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Thursday Nights Draft Madness turns to Weekend Sadness for Cleveland Browns Fans

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Thursday night, the 2014 NFL Draft commenced at Radio City Music Hall in New York City as all 32 National Football League teams looked to add new blood to their rosters in hope of being the next team to win the Super Bowl. The night was a coming out party of sorts for new Cleveland Browns General Manager Ray Farmer, as he quickly announced himself to the NFL world by trading the #4 overall pick to the Buffalo Bills to move back 5 spots to #9 and, in the process, added Buffalo’s 2015 1st and 4th round picks. That trade turned heads everywhere from those wondering why the Browns passed on wide receiver Sammy Watkins (more on that later) to those that couldn’t believe Buffalo would give up so much to only move up 5 spots. Four slots later, Farmer was at it again, as he moved up one spot to #8 by trading the 9th pick along with a 5th round pick to the Minnesota Vikings in order to select Cornerback Justin Gilbert from Oklahoma State University.

NFL Draft Football

While making two trades in the top 8 draft picks would seem like it was a huge splash, Farmer was just getting started, as the biggest news of the night would occur at pick #22. The Philadelphia Eagles were the owners of pick #22 when “Trader Ray” the nickname given to Ray Farmer by some other general managers reached out to the Eagles and offered the Browns pick at #26 along with their 3rd round selection at #83. The Eagles, who were on the verge of trading the pick to Minnesota, quickly took the Browns offer, which was much better than the package offered by the Vikings. With the 22nd pick the Browns chose Quarterback Johnny Manziel from Texas A&M University. “Johnny Football,” as Manziel is known worldwide, immediately became the story of the night.

Johnny Manziel chatting with Deion Sanders after being picked by the Browns at #22

Day 2 of the draft began with a huge buzz for the Browns and their fans everywhere, as there were reports of a huge surge in season ticket sales, along with #2 Manziel Browns Jersey’s flying off the presses straight onto the backs of adoring Browns fans. Early in the afternoon, the Browns had a press conference to introduce Justin Gilbert and Manziel to the media, though Gilbert was only asked a few questions, as everyone was busy hanging on every word out of Johnny Football’s mouth.

The buzz and promise would only last so long though, as about an hour before the start of round 2 of the draft, while Browns fans and sports-talkers alike continued to debate the merits of Manziel and whether or not he should start week one against the Pittsburgh Steelers, two reporters from ESPN’s Outside the Lines series reported that Browns star wide receiver Josh Gordon had failed a drug test and would be banned for the entire 2014 season. While this isn’t the first time that Gordon has allegedly run afoul of the league’s substance abuse policy, it still left fans and media feeling a range of emotions from shock and anger, to depression and disgust.

After the fog of the announcement began to dissipate, the first thing everyone wanted to know was if and when the Browns front office and coaching staff knew about this alleged infraction, and what they were going to do to address it. What made the announcement even more puzzling was the fact the Browns had the opportunity to draft the top two wide receivers available on Thursday night in Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins or Texas A&M wide receiver Mike Evans. Since the team chose not to draft either of those two players and, as it turned out, didn’t pick any receivers the rest of the draft, Browns fans everywhere were left wondering if the report was even true. Browns fans would later get their “answer” when reporters peppered Farmer and coach Mike Pettine about the Gordon situation in their post draft press conference. Farmer and Pettine’s response was: “they weren’t allowed to answer questions about Gordon, because of the NFL’s policy.” In other words, they can’t officially say anything due to privacy rules until any appeals process is over and the league announces any suspensions. This type of non-denial/non-answer is essentially a confirmation the report is probably true.

Ray Farmer and Mike Pettine meet with reporters to discuss the draft

The Gordon situation is a maddening one for the Browns organization and its fans as, not even 24 hours after a huge public relations boon with the addition of Johnny Manziel, all of the air is immediately sucked out of the balloon. People like to say “only in Cleveland” does this type of stuff happen. While that may not be true, it does make you think: Who the hell did Cleveland piss off, and how can they fix it?

 


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