Well, they drafted Jim Brown and Ernie Davis (which, of course, ended sadly and was the first nail in PB’s coffin with the Browns). Little was drafted before the Browns got to pick in '67 and they already had a future hall-of-famer in Leroy Kelly. Czonka also was drafted before the Browns got to pick in '68.
Speaking of Dolphins-Browns connections, do you remember Warfield when he played in Cleveland?
Interesting bit of trivia, IIRC, how it happened.
Morris was 9 yards short because he was credited with a 9 loss on a running play which the stats guys later reviewed and converted to a loss on a passing play to give him the 1000.
Remember him? Oh dear lord. When I was 11 - 15 years old, my neighbor in Cleveland was former Browns WR Ray “The Rabbit” Renfro (whose son, Mike, would become a NFL WR himself). Warfield was drafted by the Browns out of Ohio State, where he was halfback in Woody Hayes’ offense. This meant he had a pass thrown to him about every other month. So the Browns hired Renfro was a receivers’ coach, where his job essentially was to be Warfield’s tutor. Warfield would come over to Renfro’s house and we would see him practicing his passing routes and moves walking from his car to the house.
By the time the Browns traded him to the Dolphins for the draft rights to QB Mike Phipps, Warfield was generally regarded as the best receiver in the NFL. For Browns fans who are old enough to remember, it was the day the franchise jumped the shark. The beginning of a 15-year string of generally bad teams that wasn’t broken until Bernie Kosar manipulated the supplemental draft so he could return to NE Ohio and play for his hometown team.
Joe Robbie told this story about getting Warfield: Apparently Hank Stram called Robbie inquiring about that draft pick. Robbie said, “Forget it. You can’t match Cleveland’s offer.” Stram: “Who?” Robbie: “Warfield.” Stram: “Wow!”
Yeah, the Phins had this other Quarterback from Purdue who would do just fine (the official winner of “Smartest QB I have ever seen play the game Professionally”. Sorry, Bernie). :)
That story is so cool, Jason! The closest I have is that I used the same barber as the guy I referenced above as a kid. Later, that lost its magic as I went to the same HS with his sons.
Poor Phipps. He never worked out. I think he was traded for what became Ozzie, right?
Was Sipe the guy who finally ended the Phipps fiasco?
Yes on both counts. What was even worse from Phipps’ perspective is that he was playing by far the best football of his career when he got injured and was replaced by Sipe.
Hey guys, my team looked really good in the first preseason game, so looks like the NFC North is on lock. All that money on Cousins obviously justified!
I also highly overreacted to that one drive.
I’m good with basing everything on that one preseason game. Baker Mayfield is the next Aaron Rodgers.
Did anyone see the Dolphins preseason game? I am in “avoid the hot stove” mode so I am not watching. Do we look like we suck again?
Practically all you heard about that game was the dumb police union reaction to the anthem protests. I think I did read that Tannehill looked pretty good for limited time he was in the game.
I might ease back in here soon. Last year was a bad acid trip…
It was hard to tell. Tannehill looked fine but he was pulled out fast. He looked fluid on the move and in control, but the usual problems are still there - both incompletions were his fault and the second was an old Tannehill problem where a safety valve receiver leaked into space and Tannehill threw behind him on what should have been an easy completion.
After that it’s hard to tell, because everyone’s a replacement. Brock Lobster at least looked like he’d seen an offence before, but Petty wasn’t good enough to be third string on the Jets, so no one should put a high value on the really nice pass he made for the late touchdown that he then repeated for the 2XP.
Fales continues to be a better name that a Quarterback, although his late throw into double cover might be the best pass of the night.
The defence was mostly bad though. Weak up the middle with little impact from the Linebackers, solid Safety play and only one good Cornerback. Wake and Reshad Jones were given the night off, so it’ll improve, but there’s a lot of work needed.
I’m Pro-Tannehill, just so we know what sides of what lines we re on. :)
Did McMillan see any action? O-line look good?
The only thing that means less than a preseason loss is a preseason win.
I’m expecting Big Things™️ from Denver this year.
(Big Things™️ may include midseason coaching changes, watch at your own risk)
How about we just reset to two years ago and we take VJ back as DC?
Just to remind people, the Browns went 4-0 in the preseason last year.
The Lions also went 4-0 in the pre-season before their 0-16 tilt.
McMillan was late to everything and was ready to buy anything Ryan Fitzpatrick showed him. He has a lot of room to grow.