Cleveland Browns: Will They Draft Character Risks This Year?

The Cleveland Browns have explored a handful of players with character questions in this year’s draft, but what does their track record show?

The Cleveland Browns have made some news on a few fronts as it relates to player character. The first is with who they have invited to the facility as part of their 30 official visits. The second involves newly signed wide receiver Kenny Britt and the less than tactful manner he expressed his disappointment in not being re-signed by the Los Angeles Rams. This brings up the discussion of character and how the Browns view it with the 2017 NFL Draft approaching.

Going in reverse order, Britt decided to introduce and attempt to endear himself to Browns fans by putting both of his feet in his mouth via Instagram. Britt discussed his opinion of Tavon Austin and how he felt about not being re-signed by the Rams.

Without going into all the gory details (you can find them here), Britt more closely resembled the player that couldn’t stay out of trouble in Tennessee than the allegedly reformed player the Browns hoping they are getting that stayed out of trouble and produced for the Rams.

This isn’t illegal or anything, but is just a monumentally stupid misstep by Britt who just signed a four-year, $32 million contract with the Browns. This will likely result in an apology written by Britt’s agent or a team rep that he posts on social media, but for a signing that replaced a popular player in Terrelle Pryor (even though it was Pryor’s own stupid fault he’s not here anymore) that needs to work it’s not off to a rousing start.

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Not exactly the first impression a person wants to make at their new job. It gives people reason to be nervous about signing Britt, who has had nine run-ins with the law in his career, even if he’s behaved the last few years with the Rams. And someone in the Browns organization who came over from the Rams (possibly Gregg Williams or Clyde Simmons for example) vouched for Britt’s character, so they don’t look great at the moment either.

Separately, the Browns have been putting in a lot of time with NFL Draft prospects that have been deemed as character risks, most notably Joe Mixon, running back out of Oklahoma. Fairly or not (probably not), Mixon is the face of character questions in this year’s class. Mixon is famous for his role in an incident caught on video where he broke a woman’s jaw a couple years ago.

Mixon paid the price, albeit one that appeared to be part of a fire sale, but such a pick would be met with a ton of deserved criticism from media and fans. There’s all kinds of arguments to be had about what kind of message that sends, what type of team the Browns want to build, or heaven forbid he had another incident while a member of the Browns, but that can wait until it actually comes to pass.

Jan 2, 2017; New Orleans , LA, USA; Oklahoma Sooners running back Joe Mixon (25) carries the ball against Auburn Tigers linebacker Darrell Williams (49) in the second quarter at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports /

The reality is to this point, the Browns have not drafted a player that has been arrested. In fact, last year the Browns drafted what could be described as a group of eagle scouts in terms of off the field.. Until the Britt signing, for all the moves the Browns made (conservative estimate is a ton) they have only added one player that was arrested. That was Trae Elston for disorderly conduct in college, something for which he apologized publicly.