DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2014 NFL Season NFL Draft 2014 Browns select Pierre Desir with the 127th overall pick

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j/c:

The draft started off w/so much promise, but as time went on, Farmer's and Pettine's inexperience really showed and the end results are extremely disappointing.

What happened to all those extra picks that Banner accumulated? Why did we end up w/so few draft picks? Did Farmer blow them all by moving up?

Very disappointing.

The only saving grace of the draft is Johnny, and he might bust.

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We got Isaiah Crowell?

Sweet. I really like that guy. Hope he gets a legit shot to compete.

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We got Isaiah Crowell?

Sweet. I really like that guy. Hope he gets a legit shot to compete.

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Well, be sure.............I am disappointed in how this draft turned out. So many options in one of the strongest drafts ever, and we gave away picks.

We reached too many times.

Again, I like how it began, but am disappointed in the final result. And I'll stop here and not address all the upcoming insults because I expressed an opinion.

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I loved the strategy. Get the guys with the higher % chance of contributing. We didn't draft a guy with a round grade lower than the 3rd.

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And just one last thing, with their UDFA's, the Browns picked up 3 guys I think they could have gotten in the later rounds and we would have been happy.

Chandler Jones
Conner Shaw
Isaiah Crowell

All of those guys will be good backups in the NFL, IMO.

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j/c:

The draft started off w/so much promise, but as time went on, Farmer's and Pettine's inexperience really showed and the end results are extremely disappointing.

What happened to all those extra picks that Banner accumulated? Why did we end up w/so few draft picks? Did Farmer blow them all by moving up?

Very disappointing.

The only saving grace of the draft is Johnny, and he might bust.

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I don't know if I would call it dissapointing but the trade up's were mistakes in my opinion. I like the talent they acquired but thought they could have got more in this deep draft.

Was Justin Gilbert so much better than Fuller and Dennard to give up a 5th round pick. I liked all 3 CB's and if the FO's wanted a corner to pair with Haden I would have been happy with any of these 3. So I would have called Minnesota's bluff and not traded up 1 spot.

I said from the beginning of the draft process that I was not 100% sold on any of the top QB's but felt strongly that the Browns had to come away with 1 of the big 4 Manziel, Bridgewater, Bortles, and Carr. With Bridgwater and Carr still on the board and the Browns virtually guaranteed to land 1 of the 3. I would have sit tight at 26 and been more than happy with Bridgewater or Carr if someone else would have traded up in front of Cleveland for Manziel.

Had they not traded up for Manziel they could have had the 2nd 3rd and not had to use a 4th to move up in front Pittisburg and Baltimore to get Terrance West.

Again I like the talent they acquired but felt they could have got more if they were more patient.

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I think they took a QB who will bust when Bridgewater would have been there for the taking.

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Bridgewater went 10 picks after Manziel. It not like the picks were far apart.

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As far as being a good college QB? so was Manziel. I fail to see your point.

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The draft is over and only time will tell. And your comments are not all that accurate. Bridgewater went 10 picks after Manziel. It not like the picks were far apart.

As far as being a good college QB? so was Manziel. I fail to see your point.

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J/C

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2014/05/cleveland_browns_fourth_round.html

Watch the video within the link. Towards the bottom. Sounds like we might have found us a player... Not sure what links are not allowed. Refs. Just delete if necessary

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Many of the players who will be selected in the NFL draft, starting Thursday, will come in familiar wrappings, that fine silk of college football — Texas A&M or the University of South Carolina or Auburn University. The bright lights will come on for draft night, and those players will act as though they have been on the big stage hundreds of times as they saunter before the cameras and slip on the jersey of the team that has selected them. They’ll trade familiar wrappings for different but still familiar ones as they become Bills, Jaguars and Texans.

Pierre Desir’s wrappings are anything but fine silk. He was groomed for pro ball at hustling and scrappy programs like Washburn and Lindenwood University — destinations found only using Google Maps. When his name is called on national television, many viewers will turn to owls.

“Who?”

But that introduction will be the culmination of a journey during which Desir has had a lifetime of experiences and challenges that his coach and others believe helped prepare him for what awaits. And they think the NFL and its fans will know his name soon enough.

“The team that picks him in the draft is going to get the whole package,” Lindenwood head coach Pat Ross said of the cornerback. “He is not flamboyant or arrogant like some others who play that position. He doesn’t lack confidence, but he is calm, cool and collected. He doesn’t have that showmanship, and teams really like that about him.”
Desir is a 23-year-old who finished his college career in St. Charles, Missouri, at Division II Lindenwood. He should be chosen no later than the third round of the three-day, seven-round draft. NFL teams covet his height (6 foot 1), accompanying reach (33 inches) and instincts (13 interceptions his junior and senior seasons). If he is picked, he will the first player in Lindenwood’s history to be drafted by an NFL team.

But he is important to this draft and to the NFL for more than his skills. Teams examine the character of players almost as deeply as they do football skills, and scouts pay attention to baggage — those things off the field that could limit a player’s production. Desir handled his baggage with poise, and he stepped out of the spotlight to do it, playing at small college programs off the national grid.

He dug himself a hole as a teenager, becoming a father at 16, when he was still in high school. His grades were so poor, he could not qualify for a scholarship to a Division I football school. Now Desir is the proud father of two daughters, 7 and 3, and is married to the mother of their children. He just needs just to complete an internship to earn a degree in secondary education and history from Lindenwood.

