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Browns host a premier tight end and receiver as their top 30 NFL draft visits wind down
@Source: cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A premier tight end and receiver are among the draft prospects the Browns hosted recently for their ‘top 30’ visits as the deadline approaches.
LSU’s Mason Taylor, the No. 3 ranked tight end according to Dane Brugler of The Athletic, visited CrossCountry Mortgage Campus on Monday, and Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan, the No. 1 wideout in Brugler’s highly-acclaimed draft guide “The Beast,” is believed to have visited last week when many of the prospects came to town.
The visits, which began March 4 with some of the Browns’ top candidates at No. 2 coming to town, wrap up on Wednesday per NFL rules. Ohio State players are considered locals for the Browns, and don’t count against the total when they visit.
The lineup so far (see below) has included five quarterbacks, five receivers and four defensive tackles. It’s offense-heavy, but not all of the visits have been reported, and some will still take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The visits to team facilities include meetings and medical checks, but not workouts. The Browns will conduct staff meetings between now and the draft April 24-26 to put the finishing touches on their strategy. They have 10 picks in the draft, including five in the top 104, and are still mulling their options at No. 2. At this point, with the Titans poised to take quarterback Cam Ward at No. 1, it seems to be down to quarterback Shedeur Sanders, receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter or Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter.
At the NFL Annual Meeting two weeks ago, Browns GM Andrew Berry left every possibility open for the No. 2 pick, except maybe trading up to No. 1 for Ward, which he deemed unlikely.
As for Taylor, he’s one of three known tight ends the Browns have hosted, including Miami’s Elijah Arroyo and Bowling Green’s Harold Fannin.
The son of first-ballot Hall of Fame edge rusher Jason Taylor, who played his college ball at Akron, Taylor finished is LSU career as the most productive tight end in school history, with 129 catches for 1,308 yards and six TDs. A possible target for the Browns with the first pick in the second round — No. 33 overall — he’d pair nicely with Browns tight end David Njoku, whom the Browns are expecting to have a bounce-back season.
“Taylor’s best qualities shine at the catch point,” Kyles Crabbs of The 33rd Team writes. “He’s capable of creating separation with physicality or fluidity at the top of routes,” Kyles Crabbs of The 33rd Team writes. “He has often flashed the understanding to work back and carve his routes back toward the line of scrimmage to ensure defenders recovering into his frame don’t work across his face to undercut the football.
“Taylor has soft, strong hands and is consistent in his plucking of the ball away from his frame. He’s made a number of quick reflex catches that show good hand-eye coordination and bode well for him being a sustainable receiver for anticipation throwers who release the ball early and get the ball on top of him in a hurry out of breaks.
“When targeted on time, Taylor showcases slippery run-after-catch ability. He narrowly missed an explosive score late against Texas A&M but shows quickness accelerating out of the catch point, the ability to juke a head-up defender who is sitting on his power as a runner, and has run away from angles in the secondary on a handful of occasions.”
What’s more, nearly 70 percent of his receptions last season went for a first down.
Brugler writes of Taylor, “was Mr. Reliable in the LSU offense — and can be the same for an NFL team, because of his his good-sized athleticism, reliable ball skills and competitive blocking. He projects as a solid NFL starter who doesn’t have to leave the field and has some similarities to Hunter Henry.”
As for Hunter, Brugler has him ranked as his No. 1 receiver, with Hunter topping the cornerback class, and projects him to go No. 12 overall. In that scenario the Browns would have to move some chess pieces around to draft him. But if they like him enough, he’d complement Pro Bowler Jerry Jeudy well and be a formidable weapon for Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco or the Browns new rookie quarterback.
“He has a prototypical X-receiver skill set for the passing game,” Crabbs writes. “He’s physical at the catch point, long, and difficult to play through with his length and catch radius.
“McMillan has the kind of hands that a quarterback will come to love. He’s effortless with how he plucks the ball away from his frame, vacuums in passes quickly, and converts into a run-after-the-catch athlete. McMillan is a successful target in all three levels of the field, too. This boosts his outlook for immediate impact, although he does have room for growth in his release package vs. press and his route savvy to create extra separation. Teams that run a lot of 3x1 with isolation on the back side should have an eye toward McMillan’s game, particularly if they are more of a vertical-oriented passing attack.”
McMillan (6-4, 219) has excellent size and catch radius and adequate speed (4.53) One of his best attributes is his durability, having never missed a game at Arizona, where he ranked No. 1 all-time in receiving yards (3,423), No. 3 in touchdown catches (26) and No. 4 in receptions (213). He also led the FBS in combined receiving yards (2,721), first downs (112) and catches of 20 yards or more (42).
“Showing off his volleyball and basketball background, McMillan shines at the catch point and uses his Gumby-like body-adjustment skills to frame the football with his hands, regardless of the placement or action required,” Brugler writes. “With heavy helpings of slants, hitches and go routes on tape, he’s at his best when he can stretch out his stride.”
He added that McMillan is just average in speed and separation, “but he’s a long and limber athlete with exceptional tracking and ball-winning instincts. He fits the Tee Higgins mold as a unique playmaker, because of his size and catch-point skills.”
Here are the Browns’ known top 30 visits so far:
Elijah Arroyo, tight end, Miami Isaiah Bond, wide receiver, TexasAbdul Carter, edge rusher, Penn State Jaxson Dart, quarterback, Ole Miss Harold Fannin Jr., tight end, Bowling Green Tai Felton, wide receiver, MarylandMason Graham, defensive tackle, MichiganDerrick Harmon, defensive tackle, Oregon Travis Hunter, wide receiver/cornerback, Colorado Tez Johnson, wide receiver, OregonQuinshon Judkins, running back, Ohio State (doesn’t count against the 30) Tetairoa McMillan, wide receiver, Arizona Nick Martin, linebacker, Oklahoma State Jalen Milroe, quarterback, AlabamaOmar Norman-Lott, defensive tackle, Tennessee Shedeur Sanders, quarterback, ColoradoNic Scourton, defensive end, Texas A&M Tyler Shough, Quarterback, Louisville Mason Taylor, Tight End, LSU Deone Walker, Defensive Tackle, Kentucky Jalon Walker, Outside Linebacker, Georgia Cam Ward, Quarterback, Miami
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