The latest Cleveland Browns news and notes from around the NFL in the Saturday Dawg Chow.
This is a rough weekend for football fans as it is the first without an NFL game since early in September.
However, there is still the opportunity to get a football fix with today’s Reese’s Senior Bowl, which takes place at the University of South Alabama with a 2:30 p.m. kickoff on the NFL Network.
It is an important day for the Cleveland Browns as they are evaluating available quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL Draft, where they hold the No. 2 overall selection. While the two biggest names at the position – Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders – did not attend, there were more than enough quarterbacks to keep an eye on, including Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart, Oregon’s Dillion Gabriel, Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard, and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe.
Our own Barry Shuck has been in Mobile all week keeping his finger on the pulse with daily updates on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with everything you need to know about what is happening.
If you plan to tune into the game — and realistically what else is there to do? — then be sure to check out Barry’s work and then dive into today’s edition of the Saturday Dawg Chow.
Dawgs By Nature:
- Senior Bowl: Jaxson Dart, Riley Leonard, Jalen Milroe making impressions, not all good (Barry Shuck) – Thursday’s Senior Bowl practice was highlighted by the quarterbacks, some of whom did not fare so well.
- Turnovers no longer biggest predictor of success in the NFL (Jared Mueller) – As the Cleveland Browns look to the NFL draft and NFL free agency for help, what wins the NFL has changed.
- Senior Bowl: RBs Jarquez Hunter, R.J. Harvey have the versatility, pass-catching skills to succeed (Barry Shuck) – The Cleveland Browns will need to draft a running back this year if they don’t dip into free agency, and at the Reese’s Senior Bowl, there are several capable bodies.
- NFL Draft: Todd McShay has high praise for Browns RB target (Matt Wilson) – The Cleveland Browns are heading into NFL Draft season focusing on a handful of position groups, and running back is undoubtedly one of them. Quite a few ball-carriers have been mentioned as potential targets for Cleveland over the past few weeks, and one player in particular has been a hot topic: Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson.
- Browns Roster: Current state of the running back room (Matt Wilson) – The Cleveland Browns have their hands full with the negotiation processes of current players scheduled to hit free agency in March, along with the scouting of NFL Draft prospects for the 2025 Draft. That being said, it’s a good time to start diving into different position rooms to see how things look as they currently stand.
- NFL draft: 2 edge prospects stand out as great versus run and pass, Myles Garrett data provides perspective (Jared Mueller) – While the Cleveland Browns have a need at quarterback, this year’s NFL draft may not have a surefire QB for them to select with the second overall pick. Instead, Cleveland has options at the top of the 2025 NFL draft.
Cleveland Browns:
- Analyzing the quarterbacks at the 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl (clevelandbrowns.com) – With the three practice days at the 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl wrapping up on Thursday, they offered three days to evaluate a number of draft prospects in practice settings. Much of the focus surrounded the quarterbacks in attendance, so let’s look at four of them at the Senior Bowl.
- Could these two Big Ten QBs thrive in Kevin Stefanski’s Browns offense? (cleveland.com) – The top two quarterback in the upcoming draft seem to be Cam Ward from Miami and Shedeur Sanders from Colorado. However, more than any other position, past NFL Drafts tell us that the quarterback position can be the hardest to get right.
- At NFL Draft time, Browns swing a lot — and often miss (Browns Zone) – The beauty of being a Cleveland Browns fan when the NFL Draft rolls around is that the Browns frequently have a high pick in the first round. Unfortunately they frequently don’t make the most of it.
NFL:
- From The Fridge to the Philly Special, cashing in on eccentric prop bets is a Super Bowl tradition (ESPN) – Nearly 40 years after Willaim Perry of the Chicago Bears plunged into the end zone and made betting history, the Super Bowl returns to New Orleans, and prop betting has grown into a behemoth. Each week, sportsbooks offer dozens of markets per game, with that number stretching into the hundreds once the big game rolls around.
- The winners and losers of the NFL coaching carousel (The Ringer) – Six teams have new head coaches this offseason; one is still weighing its options. So it’s time to see which teams are off to a great start for 2025 and which appear to be stuck in neutral.
- Saints coaching candidate Mike Kafka aimed to be ‘true to myself’ during 9-hour interview (nola.com) – For this week, Mike Kafka is the head coach of the National team at the Reese’s Senior Bowl. Beyond that, who knows? Kafka, currently the offensive coordinator of the New York Giants, is one of four remaining candidates for the New Orleans Saints head coaching job. He’s interviewed twice for the position, and is now waiting to see whether New Orleans extends an offer.