JOHN DORSEY
John Dorsey is serious. A serious dude in many ways. And he cuts to the chase.
Pretty tough guy as a player.
As an executive? Yup, same.
But what’s the story with the whole second chance thing?
Is there a limit to this kind of benevolence? Should there be?
He may not be the one to ask.
You want to win? Or not?
The Dawg Pound must be rabid. After all according to Dorsey, “there’s a bright future for this organization.”
It’s been a long time comin’.
Hired as the team’s new general manager on December 7, 2017 replacing Executive Vice-President of Football Operations Sashi Brown, there was only one way to go and Dorsey wasted little time.
The franchise was mired in one of the most precipitous downward spirals in NFL annals posting 3 victories in 2015; finishing 1–15 in 2016; and going winless (0–16) in 2017.
Do the math; that’s 4–44 over three full campaigns.
Exponentially embarrassing to the point of bunker-like hunkering down or parading with mock glee around the streets and in front of First Energy (nee Cleveland) Stadium.
In fairness Brown had stockpiled a few assets — players and salary cap cash — which allowed Dorsey to maneuver a little and maneuver he did.
Dorsey made five impactful moves detailed here in reverse order of importance:
- Signing Carlos Hyde and extending Duke Johnson allowed Dorsey to create a running back competition ratcheted up by his selection in the 2018 NFL Draft of Georgia stud Nick Chubb with the third pick of the second round (35th. overall). Proving to be both elusive and explosive with impressive breakaway speed (see 92-yard touchdown run in 11/11/2018 [28–16] win over the Falcons, the longest in franchise history) Chubb was the real deal. In Week 4 — a 45–42 overtime loss to the Raiders — Chubb toted the ’skin 3 times including TD runs of 63 and 41 yards, becoming only the fourth player in league history to break 100 yards rushing with three or fewer carries. Hyde was traded to Jacksonville for a 2019 fifth-round draft choice on October 19th. For the season Chubb rushed for 996 yards on 192 carries (5.2 yds/carry) and eight touchdowns; he had 20 receptions for 149 yards and 2 more TDs.;
- On March 9, 2018 Dorsey wheeled and dealed as if his thinning hair was on fire. On that day he traded for both Jarvis Landry and Tyrod Taylor and swapped DeShone Kizer for the Green Bay Packers’ Damarious Randall with fourth and fifth-round picks also exchanged. Kizer had struggled and Randall — moved by the Browns from cornerback to free safety — had a monster season in ’18 as the center-fielder of the secondary, making play-after-play on every deep ball thrown. A sure open-field tackler, the former first-round pick out of Arizona State registered 85 combination tackles (72 Solo; 13 Ast.); 9 PDef; and 4 Int. with a long return of 50 yards. With due respect to Kizer, ‘highway robbery’ would most aptly describe the transaction;
3. On October 30th. Dorsey, with the blessing of the top brass fired HC Hue Jackson and OC Todd Haley ridding the atmosphere of the backbiting and toxicity between the two and at once transforming the losing culture. Jackson was 3–36–1 in two-plus seasons as HC;
4. Promoting Gregg Williams and Freddie Kitchens as interim HC and OC respectively allowed the young talent to play more freely and with a little swagger which translated into a 5–3 record the rest of the way and an unlikely sniff of playoff contention. The team committed fewer penalties and QB Baker Mayfield thrived. (Kitchens was named HC on January 12, 2019 and the peripatetic Williams moved on to become DC of the Jets). Their overall 7–8–1 record was the Browns’ best since 2007;
5. And then there was the selection of Baker Mayfield, inarguably the best move Dorsey made in his first season as Cleveland’s GM. The 2018 NFL Draft featured a number of hot quarterback prospects including Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Josh Rosen and Mason Rudolph along with Mayfield. Few thought Mayfield was the best of the bunch but Dorsey was one of them. He was right. In 14 games Mayfield threw for 3,725 yards and 27 TDS (14 Int.) completing 63.8% of his passes and recording a QBR of 93.7. He demonstrated the ability to make those around him better and to be a leader. Mayfield won the locker room and made it clear that he is the future of the franchise.
Actually Dorsey was just getting warmed up.
His career as a football executive quickly superseded the more-than-modest legacy he carved out for himself as a player.
He was a Green Bay Packers fourth-round draft choice (99th. overall — 100 spots ahead of Tom Brady in 2000) out of the University of Connecticut in 1984 where he was a four-year starter at linebacker and two-time Yankee Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
An NCAA Division I-AA All-American, he was selected to the UConn 100th. Anniversary All-Time Football Team (1998).
Dorsey played for five seasons in Green Bay at linebacker and on special teams and his 35 ST tackles in ’84 is still a team record.
He totaled 130 tackles and 2 fumble recoveries in his career. That wrapped it up for him as a player.
As a football administrator Dorsey sandwiched two stints with the Packers as a scout and Director of College Scouting (1991–1998; and 2000–2011) around a 1999 cameo as the Seattle Seahawks Director of Player Personnel, following Mike Holmgren to the Emerald City.
