9, Callaway did not address the media, but he weighed in on Twitter:
"The Browns just got the best receiver in the draft. I can't thank God enough, and to the Browns, thank you for believing in me. Y'all know what time it is."
10, BetDSI Sportsbook has assessed the draft and set the Browns' over-under at five wins, same as for Cincinnati. It is the lowest-over-under in the league.
11, One thing that sold the Browns on Mayfield over Sam Darnold was a conclusion that Mayfield is much better at reading the field.
12, The Browns had Mayfield and Saquon Barkley in a virtual dead heat as the top player on the board. The whole nine yards of what a quarterback can mean swayed it to Mayfield. The Browns concluded Nick Chubb can be a very good but not an elite pass rusher. They think Denzel Ward, their pick at 4, can be an elite cornerback.
Reach Steve at 330-580-8347 or
steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP