August 16th, 2017 at 12:17 PM ^
As long as mouth breathing O-hio fans don't give Peppers crap the way Henson was abused when he played in the Cincinnati Reds farm system, then he will thrive. He's just too strong both physically and mentally to let distractions throw him off.
August 16th, 2017 at 12:22 PM ^
...if he's too strong to let distractions throw him off why wouldn't he thrive regardless?
August 16th, 2017 at 12:30 PM ^
I was there Monday for a private practice for the Browns ticket holders. Only 200 in attendance so we got to sit REAL close to the action and Peppers was everywhere. And all I heard, from EVERYBODY (including the mouth-breathing O-hio fans wearing OSU gear) was WOW. A guy sitting behind me was there with his family and they ALL had OSU gear on. Here's what he had to say:
1. Peppers! (pass break up)
2. Holy shit, Peppers again.(2nd pass pass break up)
3. That was Peppers.....amazing. (3rd pass break up)
4. PEPPERS!!!!! Damn son, he's going to be special.(pick 6)
The college "hate" wore off the split second they figured out just how special of a player he is. By the way - tried to post this yesterday and succeeded in killing the site evertime I did but take a look at this hit. I had to jump out of the way of the WR as he fell - that's how close I was.
here's footage of Jabrill Peppers' huge hit on Rannell Hall at practice today, via the Browns pic.twitter.com/Ckf9a0kC9C
— Jordan Zirm (@clevezirm) August 15, 2017
August 16th, 2017 at 12:49 PM ^
Damn Peppers, he's on your TEAM!
Clearly he graduated from the Charles Woodson school of 2 hand touch.
August 16th, 2017 at 12:51 PM ^
August 16th, 2017 at 2:09 PM ^
Peppers. Ohio. T-shirts? Never in a million years...
August 16th, 2017 at 6:08 PM ^
That hit is a thing a beauty.
August 16th, 2017 at 11:09 PM ^
Exactly, once he's on "your team", you love him.
It's the same way for all the hockey goons and enforcers.
When he's on the other side, he's dirty, a cheapshot, and an all-around bad person/disrespectful to the game. But then when he's on your team, he's just a good ol' fashioned gamer and plays the game it was "meant" to be played and "it's all part of the game".
You hate him, until you have him, then he's the fan-favorite and the heart and soul of the team.
August 17th, 2017 at 2:13 PM ^
As an OSU and Browns fan, I absolutely love Peppers, and always have. He's exactly what the Browns needed, a real football player. But I can confirm that the bias is real, some idiot Browns fans hated the pick because he played for Michigan. It was magnified because the Browns passed on Hooker, then traded down before picking Peppers. Every year Browns fans clamor for players that played for OSU and over-value them based on the OSU factor alone, and it's ridiculous. But we are not all like that.
August 16th, 2017 at 1:23 PM ^
If he plays to his potential, they'll love him just like we do.
When you head to the NFL, if you happen to land in a city where there are a lot of your old rival fans, most reasonable ones will put the hate aside because like it or not, you're part of their team now. At the end of the day, they just want to win, and if you can help them do that, then where you went to school means next to nothing anymore.
If he turns into a centerpiece of their defense and starts leading them towards competitive seasons or somehow, someway, helps them get to the playoffs, even the OSU Browns fans will love him. Now if he starts to tank, then of course all the "I always knew he was overrated" BS will come out. But winning cures all.
August 16th, 2017 at 5:05 PM ^
on Steve Everitt. Oh, the humanity!
August 16th, 2017 at 12:31 PM ^
Love all his haters who blame him for not being a specialist at one position. Well, he is a specialist at multiple positions, so I'd take him over almost any player in the country. The haters are just jealous that they didn't have him. Had they did, they would have been praising him as much as we did.
August 16th, 2017 at 12:31 PM ^
Look at what the Pittsburgh Steelers did with Troy Polamalu. It's why I was so hoping Peppers would drop to the Steelers at #30 or the Steelers would trade up to get him, which I understood was far less likely.
August 16th, 2017 at 12:39 PM ^
Same, but at least TJ Watt is looking really good so far. Love the idea of having a fresh James Harrison coming off the bench for 3rd down blitzes and late game scenarios too.
August 16th, 2017 at 12:53 PM ^
Watt made a great first impression last Friday. Good read on the second sack and tackle in space. Guy from the PG on one of the sports talk shows was asked about Watt only playing defense for a couple years, and the response was that Jarvis Jones probably doesn't make the play Watt did, reading the play and making the tackle in space.
Frustrating to read articles like the one the OP linked; it reinforces a criticism long lobbed at NFL coaches for being too conservative and too loyal on Sundays to game plans they implemented on Wednesdays. I know playing Division III and later coaching high school is a FAR cry from the NFL, but I personally can't wrap my brain around viewing Peppers' talent & experience as even the slightest burden instead of as a weapon.
August 16th, 2017 at 12:37 PM ^
I was super disappointed the Lions did not draft Peppers. Davis sounds like he is going to be a fine Day 1 starter at MLB, but he just does not have the star potential Peppers does. Jabrill will mentioned among the best safeties in the NFL within a couple seasons. He is going to make a lot of talent evaluators look foolish.
August 16th, 2017 at 2:47 PM ^
and Peppers isn't a LB. He's way too small to be a LB in the next level.
August 16th, 2017 at 9:57 PM ^
The Lions need elite football players, if Peppers turns out to be that. The Lions need Peppers. Period.
August 16th, 2017 at 11:41 PM ^
Lions have a far bigger need at LB than S considering it's thier worst position on the roster. Jarrad Davis is an elite athlete who can thump.
The Lions are still high on Miles Killebrew who would be redundant to Peppers in terms of playing style.
August 16th, 2017 at 9:55 PM ^
Safety was not a position of need for the Lions, in fact it was a position of strength with Quin/WIlson and Killebrew also lurking @ SS.
Love Peppers, but did not fit with the Lions roster needs at all.
August 16th, 2017 at 12:49 PM ^
I'm not familiar with this writer, but I don't understand the first sentence: "Jabrill Peppers was a trial balloon for the modern NFL." How can this be past tense? He's never played a game! Plus the article seems to suggest the Browns want to use him as a traditional safety.
Anyway, I'm rooting for his continued success!
August 16th, 2017 at 12:55 PM ^
On Monday they lined Peppers up as FS, One high safety, LB and even walked him down to the line where he either blitzed or peeled off and took a TE. In yesterday's presser our D-Coordinator Greg Williams (God I love him) said that Peppers has literally lined up at 7 different positions on defense so far and the only place they havent tried him is down linemen. He said "expect him to be used each week differently based on who we're playing and what they do well."
Also Sashi Brown said before practice that the biggest challeng the coaches have with Peppers is making sure they dont put too much on his plate. He's that good and that coachable. They have to resist the temptation, he said, in trying to see how he does with "one more thing." Said he probably wouldnt see any snaps on offense this year but expected he would going forward (I dont believe that - I think he's going to get some right away).
Dont' sleep on the Browns. JP and Garrett are actually going to make us a respectable football team. And sooner rather than later.
August 16th, 2017 at 1:03 PM ^
Very interesting. I take it he'll contribute on special teams too.
I'll definetely keep an eye on the Browns.
August 16th, 2017 at 1:09 PM ^
Game #1 he was returning both punts and KO's for the Browns. The first punt he fair catched and realized immediately he should've returned it. The second punt he returned about 25 yards and if not for a shoe-string tackle would've taken it to the house.
And in practice on Monday they did two kick-off return drills. The first one he returned to about the35. The second he returned for a TD.
Dude is fucking electric.
Limited sarcasm here. Not sure I've seen one guy completely dominate a camp practice like Peppers has today since Ben Gay 15 years ago.
— Zac Jackson (@AkronJackson) August 14, 2017
August 16th, 2017 at 9:58 PM ^
Someone is excited!
(and deservedly so)
August 16th, 2017 at 3:25 PM ^
He was reffering to to Peppers as a trial balloon from a draft point of view. His point is that while NFL teams claim to want versitile players, they failed to draft Peppers until later than his talent would suggest.
It was written pretty klunky, I agree. That being said, I write poorly myself, so glass houses and all that.
August 16th, 2017 at 12:54 PM ^
Most of his work on the field doesn't show up in the stats column.
As has been said many times on this blog his punt returning was masterful.
He was asked to set the edge against option teams running east to west, which he did at the highest level. he didn't intercept many balls because he was shooting into the backfield.
I have to assume his TFL stats were very high.
He isn't a true LB. I see him as a Troy Palamalu type in the NFL. An in-box safety much like he was playing at Michigan, but not technically labelled as.
I think Peppers will do well in the NFL. I'm not sure he will be a hall of famer or anything as even he is a bit undersized for what he does best, but he will be a plus player for a decade IMO.
August 16th, 2017 at 1:08 PM ^
the only people that didnt like him were the a-hole fans from rutgers who think every kid from the east coast belongs to them, and of coarse every michigan hater.
August 16th, 2017 at 2:47 PM ^
August 16th, 2017 at 1:13 PM ^
Remember - not all Browns fans are OSU fans. If you can play in the NFL, that's all that matters - Lions fans here were also Speilman fans when he played in Detroit. Browns fans didn't turn on Braylon because he went to U-M, they turned on him because he stopped catching things and then whined about it. They loved Leroy Hoard. And any mouthbreather OSU-slash-Browns fan who dislikes Steve Everitt because he played at Michigan and went 3-0-1 vs Ohio isn't a true Browns fan. If ever there was someone who understood what it meant to be a Brown and should never ever ever have to buy a beer within the 216, it's him.
August 16th, 2017 at 1:22 PM ^
Even after he left.
August 16th, 2017 at 2:05 PM ^
Don't forget Aaron Shea.
August 16th, 2017 at 1:22 PM ^
August 16th, 2017 at 2:03 PM ^
August 16th, 2017 at 2:16 PM ^
Thanks for being a Wolverine.
I'm guessing All-Pro in two years.
August 16th, 2017 at 2:55 PM ^
There are a lot of Michigan fans in the Akron Cleveland Toledo area.Michigan has always recruited well in this area. Ann Arbor is as close to CLeveland as Columbus.
August 16th, 2017 at 8:05 PM ^
He's from the NY tri-state area and we passed on him because we have Landon Collins.
"Why would we want to pair our dynamic starting Pro Bowl safety with another dynamic soon-to-be Pro Bowl safety?"
"CRAZY TALK!"
If Evan Engram turns out to be anything short of a Pro Bowl player, I'll spam Jerry Reese's email account with all kinds of hate.
August 16th, 2017 at 11:13 PM ^
August 17th, 2017 at 8:52 PM ^
"The lions need elite players."
The lions need a lot of things.