(Flash back to 2003)
2003: "With the 21st pick in the 2003 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns select center Jeff Faine, Notre Dame."
(Flash forward to 2009)
2009: "With the 21st pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns select center Alex Mack, California."
There's something about taking a center with pick No. 21 I suppose. What's clear right off the bat is that it appears the Browns have acquired a "solid" center who can start for us over the next 10 years, according to Peter King. Some fans may have been disgusted with the selection because they were hooked on wanting a defensive player -- either LB Aaron Curry, DT B.J. Raji, or LB Rey Maualuga. Instead, we took a center.
The pick was one that I, along with many other fans, hoped the Browns would make with the 36th overall pick in the draft. A few days before the draft, I stated that there was no way he would be there at that point, and that I would consider trading up into the first round to acquire him. Eric Mangini and George Kokinis went about it in a different way, but they inevitably got him without reaching too much.
PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
Here are some highlights of Alex Mack's press conference after joining the Browns (photo credit on right to Cleveland Plain Dealer):
(On what his visit with the Browns was like and how it differed from other teams) - "They took me out at the last minute. We had not planned originally to come out all this way and at the last minute they wanted to fly me out. It was really exciting because it means they really liked and showed some interest and they wanted to meet me. I was excited to come out here and meet one last team. They put me through a lot of meetings, had me meet a lot of people and coach (George) Warhop even had an o-line test for me after he tried to teach me some stuff. They were definitely really interested to see how well I actually learned the material."
(On how having Hank Fraley on the roster impacts where he will play on field) - "I plan to be the best player possible. If that means being a guard or being a center, I think I’m open for either spot. I think him being in the league for a long time is a benefit to me because he has a lot of experience. I think everyone on this team probably wants to win games and I’m excited to do everything I can to help that happen. If I’m one of the best five linemen, I hope to be playing alongside him."
(On possibly facing Pittsburgh’s DT Casey Hampton) - "It’s going to be a lot of work and I know that and I’m excited for the challenge."
(On maintaining a high academic standard at Cal) - "It took some work. It was a matter of just having some discipline. You would be tired after practice and instead of sitting on the couch and watching T.V., you had to force yourself to get in front of the books. It was just a matter of knowing how to manage your time and how to get the work done that you needed to do. If you had a paper due, you had to be smart enough to either have it a couple days ahead of time or just stay up late."
(On whether he prefers run blocking or pass blocking) - "I believe I can get better at both. I pride myself at being an aggressive run blocker. I think that’s a fun thing to do when you get to run the ball and really get to impose your will on a defense. Pass blocking is fun because you just stop the guy and all of a sudden 30 yards of the field is gone and you get to jog down there and you’ve done your good work. Running the ball is something that is blue-collar and dirty and it’s fun to do as an offensive line. It’s also a lot of work."
See Alex Mack's full press conference transcript here
SCOUTING REPORT HIGHLIGHTS
Alex Mack - Center, California
6'4", 316 lbs, Age: 23
Strengths: He definitely has the intellect, on and off the field as he had a college GPA of 3.61 in legal studies. This includes him winning the Draddy Trophy in 2008, otherwise known as the "Academic Heisman". His aggressiveness and physicality present him with a nice "killer instinct". The experience is there as well, after he started the past four years at California.
Weaknesses: The biggest issue seems to be that he is overaggressive at times. He didn't move very well in space during college, but that's not a major issue for a center, right?
In March, Buffalo Rumblings interviewed California Golden Blogs on Mack. You can read the full interview here, but I decided to pluck one question from it:
How often has he [Mack] faced a 3-4 defense, and how has he held up vs BIG DTs?
Outside of practice (when Cal was running 3-4), not much. The Pac-10 defenses generally run 4-3 sets, so Mack is usually facing down a defensive tackle. That being said, Mack anchored an offensive line that gave up the least number of sacks in college football in 2007, and he did a fairly good job on a 2008 team with a mediocre passing attack and with three starting offensive linemen who went down to injury through the season.We ran so many plays right up the gut this season that went for 10-30 yards mainly because Mack was our anchor on the O-Line and he could break out our running backs, Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen, to daylight.
California Golden Blogs also did a nice retrospective piece on Alex Mack. Of one of the most memorable moments? See the picture above and to the right.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Next up, here are some video highlights of our new beloved center:
2007 Highlights
2008 Highlights
YOUR TURN FOR QUESTIONS
California Golden Blogs has offered to answer questions about C Alex Mack for us. I would like you guys to submit one-two questions each as a reply to this post, and I'll choose a few of them to send over.
CONCLUSION
I think after fans get over the disappointment of missing out on an early linebacker, they'll appreciate this pick. C Hank Fraley's production was down all of last season, to the point where I believe he's ready to be downgraded to a backup. With tough nose tackles facing us several times a year in the AFC North, we needed new blood in there to ensure QB Brady Quinn isn't on his back every other play.
Another underrated fact: it's a good thing the Pittsburgh Steelers weren't able to get their hands on Mack, as many people projected they would. One final note to consider: although it would've been nice to get Mack a little later, the Buffalo Bills took a center, Eric Wood, with the 28th overall pick. From that perspective, we didn't reach too much.
GRADE OF PICK ITSELF: A
GRADE OF PICK AT NO. 21: A-
1 recs | 20 comments
Love those video packages. Mack finished almost every play in each of those videos with a pancake or a driving his man off the screen. Really finished plays well. I’m loving this draft more and more.
