Indianapolis, IN (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Browns have already made two moves critical to the 2019 season with the addition of troubled running back Kareem Hunt and re-signing of left tackle Greg Robinson, but this week in Indianapolis will be instrumental in setting up their offseason plan.
This is where next season begins.
For general manager John Dorsey, head coach Freddie Kitchens and the staffs that surround them both, the roster evaluation should be complete, needs for 2019 outlined and the plans for filling those needs roughly sketched out.
Now begins the process of putting the plan in motion.
First the business of the combine, where 327 prospects for the draft class of 2019 will go through a gauntlet of testing and interviews over the next several days.
We’ll call it the MMID: medicals, measurements, interviews and drills.
Every player’s medical history is sifted through with a fine-tooth comb by every team’s medical department and front office. Any existing or previous injury is subject to additional X-rays and MRIs. Bloodwork is performed as well as drug testing.
Players’ height and weight are measured along with wingspan and hand size – which for quarterbacks always grabs headlines, but luckily, we don’t have to worry how Kyler Murray or Dwayne Haskins measures up this week.
The interview process is the second-most important portion of the week behind the medical check. There are two types of interviews for prospects at the Combine – informal and formal.
Pretty much every team talks to every player informally. Those take place at the ‘train station’ where members of the front office and or coaching staff will quickly grill players. If you’ve ever done speed dating, imagine that setting magnified 100-fold.
Each team is permitted to schedule up to 60 formal interviews at the Combine and those take place in a hotel room assigned to each team by the league. They are no more than 15 minutes in length, and it is an opportunity for teams to test players directly with questions to gauge how they respond. Yes, there is often some gamesmanship involved. Dorsey, Kitchens and other Browns personnel will be in the room for those, which are often recorded so they can go back and review them later.
The drills might be the least important element of the week – but they still matter. Dorsey’s scouting department has already evaluated the tape, done deep background checks, college visits and in some cases hometown visits on players they are interested in. Now it’s time to confirm what they think they know.
The 40-yard dash, bench press, vertical jump, shuttle and cone drills tend to captivate fans, especially since they’re broadcast on NFL Network. The results typically don’t make or break an evaluation of a player, but if they’re abnormal, they could prompt the Browns to take a second look at their scouting reports and tape evaluations.
Now for the other reason everybody is here – laying the groundwork for free agency and trades. The face-to-face sit downs with agents and fellow executives tee up the frantic offseason activity that’s about to commence next month.
The new league year doesn’t begin until March 13th at 4 p.m. eastern time, and the legal tampering period officially commences three days earlier on the 11th, but the dirty little not so secret is that it begins here in Indianapolis either at Lucas Oil Stadium, a hotel lobby or at one of the many fine downtown establishments late at night.
Dorsey and Kitchens are both scheduled to speak with reporters this week in Indianapolis – Kitchens Wednesday afternoon and Dorsey Thursday morning.
While we expect both to keep the Browns’ plans closely guarded, we hope to at least get a glimmer into their thoughts of what needs done over the next two months to turn them into playoff contenders.