In 2012 he became the Packers Director of Football Operations and is credited with making Green Bay one of the best drafting organizations in football, influential in the selection of star players like Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews and Greg Jennings.
From there he moved on to the Kansas City Chiefs becoming their GM on January 13, 2013. In his four years there the Chiefs were 43–21 and made the playoffs three times but Dorsey was fired on June 22, 2017 reportedly due to his management style, communication issues and questionable handling of the salary cap which resulted in the release or trade of fan favorites Jamaal Charles, Derrick Johnson and Tamba Hali.
Six months later, only hours after Sashi Brown was relieved of his duties he became the general manager of the Cleveland Browns.
No less an NFL authority than the sage and venerable Peter King predicts great things for the Browns in no small measure due to the arrival and work of John Dorsey.
“Night and day,” claimed King when characterizing the Browns stature and standing before and after Dorsey.
“I said it to Dorsey the other day when I talked to him,” King related. “Basically, have you felt what you’ve done in the last — you know, you’ve been on the job 15 months. Look at this team. It’s just a night and day different team.”
King continued.
“And obviously he’s in very much of a deflecting mood now because they really haven’t done anything yet. But they certainly have established a template for a very, very exciting offensive team and when Kareem Hunt begins playing sometime in November I guess, a team that could be about as complete offensively as there is.”
If recently retired and Hall-of-Famer-in-waiting OT Joe Thomas has anything left in his tank, well…now would be the time. This team could win something.
Last week Dorsey’s moves suggested that the rest of the league locate a seismograph to measure the impact of the much-ballyhooed acquisitions of Odell Beckham Jr., Olivier Vernon and Sheldon Richardson designed to shore up three key areas for the Browns in free agency’s first stage.
He is taking a winless team and turning it into a contender. He is positioning the franchise to achieve, no holds barred.
On the blockbuster deal for Beckham Jr. Dorsey commented, “I know Odell is very passionate, know he is competitive and I know he can help this football team…If you can get the chance to acquire a guy like that, you know what? Take a shot at him.”
Precisely his philosophy regarding Kareem Hunt who blackened the eyes of society in general and the NFL in particular when videotape of his two-pronged physical assault of a woman surfaced and went viral.
Dorsey drafted Hunt for the Chiefs in 2017 and signed him for the Browns last month.
Hunt will miss the first eight games of the 2019 regular season as part of his ‘punishment,’ but will no doubt help the Browns immeasurably down the stretch.
It’s a wonder that Dorsey has not yet gotten his hooks into Tyreek Hill — rumored to be on the trade block — whom he also drafted for the Chiefs or even Ray Rice some years ago, both of whom are well-documented perpetrators of domestic violence and the physical assault of women.
Rice is out of the picture now but only time will tell what Dorsey may decide with regard to Hill.
There exists a delicate balance between ‘doing the right thing’ and the notion of offering second chances. This is fodder for spirited debate.
For Dorsey and the Browns organization the two platforms are so inextricably linked that they have become one and the same, with winning of course the ultimate goal.
All of the catch-phrases, boilerplate rhetoric and buzzwords are either rendered sincerely or used as articles of appeasement.
Or both.
To wit:
Actions not condoned; Due diligence; Player accountability and remorse; Player willingness to utilize resources, accept professional treatment and follow carefully laid-out plan to best represent organization and individual; Zero tolerance…
Who’s to know or to say what’s right?
Cynicism and jaded views will forever proliferate.
The NFL’s job is to make money; the team’s objective is to win. How it’s done is variant. Methods and interpretations differ.
Rescuing malcontented players and infusing in them the power of a winning culture has been practiced forever and benefits both the team and the subject.
The Lakers did it with Wilt Chamberlain.
The Celtics did it with Dennis Johnson.
The ’76ers made Moses Malone an NBA champion.
The Patriots resurrected Randy Moss and tried with former Brown Josh Gordon.
(And also with — in no particular order — Corey Dillon, Albert Haynesworth, LeGarrette Blount, Brandon Lloyd, Aqib Talib, Chad Johnson, Reggie Wayne, Kellen Winslow II, Michael Floyd, Kenny Britt and James Harrison).
The jury is still out with Golden State and DeMarcus Cousins.
Some feel-good stories; second chances offered and moves for the most part lauded.
John Dorsey was brought aboard to win and to underscore that Cleveland is a Browns town.
The ghosts of Paul Brown, Otto Graham and even Art Modell must be smiling.
Jim Brown was an NFL champion with Cleveland in 1964, the last time the franchise stood at the top of the mountain. That was 55 years ago.
And counting.
Where do you draw the line?
[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in March 2019.]
ADDENDA:
In the 2019-’20 season — the second full campaign under general manager Dorsey and the only one under head coach Kitchens — the Browns finished 6–10, failing to improve on their 7–8–1 record of 2018. Dubious distinctions achieved included establishing a franchise-record and league-high 16-year playoff drought and recording a 12th consecutive losing season — also a franchise benchmark and the longest such streak in the league.
Following the season Cleveland fired both Kitchens and Dorsey.
