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THE BROWNS BOARD

Cleveland's Biggest Draft Busts


ClevelandFanForLife

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With the draft coming up I thought it would be fun to turn back the page and revisit some of Cleveland's biggest busts. Athletes from any sport can be mentioned. I won't take one of the most obvious ones. My pick is Gerad Warren. Big Money had a decent rookie year and then fell off the face of the Earth. I was shocked that he never had a good year because McDonald's gave him and endorsement deal. I thought that everyone who does an ad for McDonald's turns into a Hall of Famer: Right Braylon Edwards and Charlie Frye?

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Tommy Vardell

Not only did the guy suck he broke up plays intended for his own guys which took suck to a whole new level.

 

(shoot me for this one)

Ernie Davis

Never got to play a down, the kid was real class but it seems from THAT moment with that pick it was all downhill from there and we started seeing some real busts.

 

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watchin 'the express' made me cry....

Same here.

It's sad as hell a model player's life had to end the way it did. The kid was pure class.

So maybe I can say Ernie Davis himself was not a bust, but his draft pick was since it was a 1st rounder that never even got to see the field.

 

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Easily Mad Dog in a Meat Market.

 

Just because of the timing of it. We REALLY needed to hit on that pick to get a player to put us over the top.

 

Marty and the boys not only struck out, they struck out looking on a 80mph fastball down the middle of the plate down by one with bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth of game 7 of the World Series.

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I do want to offer up one more that sticks with me.

 

Don Rogers.

 

Why? Because when the m-f'er decided to snort his life away, he also snorted away a couple Browns Super Bowls.

 

If he had been around, there is no way Mr. Ed drives 98 yards on us. Not with him in centerfield. Not in Mr. Rogers neighborhood.

 

But in my book, he's still a bust because he chose the powder over everything else. Period.

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Its gotta be Mike Phipps.

 

Not to be morbid, trading Bobby Mitchell for the draft rights to Ernie Davis.

 

Trading a first round pick to draft Lawyer Tillman in the second round. Tillman could have been a beast, if not for injuries. However, nothing tangible to show.

 

How about taking Clifton Charlton over Alonzo Highsmith.

 

Drafting Tim Couch rather than taking the Ditka trade or drafting just about any other player.

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Tim Couch

Courtney Brown

Gerard Warren

Mike Junkin

Cleveland Crosby

Mike Phipps

William Green

Paul McDonald

Charles White

 

DWJ

You can throw in Rahim Abdullah, Craig Powell, Lawyer Tillman, Clifford Charlton, Greg Allen, Ron Brown, Keith "Pure" Baldwin, Willis Adams and Steve Holden

 

Lots of linebackers, defensive ends and receivers...

 

Zombo

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How about a couple of Browns draft picks that i don't think ever made it to our city........

 

Ron Brown was a track star for Arizona State. In 1983, the Browns used a 2nd round pick on him. THEN he decided to try out for the Olympics. He eventually played in the NFL, but not for the Browns.

 

Jeremiah Pharms was arrested (and eventually convicted) of a felony crime after the 2001 draft. He was a 5th round pick.

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Jeremiah Pharms was arrested (and eventually convicted) of a felony crime after the 2001 draft. He was a 5th round pick.

 

Ole Butchie certainly did his homework on that one....

 

Fast Fact:

 

Pharms, a 250-pound linebacker from Sacramento, Calif., was a star at the UW. He bench-pressed more than 400 pounds, sported a pit-bull tattoo, and sometimes, during games, locked eyes with an opposing player and proceeded to urinate, the stream darkening his pants. He did this to intimidate. After all, who'd want to go against someone as crazy as that?

 

Read the rest of the great story via here

 

PS - Rick Neuheisel is scum, not that you didn't already know this.

 

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Same here.

It's sad as hell a model player's life had to end the way it did. The kid was pure class.

So maybe I can say Ernie Davis himself was not a bust, but his draft pick was since it was a 1st rounder that never even got to see the field.

 

 

As a kid I can remember the night exhibition game that they introduced Ernie Davis

at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. They turned out the field lights and spotlighted

him as he jogged through the goal posts and to his teammates at midfield

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You must be pretty young and a Couch fan, because Warren was far from the biggest bust.

 

 

Phipps was the biggest bust.....not only was he a high pick, we gave up a HOF receiver(Warfield) to get him.

 

 

 

Sorry man....you fail on this thread.

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Courtney Brown

Daniel Ferry

Greg Swindell

 

Sorry. i don't agree with any of these.

 

Courtney had a darn good rookie season. He wasn't a complete bust (but injuries killed his career, so i know where you're coming from).

 

Ron Harper was my favorite player. Trading him for Ferry was stupid. i think Danny may be still the all time leader in minutes played or some stupid statistic (but i know where you're coming from).

 

i have no idea where you're coming from on Swindell. He was one of our best players on some absolutely horrible teams.

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You can throw in Rahim Abdullah, Craig Powell, Lawyer Tillman, Clifford Charlton, Greg Allen, Ron Brown, Keith "Pure" Baldwin, Willis Adams and Steve Holden

 

Lots of linebackers, defensive ends and receivers...

 

Zombo

 

Good stuff. I saw Furns' post and was going to name most of these guys too. You guys nailed them all. I'm not old enough to remember him, but Greg Pruitt once told me that Holden was the worst pick he could remember. I forgot about Greg Allen. How about Travis Prentice?

 

Cleveland "Pittsburgh" Crosby.

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No doubt....drafting is as much about luck as it is anything else.

 

The older I get, the more I think George Allen had the right idea and forget about draft picks for the most part and trade for proven NFL players.

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The worst, in my opinion, had to be Mike Phipps....ESPECIALLY since we did trade Warfield to get him. I remember being so damn mad at that because he played against BOTH Ohio State & Penn State & both teams had very good defenses....can we say "multiple interceptions"??? The guy couldn't even get it done against top COLLEGE defenses!...and we traded WARFIELD to get him??

Junkin was good too...He was, to quote Marty S..."a mad dog in a meat market"!!.....yeah, right!

 

On a lighter note...I am holding a 1980 Cleveland Browns beer mug with the roster printed on it. There are 3 columns listing players...in the right column, the first 3 players listed are: #73 Doug Dieken, #75 Cleveland Crosby, & #77 Lyle Alzado..........good ol' #75 (Crosby) just happened to be our 2nd round pick that year & he got CUT before the regular season started!!! I think I have a collector's item here folks! :P

Mike

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