Skip to main content

Browns Draft Day a Little Like ‘Draft Day’

Real Browns fans and players are as hopeful for the draft
as their 'Draft Day' counterparts.
Is it just me or does this NFL draft day feel a little like Draft Day for Browns fans?

Forgo the GM who fired his father (who promptly passed away), just found out his girlfriend/co-worker is pregnant, and whose job is on the line if he doesn’t make a big splash in the draft, and we’re looking at a lot of the same plot points.

On the board for Ray Farmer, general manager of the Browns and real-life counterpart to Draft Day’s Sonny Weaver (a Ray of Sonnyshine?), is a hot shot quarterback and star wide receiver. Every fan in Cleveland wants a hot shot quarterback - somewhere between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, and hopefully named Bernie. The front office, if you believe local and national media, has their eyes on a wide receiver with a little trouble in his past.

Sonny faced the same battle. He was enamored with the skills of defensive back Vontae Mack, who others felt was more trouble than he was worth. And after a questionable trade to get the No. 1 pick, the Cleveland faithful - including Browns owner Anthony Molina - expects Sonny to nab the alleged best player, hot shot quarterback Bo Callahan.

So for many of the same reasons, today real life is mimicking art. Debate rages as to whether the Browns should nab hot shot QB Johnny Manziel (who may be overrated) or reliable wide receiver Sammy Watkins.

But it’s more than that, too. The Browns may already have a reliable quarterback in Brian Hoyer. In the film, the fictional Browns also had a potentially reliable quarterback in Brian Drew. Drew was injured halfway through the season, which crushed the Browns hopes. Same goes for the real Browns’ Hoyer.

Then there’s Ray Jennings, the fictional running back whose father played for the Browns. A longshot choice for the on-screen Browns. The real team has its own longshot, too. He’s not legacy, but the name Mack is popular in Cleveland, so could Khalil Mack be on the Browns’ board? (And we won't even get into the similarities between this make and the celluloid version.)

Throw in a crafty, sometimes showy owner (Jimmy Haslam) and a new coach (Mike Pettine), and you start to see why today feels oddly similar to the silver screen.

Maybe that’s for good reason. The film Draft Day was written by Clevelander Rajiv Joseph, a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright who has told more than one reporter writing about the Browns was daunting because he was such a fan (he originally wrote the script with the Buffalo Bills as the team with draft issues).

And obviously the film was shot here - but last summer, before Hoyer’s emergence from the third string as a possible team leader. Before the unraveling of a promising season and sweeping regime change.

Is it possible Joseph was prescient about these Browns and this Draft Day? Could he see into the future of our team - his team - to know what 2014 would hold? I say anything's possible. We’ll know for sure later tonight, if Hoyer still leads the team as the starting quarterback. And if unexpected selections (Mack) are made at the last minute.

At the very least, expect more than a couple commentators to compare these Browns with their silver screen counterparts. And that the hope the film gives to fans rings true along the shores of Lake Erie as well.

Comments

Popular Posts

'Avengers Infinity War' coming to Cleveland? Movie studio built on old Geauga Lake property? Both possible say Russo Brothers

Ivan Schwarz, Greater Cleveland Film Commission, Joe Russo and Anthony Russo, Cleveland natives and Marvel directors. They didn’t share any Captain America: Civil War spoilers, but directors Joe and Anthony Russo told fans that Avengers: Infinity War could land in Cleveland. “It’s on the list,” said Anthony. The reveal took place Saturday during a Wizard World Comic-Con Cleveland panel titled Let’s Shut Down Some Streets: Bringing the Avengers, Captain America and the Russo Brothers to Cleveland. The Russos, who grew up in Cleveland and graduated from Case Western Reserve University, were joined by Ivan Schwarz, director of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission. The trio discussed how the region could grow its production slate and how it could attract more features to Northeast Ohio. The first step, said Schwarz, was getting the Ohio legislature to raise the motion picture tax incentive from $25 million a year to $75 million. That legislation will go before Ohio lawmake

Tina Fey, Jay Roach Bringing Kent State Film '67 Shots' to Ohio

Student protestors at Kent State in 1970 Tina Fey is taking a serious turn, producing 67 Shots , a film about the 1970 Kent State shootings. The movie applied for the Ohio Film Tax Incentive earlier this year and plans to film in and around KSU sometime in 2018. 67 Shots focuses on events that led up to the shooting deaths of four students by Ohio National Guardsmen. The title comes from the numbers of shots those guardsmen fired into the unarmed crowd of protestors. Fey is producing alongside Jeff Richmond, her husband and a Kent State alum. Jay Roach, best known for the Austin Powers and Meet the Fockers franchises, will helm the project. Roach is making more socially and politically aware films at this stage in his career, including Trumbo and Game Change . The film is based on the book 67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocence and is adapted by award-winning playwright Stephen Belber. Fey and Richmond’s production company, Little Stranger, will join

'Walking Dead' star Emily Kinney joins 'Anhedonia' cast

Emily Kinney joins 'Anhedonia' Emily Kinney, perhaps best known for her role as Beth Greene on AMC’s The Walking Dead , is joining Anhedonia , the new indie feature from Cleveland’s Eric Swinderman and Carmen DeFranco. Kinney got her start on stage, with roles in Spring Awakening and August: Osage County , before transitioning to guest roles on television and a star turn as Emily on Showtime’s The Big C . Her breakout role would come as Beth Greene, Maggie Greene’s little sister, on The Walking Dead . Kinney became a fan favorite during a series of dramatic episodes in the series’ fourth season when Kinney’s Greene bonded with fellow survivor Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus. Anhedonia co-stars Breckin Meyer and Giselle Eisenberg. "To have the opportunity to work with such an amazing actress like Emily is beyond exciting,” says Swinderman. “It's also very exciting for the city and people of northeast Ohio to have three huge TV stars coming to town to