John Dorsey reflected on his first Browns draft with a quiet visit to the Hall of Fame last Sunday, while his right-hand men recalls suiting up in Cleveland. "Back in the days of Marty, the Cleveland Browns were GOOD, man."
BEREA It may be a while before the Cleveland Browns prove they can get out of their epic funk.
It is clear right now they are hiring more people who "get it" in terms of what the rise of the Browns would mean.
General manager John Dorsey got a feel for the region when he played against the Browns for Green Bay on Oct. 19, 1986.
Cleveland was beginning to catch fire as second-year pro Bernie Kosar began his ascent at quarterback. Old Municipal Stadium was uproarious.
Dorsey was a third-year linebacker who had been a No. 99 overall draft pick in 1984. Brian Brennan, the 104th pick of the '84 draft, caught a touchdown pass that gave the Browns a 14-3 lead. Dorsey's Packers rallied for a 17-14 win, but Kosar then led the Browns on a 9-1 hot streak that didn't end until "The Drive" in the AFC finals.
Dorsey forgets all about being a general manager when he is gauging how a prospect will fit in a locker room. He said he does what comes naturally, thinking like a player, imagining how he would feel about having, say, Baker Mayfield, as a teammate.
Dorsey recalls being on the field in pads with the noise spilling to Lake Erie when he says, "Let's wake this sleeping giant."
At 57, he conducted an eventful "hello" draft, sparking debate when he took Mayfield at No. 1 and cornerback Denzel Ward at No. 4, and later raising eyebrows with a No. 105 pick spent on Antonio Callaway, a wideout who was suspended for the 2017 college season.
The day after the draft, Dorsey chose to soak up more of the region. He headed for acres near where the Canton Bulldogs were NFL champions in 1922 and '23, visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
"I sent some of the boys (Browns staffers) off to the Cavaliers game, and some of the boys went to watch the Indians play," Dorsey said on NFL Network. "I just kind of wanted a moment to reflect on my first draft with the Cleveland Browns.
"Canton is nearby. I stayed at the Hall of Fame about an hour and a half. I took a picture of my mentor's bust, Ron Wolf, and sent it to him. He sent me back a cute text saying, 'Who's that stiff?'
"It was a good place to reflect. The Hall of Fame is awesome."
Wolf is in the Hall of Fame as a general manager. Wolf's son, Eliot, is in Cleveland at Dorsey's behest, having left Green Bay to be a vice president in Dorsey's scouting operation. Alonzo Highsmith, who also left the Packers to join Dorsey, was actually in Canton when he explained his career switch.
"John called me and said, 'I need you to come with me,'" said Highsmith, who spoke to the Hall of Fame Luncheon Club on Monday. "I didn't have to leave Green Bay, but I've always wanted to be part of something from the ground up."
The Browns were 0-16 in 2017, as ground floor as it gets.
Like Dorsey, Highsmith was in Cleveland when Browns fans were raising the roof.
"It was the end of the 1988 season and I was playing for the Houston Oilers," Highsmith said. "It was cold. Really cold. Big Dawg and all of those guys were throwing dog bones and snowballs out of the bleachers.
"We were driving down for a touchdown and so many things were being thrown that they switched us to the other end of the field. And I'm like … I've never seen that before.
"We played at Cleveland two weeks in a row. The last game of the regular season was to decide which of us got to be at home for the playoff game. The Browns won and we were back in Cleveland the next week.
"Jerry Glanville was our coach. Jerry would say crazy stuff. There was a death threat. Someone said they were going to shoot Jerry. So they gave him a bullet-proof vest and he wore it for the game. And he's wondering … 'Why is nobody standing next to me?'
"I used to hate playing the Cleveland Browns. Back in the days of Marty Schottenheimer … the Cleveland Browns were good, man."
The No. 1 pick, Mayfield, had more feel for Ohio than most Ohioans would prefer when he planted an Oklahoma flag at midfield in Columbus last year. But now Mayfield is chumming around with Ward, and between those two, at least, the incident is something to laugh off.
Ward naturally grasps what the region is about. He played for Nordonia High School, 25 miles from the Browns' stadium. His college team, Ohio State, beat Mayfield in Oklahoma in 2016 before that 2017 flag day in Columbus.
Growing up near Cleveland is different than it was when Kosar was a teenage Browns fan. Ward was born during the second of three years when the Browns weren't in the NFL. He was 7 when a head coach quit with five games left in a season. He was 11 when the current streak of 10 consecutive losing years began.
Ward gave a polite response to the question of whether he is a lifelong Browns fan.
"I watched more college football growing up," he said, "but I am definitely a fan now. Believe that."
It is getting easier to believe.
Reach Steve at 330-580-8347 or
steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP