Your Newest Cleveland Brown, Joe Haden, CB from the University of Florida.

Joe Haden, CB - 7th Selection, 1st Round - Cleveland Browns
University of Florida

Biography: Three-year starter awarded varying degrees of All-American and All-Conference honors since his freshman season. Junior totals included 68/4/10 after 87/3/12 as a sophomore. He began his college career posting 63/1/12 as a freshman.

Positives: Lock-down cornerback with a complete game. Displays a physical nature to his game, jams receivers at the line of scrimmage, and quick up the field defending the run. Fluid turning his hips to transition off the line, smooth pedaling in reverse, and displays good route recognition. Quickly locates the ball in the air, possesses a nice move to the throw, and solid awareness. Rarely off his feet, explosive at the point and a solid open field tackler. Forceful up the field on the blitz. Works well with works well with safeties. Helps out on special teams, making tackles on coverage units.

Negatives: Lacks the explosive burst out of his plant to the ball. Does not possess top end speed. Ran poorly during the combine.

Analysis: Haden has been a terrific college cornerback and projects well to the next level. He possesses the physical skills and football fundamentals to quickly break into a starting lineup, and he has all the tools to be a number one cornerback for an NFL team.

Tom Heckert and Eric Mangini talk about Joe Haden

Sources - SI.com and Cleveland.com (Video)

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The Cleveland Browns selected Florida corner JOE HADEN with their 7th pick in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft. Below is a video from Cleveland Browns Stadium showing fans (insert sarcastic tone) exploding with joy with the pick. I think I counted four people clapping. Let’s hope Haden proves his worth.

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The Browns will kick off the 2010 regular season on Sunday, September 12 in the Sunshine State when they travel to Raymond James Stadium to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 1:00 p.m. The contest snaps an 11-year streak of season openers at home, dating back to the team’s return in 1999.

Cleveland will conclude its season with three consecutive AFC North division battles for the first time since 1984. The club will close out the season with back-to-back home contests for the second straight season and the sixth time in club history.

“Opening the season in the heat and humidity of Tampa Bay emphasizes the importance of our team being in peak condition coming out of training camp,” said Browns Head Coach Eric Mangini. “We have a challenging stretch towards the end of the year with four of five games on the road, and I expect our team to show the same resiliency as they did at the end of last season. I feel as though having our last three games against divisional opponents, including the final two at home, is a great feature for our fans, and I look forward to their tremendous support once again in 2010.”

In 2010, Cleveland will face all three Florida franchises on the road. It will mark the first time since 1987 that the Browns will play three teams from the same state on the road. That year, they faced the Los Angeles Raiders, San Francisco 49ers and San Diego Chargers.

For the third consecutive season, the Browns will face the defending Super Bowl champions, when they meet the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, October 24, at 1:00 p.m. ET (Noon CT) at the Louisiana Superdome.

Cleveland opens the home portion of its schedule on Sunday, September 19, as they welcome the Kansas City Chiefs to Cleveland Browns Stadium. Following a trip to Baltimore (September 26), the Browns play four of their next six contests at home, with matchups against Cincinnati (October 3), Atlanta (October 10), New England (November 7) and the New York Jets (November 14). The Browns will hit the road for three consecutive weeks for the first time since 2001 when they face Miami (December 5), Buffalo (December 12) and Cincinnati (December 19).

The combined record of the Browns’ 13 opponents this year was 104-104 in 2009. The eight teams that will visit Cleveland Browns Stadium posted a record of 68-60, and their eight road opponents went a combined 64-64. Cleveland will face five teams that qualified for the playoffs in 2009, for a total of seven games against 2009 playoff teams (Bengals, Ravens twice each).

Also today, the Browns announced the dates and times of their 2010 preseason schedule, which consists of home contests against St. Louis (Saturday, August 21) and Chicago (Thursday, September 2), and road games against Green Bay (Saturday, August 14) and Detroit (Saturday, August 28).

PRESS RELEASE

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Cleveland Indians rightfielder Shin-Soo Choo was named the American League Player of the Week.

Cleveland Indians right fielder Shin-Soo Choo has been named Bank of America Presents the American League Player of the Week for the period ending April 18th. Bank of America, the Official Bank of Major League Baseball, is the presenting sponsor of the American League and National League Player of the Week Awards, which reflect Bank of America’s long-standing tradition of promoting and recognizing higher standards of accomplishment.