While some players are on a Hollywood tour as the draft approaches, making red-carpet and talk-show appearances, Desir is crawling around on the floor with his daughters playing with blocks or playing various roles in their make-believe stories. He is, depending on the day, a pirate, a troll or a monster the girls gleefully run away from. He is a dad soothing a bump or a scrape.

“One of the great things for me was my parents were very supportive of me and they didn’t try and push me away from my situation,” Desir said. “They did everything they could to help me. They knew I had to be in my daughter’s life, whether I was with the mother or not. They just gave me guidance along the way and taught me things and corrected my mistakes. I just listened and did what I was told.”

‘Worked hard for everything’

His parents, Wilfrid and Marie, brought Desir to the U.S. from Haiti when he was 4. Today they work at a nursing home, Wilfrid in maintenance and Marie as a housekeeper. While he was a college football star, Desir was a janitor in a labor pool.

“I was raised in the church and went to church every Sunday and Wednesday and sometimes on Fridays,” he said. “It was morals and hard work — that’s what they taught me. They worked hard for everything. They got three kids into college working multiple jobs. Just seeing them work hard and having their faith and doing everything right is something I looked up on.”

So if Desir conducts his business in the NFL the next few years with more maturity than most players, there will be a reason. You grow up quickly when you are accountable to two children and there are midnight runs for diapers or a baby’s medicine, he said. Snooze buttons on the alarm are for other college football players.

“At times it felt like it was too much,” he said. “I was 16, 17 and 18, and I had a daughter I had to worry about and buying diapers and formula. Then I’m worrying about class and practice in college. I had great support from my parents and my wife’s parents. It does get overwhelming, and it takes a toll on you, but I was blessed to have that support.”

It was a panicked life for Desir and his wife, Morgan, but now his children are part of his support group. A rough day of practice is left on the practice field.

“They will get you out of any anger you are feeling real quick if you come home and they want you to play dolls with them, play dress-up,” he said. “Them being kids makes it a lot easier, flipping that switch from tough football guy to dad when you come in the door after practice.”

“I do it all. I pretend I’m invisible, play tag, run around. What they ask me to do, I will do.”

Model teammate

Ross, Lindenwood’s head coach, said Desir was given flexibility in scheduling to balance his family responsibilities but never used it as an excuse to miss practice or skip drills.

“His demeanor on the practice field was outstanding,” Ross said. “With him obviously being the best player in our league and coming to practice every day with that same effort and intensity, it did a lot for our program — especially the young guys — to watch and compete every day. Everybody knew how good he was, and he still pushed himself every day.”

A standout in high school, Desir went to college at Washburn, a Division II program in Topeka, Kansas, where he played as a freshman and sophomore. When money became tight at Washburn and day care became too expensive with two daughters, he and Morgan decided they had to move back to St. Charles and get some help with the children from their families.

Desir was a Division II All-American in 2012 and 2013. He had 13 interceptions in 21 games at Lindenwood, albeit against small college competition. He had 12 interceptions as a freshman and sophomore at Washburn, which is also Division II.

In January, Desir’s agent, Greg Linton, hounded the Senior Bowl All-Star Game to give his client a chance to play against Division I receivers. Desir was invited and was just as sticky a defender against top-level players as he was against D-II players. He intercepted a pass in the game, and scouts were impressed with his practices throughout Senior Bowl week.

“Some people that I know who were in similar positions I was in as a teenager went a different route,” Desir said. “You have to have a goal. That’s what helped me. Some people did not have a goal. I knew I wanted to play in the NFL, and I knew there were steps I had to go through. I set a goal and stuck to it no matter what and fought through the adversity.”

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I'm stating things as I see them. If that means punk or cowboy up in your book, so be it.

I don't even think they drafted the best CB in the draft after moving up to get him. I think they took a QB who will bust when Bridgewater would have been there for the taking. I'm not sold on the LB'er they selected either.

Now if that makes me something less than desirable in your book, so be it. But I'm tired of going year in and year out blindly trying to make some "feel good, positive story" out of drafts that suck on a regular basis. If you think this is some great draft, you're entitled to your opinion.

I'm not going to try to say things to degrade you because we disagree. And I really expected a little more from you.

They went the stubborn route by neglecting the WR position. In time I believe we will find that the route they should have taken was Bridgewater and Lee.

I'm going to cowboy up by sticking to my guns rather than be a blind follower that since 1999 led us to 4 wins last year. Sorry if that offends your sensibilities.

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Just curious ; I have never known anyone who watches the channel , was going to pick your brain !

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I was going to pick a fight.

Not really,

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“I was raised in the church and went to church every Sunday and Wednesday and sometimes on Fridays,” he said. “It was morals and hard work — that’s what they taught me. They worked hard for everything. They got three kids into college working multiple jobs. Just seeing them work hard and having their faith and doing everything right is something I looked up on.”

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He dug himself a hole as a teenager, becoming a father at 16, when he was still in high school. His grades were so poor, he could not qualify for a scholarship to a Division I football school.

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wonder if he can play safety?

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wonder if he can play safety?

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Not sure he has the physicality you would want to see there, has the ball skills to be a ballhawk back there at FS just not sure on the hitting aspect.

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