We Draft Characters -- John Dorsey's motto for the 2018 NFL Draft

New Cleveland Browns General Manager John Dorsey's draft was consistent in one area. Drafting "high character" guys was not a concern, or perhaps even a consideration. 

From the opening bell to the closing credits of the draft and now into college free agency, Dorsey appears to be assembling his own "dirty half dozen."

Mayfield's exploits are well known. They range more toward the immature than they do toward the criminal. It's not unprecedented for an NFL team to make a douche the face of its franchise. Cleveland is just the only team to try it twice now with six-feet-tall system quarterbacks who are over-drafted in the first round.


The truth is that Baker, and even Johnny, are choir boys compared to some of the players that John Dorsey is bringing on board.

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Antonio Callaway -- Cleveland Browns fourth round selection

In the fourth round the Browns traded up to spot 105 to draft wide receiver Antonio Callaway. The rap sheet is long. He faced sexual assault charges at school, but was ultimately cleared by Florida's Title IX officer -- who was a well-known Florida athletic booster. Callaway's defense was that he was "so stoned that he didn't want to have sex with anyone."

Callaway pleaded no contest to drug-related charges and was suspended from participating in football-related activities for credit card fraud in 2017.

He then failed the drug test at the combine (dilute sample), knowing that he would be tested and most-assuredly enters the NFL under its drug program.

Callaway is an enticing talent. Many draft analysts say that without the off-field issues he would have potentially been drafted in the first round. He is a smaller receiver like Corey Coleman who is nevertheless projected as an outside guy in the mold of a DeSean Jackson. He is fast and dynamic and some at Florida compared him to Percy Harvin for what he can do with the ball in his hands.

John Dorsey defended the pick stating that while character is important to the selection process, the front office is convinced that Callaway is motivated to show that he's learned from his past mistakes. Okay, John, if you say so.

Simeon Thomas -- Cleveland Browns sixth round selection

At pick number 188, the Browns selected Simeon Thomas, a size/speed specimen who potentially projects as a corner or free safety in the NFL. Thomas is over 6'2" tall with long arms, is a lean 197 pounds, and runs in the low 4.4's in the forty yard dash with a 40 inch vertical leap.

Thomas has been academically ineligible at Louisiana Lafayette for a large part of his college career and was implicated in an ACT cheating scandal and in a dorm room theft on campus last April.

Like Callaway, Thomas's college production does not match what you would expect from his physical talent because he could not stay on the field.

After the draft ended, Dorsey didn't start to concern himself with off-field shenanigans when he set out to sign undrafted free agents. Enter Montrel Meander of Grambling State.

Montrel Meander - Browns priority free agent

Like Thomas, Meander is the kind of size/speed athlete that makes NFL scouts salivate. He's a 6'3" 215 pound defensive back who runs in the 4.5 range in the forty yard dash. He was a wide receiver at Texas before transferring to Grambling and possesses long arms and leaping ability.

Like Callaway, Meander was identified in an on-campus sexual assault at Texas, which led to his indefinite suspension. The criminal charges were later dismissed against Meander when a teammate was acquitted on the same charges. 

The 5'5" female University of Texas student claimed that she originally consented to sexual intercourse with Meander, but was restrained by Meander and the acquitted Texas football player and forced to have sex with the other man before she was permitted to leave. 

Defense counsel for the acquitted football player presented a defense that the woman had consented to having sex with both men, but reported it as a sexual assault due to embarrassment because she was photographed during the sexual act.

Meander transferred to Grambling State. It does not appear that he added to his history of mischief after transferring.

Proving that there is no rock that he will not overturn to try to locate even marginal NFL talent, Dorsey signed undrafted free agent Zaycoven Henderson, a stocky defensive tackle from Texas A&M that some scouts thought had enough talent to assign a late-round draft grade. 

Zaycoven Henderson -- Browns Undrafted Free Agent Defensive Tackle

Henderson was arrested in December of 2017 and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, tampering with evidence and possession of marijuana.   

According to court records, Zaycoven pointed a rifle at three women in a campus apartment parking lot and threatened to kill two others following an altercation at a hookah lounge.

Wait, that's not all.  Dorsey inked Darvin Kidsey, Jr., a six-foot-tall wide receiver who played at North Texas with moderate production.

Darvin Kidsey, Jr. -- Browns wide receiver undrafted free agent

In 2016, Kidsey turned himself in to police after an arrest warrant issued for him in connection with a hit-and-run incident where two pedestrians were hit by Kidsey's truck, one of whom sustained life-threatening injuries.   

Kidsey originally fled the scene, reported that his truck was stolen, and lied to police regarding his whereabouts on the night of the incident.  

Kidsey turned himself in only after his buddy (who was with him in the truck at the time of the incident) was arrested.  A witness reported to police that the act had to be intentional because he saw Kidsey cross three lanes of traffic before going up the sidewalk to hit the pedestrians.

Dorsey has a history of taking chances on players with character red flags. Tyreek Hill is a prime example. Hill had domestic assault charges brought against him for allegedly punching and choking his pregnant then-girlfriend. Hill fell to the fifth round of the draft and turned out to be a steal. Yet, during Dorsey's honeymoon phase with the Browns, locals such as Doug Dieken have insisted that Dorsey will not take players with character red flags.   How do you like him now, Diek?

We've seen this play out both ways. For every three low-character guys that stay true to his nature (such as Johnny Manziel, Justin Gilbert and Armonty Bryant) there is a Tyreek Hill who can keep it together enough to stay on the field and produce. When you are drafting in the later rounds, those odds are not that bad. The Bengals have long followed the model of taking players with character red flags to land players who are more talented than their draft position, with mixed success.

The debate lines run around whether you want your organization to stand for more than winning football games and if you believe that injecting low-character guys into a locker room can contaminate it. 

It seems we have John Dorsey's answer to both questions.

One word to the wise to Dorsey -- if you are going to claim the moral low-ground as an organization, you better at least win on more Sundays than not.