The Cleveland Browns Welcome Two More To ‘LSU North’

Grant Delpit, the safety from LSU selected by the Cleveland Browns in the second round of the NFL Draft, has hit the ground talking at the start of his NFL career. He already has a name for his new football home.

“They call it the LSU of the North,” said Delpit.

That’s with good reason. Two of Cleveland’s first four picks in the draft were LSU players: Delpit, and linebacker Jacob Phillips, who was selected in the third round. That brings the total number of LSU players on the Browns to five. The other three are receivers Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry, plus cornerback Greedy Williams, whom the Browns took in the second round in last year’s draft.

According to Delpit, being LSU-heavy is just a case of Browns officials doing their homework.

“When you go shopping, as GM’s and coaches, LSU for sure produces nothing but great athletes, great people, and a great general attitude towards the game, as well,” he said. “So, you are getting a playmaker, of course, but also a great guy.”

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“We are coming in with that swagger, with that mentality, and really a dog mentality – pun intended,” said Delpit. “I think we are going to have the best secondary in the NFL, with Greedy, (cornerback) Denzel (Ward), I am coming in with that mentality.”

During his introductory news conference with the Cleveland media, Delpit was asked to confirm if he meant to say the Browns will have the best secondary in the NFL.

“The best. You can headline it, all caps,” he said with a laugh.

It was another giant LSU haul by NFL teams during the draft. The school had seven players picked in the first two rounds of the draft, 10 in the first three rounds, and 14 overall.

It was a gold rush by NFL teams, not only for LSU players, but for players from the Southeastern Conference, which produced a whopping 63 players who were drafted.

The Browns’ first four picks were all from the SEC. In the first round they took University of Alabama tackle Jedrick Wills, followed by Delpit in the second round. In the third round the Browns had two picks and used them both on two more SEC players: Phillips and University of Missouri defensive tackle Jordan Elliott.

“Being at LSU, you’ve got to be a dog to survive. That’s the culture there,” said Phillips. “I feel like we’ll bring that to (the Browns).”

Cleveland General Manager Andrew Berry said the team’s raiding of LSU and the SEC for its first four draft picks was not necessarily pre-meditated.

“I can assure you we did not plan it,” he said. “But these are really good football players in arguably the best conference in college football. It is certainly a good place to start for us, but it just happened to work out that way.”

According to Berry, the Browns’ objective when pursuing players in the draft is less about where the player is from and more about who the player is.

“We look for players who are tough, smart, and accountable,” he said. “Guys who love the game, they have physical and mental toughness, they have a high football acumen, and they are accountable for what they do both in the building and off the field.”

Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was talking about the team’s No.1 pick Wills, out of Alabama, when he said, “Being from Alabama you know two things, he’s been coached and coached hard, and he’s played against good competition.”

But Stefanski could have been talking about the SEC in general. It’s a conference loaded with highly-ranked teams.

It would seem that acquiring winning players from winning programs would be a good strategy for building a winning NFL team. But in Berry’s view, that’s not necessarily so.

“I’m not focused on that as much because football is the consummate team sport,” he said. “Just because someone was on a winning team doesn’t mean they have the right makeup for your program. Just as someone not on a winning team, it doesn’t mean they’re not the right fit for your team. We try to look at each of these players individually, and how they operated in their college environments.”

Unfortunately for the Browns, their in-state and AFC North rivals, the Cincinnati Bengals, whom the Browns play twice every year, used the first pick in the draft to take the best player from the best team in the best conference: quarterback Joe Burrow.

Delpit and Phillips were both teammates of Burrow this year.

“A very happy coincidence,” said Berry. “Hopefully that gives us a little bit of an advantage moving forward.”

Delpit is already looking forward to moving forward, and having to play defense against Burrow.

“I’m very excited to pick Joe off twice a year, three times a year, however many times we meet,” he said.