New Browns vice president Alonzo Highsmith was full of information and opinions Monday at the Hall of Fame Luncheon Club. A baker's dozen of nuggets from his stop in Canton.
1, Alonzo Highsmith rides with the new sheriff in Berea. His fancy Cleveland Browns title is "vice president, player personnel."
He's a 53-year-old football lifer (notwithstanding his 27-1-1 record as a heavyweight fighter) who has the full trust of his longtime friend John Dorsey. Highsmith knows as much of the whole nine yards of the 2018 Browns as anyone could who was hired only in January.
Highsmith dispensed with "fancy" and treated the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club to what was really on his mind, coming off the draft.
2, The Browns have been down for so long that 3-13 looks like up to many.
Highsmith said he and the general manager are of the same mind in this regard: They didn't come to Cleveland to stink in 2018.
"We're not going to be somebody's sideshow," he said. "I'm taking the attitude we're gonna win a division this year. I don't know how we're going to do it. We're going to find a way."
Highsmith understands 0-16 leaves little room to talk. But then, he and quite a few players and other key people weren't in town for that.
"We want to improve, yeah," Highsmith said. "But we don't want two or three wins, just because it's better than none. We want to win."
3, Bradley Chubb fans hated that the Browns didn't spend the No. 4 pick on a pass rusher to pair with Myles Garrett as a means of unleashing a two-headed monster.
Highsmith said his experience in Green Bay reflects why the Browns went with a cornerback, Ohio State's Denzel Ward, at the 4-spot.
The Packers were in the 2016 NFC championship game against Atlanta.
"We had no cornerbacks to match up and roll with Julio Jones," he said. "It doesn't matter what kind of pass rushers you have if you can't cover the other team?"
The Falcons passed the Packers silly in a 44-21 win.
Highsmith's quickie scouting report on Ward: "Good kid. Runs a 4.3. Has man coverage skills. He's a good player and he's going to get better."
4, Drafting an elite prospect at corner ties into the ongoing 2017 saga of safety Jabrill Peppers lining up halfway to Toledo.
"We had to do that because we didn't have the corners," Highsmith said, "and we didn't want to give up big plays. So we put a safety back there.
"You're going to see a big change in that this year."
Projected starters in the new-look secondary are Ward and free agency pick-up T.J. Carrie at the corners, trade acquisition Damarious Randall at free safety, and Peppers in a retooled capacity at the other safety.
5, Dorsey was in the process of taking over the Browns' personnel reins when Highsmith came to Cleveland as a Packers personnel exec last Dec. 10.
Highsmith recalls a pregame chat with a Green Bay offensive line coach, who told him Cleveland had one of the better defenses the Packers would face.
"Everyone I talked to around the league … defense wasn't the problem," Highsmith said.
Green Bay beat the Browns 27-21 in overtime behind injury-replacement quarterback Brett Hundley.
6, Highsmith gets amused and annoyed at the importance assigned to pre-draft analysts.
He said he heard one well known draft expert on the radio telling the Browns what they ought to do.
He said the analyst had applied for a Packers scouting job and was not hired.
7, Highsmith said he got a good laugh thumbing through a 2014 post-draft guide that gave the Browns an A-plus. That draft included two very nice picks, Joel Bitonio and Christian Kirksey, and two that wrecked a few things, Justin Gilbert at No. 8 overall and Johnny Manziel at No. 22.
While Highsmith seemed at peace with the Browns' 2018 picks, he wasn't bragging about them.
"I think we made the right decisions on some players," he said. "They usually will come around about the second or third year.
"I just hope we have some lady luck. We know what we know about them. There's a lot we don't know."
8, None of the last nine picks of Thursday's first round was an offensive lineman.
After the league slept on the options, four of the first seven picks in the second round were O-linemen. The Browns triggered at No. 33, taking Nevada's Austin Corbett.
"He probably should have been a first-rounder," Highsmith said. "We got him in the second round."
Highsmith said Corbett's versatility makes him a candidate to start at any of the five O-line spots, including left tackle, as he develops.
Highsmith confirmed that 29-year-old Donald Stephenson, who spent three years with the Chiefs while Dorsey was general manager, is in the running for the left tackle job. Stephenson, who has made 37 NFL starts, was a third-round pick out of Oklahoma in 2012.
9, Highsmith doubts all that money Jarvis Landry is going to earn in his new contract with the Browns will make make the receiver too comfy.
"He has an infectious attitude," Highsmith said. "He almost talks to you like a guy trying to make the team."
After four years with the Dolphins, Landry was traded to the Browns and signed to a five-year, $75.5 million contract.
10, Highsmith said hits in later rounds can make a huge difference to a franchise.
Anybody from off this year's beaten path who especially piques his interest?
"This kid (Damion) Ratley, from Texas A&M, is one I'm excited to see," Highsmith said. "He's about 6-foot-1 1/2, 205 pounds. He was under-used in college. He's big, he can run, and he's got good hands."
Ratley had an off-the-charts 23.1 yards-per-catch average for A&M in 2017, but he caught only 30 passes.
In a 19-17 win at Florida, he caught two passes for 72 yards. His new Browns teammate Antonio Callaway did not play for the Gators because he was on a season-long suspension.
11, Was Highsmith on board with drafting Callaway, who dropped to the fourth round amid assorted off-field red flags?
"Yes. He was the best receiver in the draft," Highsmith said.
As to the risks, Highsmith said the Browns will use a "takes-a-village" approach to setting Callaway on a proper course.
"We're in the business of helping," he said, "but this won't be a four-year evaluation. If he doesn't do what we want, he's a fourth-round pick … we move on."
He made it clear they possibly could move on to the kid from A&M.
12, Can head coach Hue Jackson fit together all the new pieces Dorsey's staff is collecting.
"He has to," Highsmith said. "It's kind of like asking during a flight, do you think the pilot can handle this? And you say, 'I don't know if he's a good pilot or a bad pilot. All I know is I've got to get to Los Angeles.'"
"We're trying to give him everything it takes to have the players win. So … he has to. That's what coaches do."
13, Highsmith, a bruising ball carrier who was a No. 3 overall draft pick in 1987, talked running backs, of course.
He didn't even mention any of the side issues that may have dropped LSU's Derrius Guice to the bottom of Round 2 (No. 59, Redskins).
Highsmith said he rated Nick Chubb (No. 35, Browns) rated as a "much better player."
"He was one of my favorite players in the draft."
Reach Steve at 330-580-8347 or
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