Ryan Kelsey - April 27, 2009
My questions would be;
1. Since Mack was center, I assume handled all of the line calls, and how would you rate him at it? Were the Bears good at picking up blitzes? Did certain teams/defenses give the Cal lines problems?
2. What was the most memorable Mack play (If there is such a thing as a memorable play as a center)?
3. Mack supposedly gets to aggresive at times, did he draw a lot of penalties, like personal fouls etc.?
Bernie19Kosar - April 27, 2009
He only had like 1 penalty all year i think
BradyQuinnisBeast - April 27, 2009
Did you see the videos? He looks like personal fouls could be a slight issue. But only if a ref gets over-antsy.
Ryan Kelsey - April 27, 2009
I like the kid more after reading what he said. He seems like he’d be a great teammate, he appears ready to learn, and realizes that he has room for improvement. He also has demonstrated a great amount of self-discipline in his academics which will serve him well in his new environment.
woodsmeister - April 27, 2009
Watching those highlights has me really excited for this pick. I think it was highlight #3 where Mack was bulldozing a DT and 2 LBs simultaneously. Really excited for this guy.
joeee - April 27, 2009
was that the tennessee game highlight? that was absurd.
DontCallMeJoey - April 27, 2009
Yeah, that’s the one. This is a great highlight tape.
joeee - April 27, 2009
I don’t know if this has been mentioned on here already, but Mack has an Ohio connection. His father went to Baldwin-Wallace (in Berea, of course) and his grandparents have a summer home in Lakeside, near Marblehead, where he visited often as a kid. So he’s familiar with Cleveland and northern Ohio and seemed excited about coming here, which is always good.
Buckeye Brad - April 27, 2009
I agree Alex Mack is a quality C, but
who is our playmaker on offense again?
was the gaping hole at C the reason we were near bottom in the offensive categories last year? Have you heard what the analysts are saying about us becoming the team that traded away Mark Sanchez?
Maybe I’m just speaking out of frustration from our last, say 10 first round draft experiences (with the KW and JT exceptions)
No offense to AM… welcome to the Browns… get to work… we’ll need you… we believe in you, but we left several playmakers on the board… glad to see Davis picked up in the late rounds
Inverting_Football_Intelligence - April 28, 2009
The gaping whole at C and also perhaps starting a non-NFL caliber player at QB for one third of the schedule.
Put some thought into your posts, instead of pure emotional pessimism.
kwoog - April 28, 2009
It is pretty simple. In this division we need to control the NT. Hank Fraley couldn’t do that. He was physically overmatched at the point of attack. He could not handle Hampton and Ngata.
More teams are turning to 3-4 defenses. With Mack the Browns now have a young athletic center that can match up and give the center of our offensive line an attitude that has been missing since Steve Everett.
Now that the Browns have a center that can win some one-on-one battles, we will be able to do something with our athletic guards in Hadnot and Stienbach, hopefully getting them to the second level springing Mr James Davis for long gains.
We must control the line of scrimmage. I actually would not have minded adding more offensive lineman in the draft. The old saying goes, draft as many O-Lineman and D-Lineman as you can, then start doing it again.
I know it is not sexy, but would you rather have a great RB and no line, or a decent RB and an All-Pro line? Before you say great RB, think of Barry Sanders.
Bernie19Kosar - April 28, 2009
I love this kid. Just about everything you look for in a lineman. Big, physical, nasty, plays with that mean streak, mobile, a “natural knee bender”…
He is going to need some work on his technique, but he has a lot of things you can’t teach.
My only question for the Cal people would be about his ability at the second level: highlights aside, how does he look when he is asked to move downfield on to a linebacker or safety? Do you remember any plays where he was 20+ yards downfield looking for someone to block? Do you ever remember him getting embarrassed by a smaller, quicker player?
rufio - April 28, 2009
Last call for questions guys…I’m going to try to submit a list in the next day or so.
Chris Pokorny - April 28, 2009
I’d like to hear their response to this not-so-glowing analysis of Mack’s technique from Mike Tanier at FootballOutsiders:
rolub - April 29, 2009
i’m going to choose to pretend that i never read this.
good day.
DontCallMeJoey - April 29, 2009
I think they are wrong about the waist-bender part, so really all that needs to be done to fix Mack’s technique is to work on him taking a shorter first step and punching with his hands more. They are correct that he is overagressive at times and on the ground far too often.
Still, if you watch one of the highlights you can actually see Mack block a LB while he is on his knees and falling down, creating a seam for the RB who makes a big gain (camera is looking straight at Mack). So they are wrong about not being able to subathe and block a LB.
We can coach up his technique, its a lot harder to coach up his size, movement skills, football intelligence, motivation, nastiness, or toughness.
rufio - April 30, 2009
Of course, a highlight package prepared by Cal Bears fans is not going to include images of him missing blocks. It’s not a film reel, it’s a highlight reel.
Two other points: one highlight does not mean he can do it on a consistent basis, and more often than not, if a guy’s on the ground and successfully “blocks” a LB, odds are a holding or tripping penalty is going to be called on the sunbather.
rolub - April 30, 2009
Chris, can we have threads like this for some of our other players
BradyQuinnisBeast - April 29, 2009
Yep, I’m aiming to churn out a new player highlight thingy about every two days or so (just released Robiskie a little bit ago). I know some bloggers like to do them almost all at once, but I like to feel like adequate time has been dedicated to a certain topic before moving on.
Chris Pokorny - April 30, 2009
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