BEREA: The Browns are hell-bent on finding the end zone more frequently, and Baylor wide receiver Corey Coleman seems to be equipped with a GPS guiding him there.
“Touchdowns — he scores touchdowns,” coach Hue Jackson said Thursday night.
The Browns addressed one of several dire needs in the first round of the NFL Draft by selecting Coleman 15th overall after trading down from No. 8 in a deal with the Tennessee Titans.
“We positioned ourselves to pick up what was our top-rated wide receiver but also positioned ourselves to pick a couple additional players this weekend,” Browns head of football operations Sashi Brown said. “So we’re really, really excited to add a dynamic player to our offense. It’s something we haven’t had in the past here in recent years. With Corey’s speed, tenacity and ability to turn small plays into long plays, we’re really excited to bring him here.”
Last season, the Browns tied for 26th in the league with 20 receiving touchdowns and ranked 30th with 28 total touchdowns. Their offense ranked 25th in yards per game (331.9) and 21st in passing yards per game (236.4) last season. Their top threat at the position, speedster Travis Benjamin (68 catches, 966 yards, five touchdowns in 2015), signed with the San Diego Chargers in March.
As a junior last season, Coleman led the NCAA with 20 receiving touchdowns to go along with 74 receptions for 1,363 yards. He won the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s top receiver, in addition to unanimous All-America and first-team All-Big 12 honors.
“One thing we need to do is become more dynamic on offense,” Jackson said. “... He’s probably one of the most dynamic players in this draft.”
The previous regime neglected the team’s weak receiving corps, so Coleman should provided much-needed reinforcement. Jackson quipped he wanted a receiver “as fast as I could get one.”
Coleman should be a weapon for presumptive 2016 bridge-starter quarterback, reclamation project and fellow former Baylor standout Robert Griffin III.
“It’s crazy,” Coleman said during a conference call. “I’m so happy. I feel blessed. I’m ready to roll, man. I know RG3’s a great quarterback.”
But Jackson has told Griffin to be prepared to compete with a rookie this summer in training camp, and the Browns could pick one with the first choice of the second round (No. 32 overall) when the draft resumes Friday night.
The Denver Broncos traded up from No. 31 to pick Memphis’ Paxton Lynch at No. 26. However, Michigan State’s Connor Cook is available after going undrafted in the first round. The Walsh Jesuit graduate is widely considered the fourth-best quarterback in this class.
Then again, the Browns may prefer trading down from No. 32. Brown said the team had already received phone calls from other clubs interested in dealing for the pick.
“If it so happens that we’re able to add some picks and still add a player that we like, we will do that,” Brown said. “It depends on what’s presented to us.”
Brown said the team identified Coleman early in the scouting process and rated him higher than any other receiver in this draft. He was the first one selected with the Browns choosing him instead of Notre Dame’s Will Fuller (Houston Texans took him at No. 21), TCU’s Josh Doctson (Washington, No. 22) and Mississippi’s Laquon Treadwell (Minnesota Vikings, No. 23).
Coleman said during a conference call he emulates standout receivers Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Steve Smith of the Baltimore Ravens.
“That’s a good emulation,” Jackson said. “He’s going to have to work to get there.”
Coleman, 21, will be relied upon to become an alpha receiver. Josh Gordon would fit the description if he were ever available to play, but the Browns aren’t counting on the oft-suspended 2013 All-Pro selection to gain re-entry into the NFL. Gordon has been banished from the league for recurring violations of its substance-abuse policy since Feb. 3, 2015. The NFL rejected his recent bid for reinstatement April 12. He may re-apply Aug. 1.
Jackson has said he wants big receivers like the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Gordon, but the Browns still went with the 5-10⅝, 194-pound Coleman because they couldn’t resist his explosive playmaking ability. He posted a time of 4.40 in the 40-yard dash at his pro day and has experience as a kickoff returner. He can play in the slot or on the outside, though he’ll need to learn how to fine-tune his route running at the next level.
“For a smaller receiver, he does not play to his size,” Brown said. “He plays above his size. We knew we wanted to add some speed to the offense to make sure people respected our passing game.”
Before the Browns picked Coleman, they traded down for the second time in eight days when they went on the clock for the first time. Now they have two picks in the first round and two in the second round next year, plus two in the second round in 2018.
They surrendered the No. 8 pick and a sixth-round choice (No. 176) to the Titans and received No. 15, a third-round selection (No. 76) and a 2017 second-round pick. The Titans selected Michigan State offensive tackle Jack Conklin at No. 8.
Brown, running his first draft, should be known throughout the league as “Trader Sashi” by now. Trading down is a tenet of analytics to which the organization’s new Harvard-flavored regime is devoted.
The Browns made one of draft’s biggest moves more than a week before it started, trading down from No. 2 overall to No. 8 in a blockbuster deal with the Philadelphia Eagles on April 20. They shipped the No. 2 pick and a fourth-round choice in 2017 to the Eagles in exchange for No. 8, selections in the third (No. 77) and fourth (No. 100) rounds this year, a first-round pick next year and a second-round choice in 2018.
The Los Angeles Rams drafted California quarterback Jared Goff first overall, and the Eagles selected North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz at No. 2 in the spot vacated by the Browns.
Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa (San Diego Chargers, No. 3), Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott (Dallas Cowboys, No. 4), Florida State defensive back Jalen Ramsey (Jacksonville Jaguars, No. 5), Notre Dame offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley (Baltimore Ravens, No. 6) and Oregon defensive end DeForest Buckner (San Francisco 49ers, No. 7) were also gone by the time the Browns went on the clock at No. 8 and dealt the pick.
By the time the Browns’ turn arrived at No. 15, Georgia linebacker Leonard Floyd (Chicago Bears, No. 9), Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple (New York Giants, No. 10) and Florida cornerback Vernon Hargreaves (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, No. 11), Louisville defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins (New Orleans Saints, No. 12), Mississippi offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil (Miami Dolphins, No. 13) and West Virginia safety Karl Joseph (Oakland Raiders, No. 14) were off the board.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.