In six games last week, Shin-Soo hit .579 (11-19) and collected 11 RBI, both Major League bests, while also notching three doubles, five runs scored, three home runs and tying the Major League lead with 23 total bases. Choo also led the Majors with a 1.211 slugging percentage and a .680 on-base percentage. On April 15th, the 27-year-old knocked a three-run homer in the eighth inning to give Cleveland the 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers. Two days later, on April 17th, Choo drove in a go-ahead run on an eighth inning double to break a tie and give the Tribe the victory over the A.L. Central-rival Chicago White Sox.

On Sunday, in the final game of a three-game series against the White Sox, the left-handed slugger took a 1-0 pitch deep for his fourth home run of the season and his second career grand slam. The native of South Korea collected five RBI in yesterday’s contest, and with his third game-changing hit in four days, extended his personal hit streak to seven games and brought the Indians win streak to four. This marks Shin-Soo’s first career weekly award.

Other noteworthy performances included Baltimore Orioles infielder Ty Wigginton, who led the American League with four home runs and notched 10 RBI, in addition to earning his 10th career multi-homer game on Tuesday. Also considered were Kansas City Royals outfielder Scott Podsednik, who tied for a Major League best with 13 hits, and Tampa Bay Rays righthander Matt Garza, who posted a perfect 2-0 record and a 0.56 ERA. Another notable performance was turned in by Kansas City Royals designated hitter Jose Guillen, who collected 12 hits and tied for the Major League lead with 23 total bases.

The Bank of America Presents the American League Player of the Week, Shin-Soo Choo, is awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time, the leader in licensed sports watches, available at MLB.com

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Texas Rangers outfielder NELSON CRUZ speaks to the media following the Rangers 4-2 win over the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on 4.12.10. Cruz finished the game 2-4 with a home run and a triple. His home run in the 10th gave the Rangers the win. Cruz is tied for the lead in home runs so far this season in MLB.

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I had the chance to speak with Cleveland Indians hitting coach JON NUNNALLY before the Tribe’s Opening Day game vs. the Rangers.

We talked about the hitting so far this year and also a little about his philosophy on hitting.

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The thrill of the grass is back in Cleveland as the Indians open their 2010 home schedule today against the Texas Rangers at 3:05 PM ET. The place will be sold out and it seems the weather will be perfect for baseball, about sixty degrees and sunny at gametime.

I will be tweeting live from press row at Progressive Field. Fausto Carmona will pitch for the Tribe and Rich Harden will throw for the Rangers.

Be sure to check back to the site as I will be posting video interviews with both Tribe and Ranger players.

And you can read all my tweets at @DugoutSportShow

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Don't worry Cleveland, Frank Isola meant no harm to you or your beloved Cavs.

There are a few things people do not mess with here in Cleveland. One is Joe Tait, two is Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and three is LeBron James. But a close fourth would be Cleveland Cavaliers beat writer for the Plain Dealer, Brian Windhorst.

Cavalier fans protect their “king” against enemy opinion like someone was intruding their home with a shotgun. But the kind of response Cavs fans have expressed following New York Times Daily News Knicks beat writer Frank Isola’s comments on Windhorst somewhat amazes me.

If you don’t know the story and you live in Cleveland, then you have been either lost in a pile of Cleveland Browns draft day options or being one of the few watching the Cleveland Indians take on the Detroit Tigers.

Yesterday evening, Windhorst wrote a “feel good story” on LeBron James and the possibility of him leaving Cleveland to play basketball elsewhere. Windhorst states int he article that the “vibe” from the James camp is that James will stay in Cleveland. About three hours later though, Isola wrote this piece that any average fan would call a personal attack on Windhorst. Little did we know, the joke was on Cleveland fans.

I had the chance to talk to Frank today to set the record straight on his article.

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Before this interview though, Windhorst did comment on Isola’s article and took the high road with classy comments about the New York Daily News writer.

But Isola was not surprised with the amount of hate mail and negative comments he is receiving on Twitter. He applauds Cleveland for being so passionate about their team and actually believes LeBron will stay in Cleveland.

Yes, I said it. An New York City sports writer actually believes LeBron is NOT going to New York. And he hates the Denver Broncos. How can you still hate this guy?

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Frank Isola writes on the New York Knicks for the New York Daily News. He also appears on TNT and NBA TV.

You can follow Frank Isola on Twitter and read his blog here.

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J.J. Hickson of the Cleveland Cavaliers speaks to the media following the Cavaliers loss to the Indiana Pacers on 4.9.10. Hickson finished with 21 points, ten rebounds, and three assists.

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