Tag Archives: cleveland browns

NFL

Nassib, Carl

Card: Panini Contenders 2016
Acquired: 2016, Box Breaker

Carl Nassib has a nice frame clocking in at 6’7″, 277.  A great story out of Penn State, Nassib was a walk on with a motor that never quit. In his final year at Penn State, Carl led the nation with 15.5 sacks (single season sack record) and 6 forced fumbles from defensive end.  Going into the 2016 draft a lot of scouts liked what they saw, but felt that Carl was still pretty raw. The Cleveland Browns selected Carl near the top of round 3 and he played a fair amount during his rookie season despite suffering from a broken hand. The former Nittany Lion started 3 games and earned 15 tackles, 4 pass defensed, and 2.5 sacks.

NFL

Crowell, Isaiah

Card: Sage 2014
Acquired: 2016, Box Breaker

Isaiah Crowell played one year at Georgia in 2011, racking up 850 yards on 185 carries and 5 TDs as a Freshman, but an off-season run in with the law caused him to be dismissed from the team. A month later he enrolled at Alabama St. and was the team’s leading rusher with 843 yards and 15 TDs.  The following year he had career highs in virtually all categories with 170 carries for 1,121 yards and 15 TDs.  Crowell graded well enough to merit as high as a 4th round pick in the 2014 draft, but perhaps due to his earlier run in with the law back in 2011, he was not selected. Instead he became a highly sought after free agent.

Eventually Isaiah signed with the Cleveland Browns.  Clawing his way up the depth chart eventually supplanting Ben Tate and sharing duties with Terrance West, Crowell rushed for 607 yards and 8 TDs on 148 carries in his rookie debut.   His 2015 saw small upticks across the board with 185 carries for 706 yards and 4 TDs to go along with 19 receptions.  Isaiah started a full 16 game slate in 2016 and rushed for 952 yards on 198 carries, scoring 7 TDs including a league long 85 yard gallop. He also displayed a touch of the hands corralling 40 receptions for 319 yards.

As you look at Isaiah’s statistics, he continues to show pleasant upside in his young and promising career. Like a nice house in a bad neighborhood, Crowell could be a solid find (on a poor Cleveland offense) in any upcoming fantasy league  going into 2017.

FXFL, NFL

Johnson, Dennis ‘DJ’ (RB)

sage12-dejohnsonCards: Sage 2013, Donruss Rated 2013
Acquired: 2016, EBay

Dennis Johnson was an undersized speedster out of Arkansas who was overshadowed much of his career by Knile Davis.  During his 5 years for the Razorbacks Johnson amassed a nice resume, rushing 345 times for 2036 yards and 13 TDs.  He also showed promise as a receiver coming out of the backfield contributing 63 receptions for 510 yards and 4 TDs, and contributed on special teams with 119 returns for 2784 yards and 3 TDs.   Many NFL teams pegged him as a 3rd down/ change of pace scat back.  Despite an impressive stat line, Johnson was not selected in 2013.  He’d sign as a free agent with the Houston Texans.

pa13-dejohnsonThe Texans were doing some reshuffling at runningback, and were looking for a change of pace back to compliment the running attack led by oft injured Arian Foster and Ben Tate. They signed Johnson, Cierre Wood, and Ray Graham. While Johnson did have a nice preseason, including some sizzling plays, he also put the rock on the ground a few times. He’d be on the outside looking in during final cuts, but be picked up by the Browns.

The Texans in the meantime went through a disaster at runningback, as the team’s Super Bowl aspirations faded quickly out of the gate. With Foster and Tate both nursing injuries and Wood cut due to the Texans’ zero tolerance policy, Johnson was resigned by the Texans off the Browns practice squad. He’d start one game and rush for 183 yards in 8 contests.

With a new regime in town, Johnson was cut in August of 2014. He played for the the Brooklyn Bolts of the FXFL later that year, but as of 2017, he remains an NFL free agent.

DJ had some pretty nice looking cards available to me to choose from. I really liked his Sage entry. It was pretty awesome of him to pose for the photo jumping up in the air. It adds an entirely new level to what could’ve been an otherwise boring shot. The jersey material printed on the card is reminiscent of something I’d do to a custom, and it is executed well. DJ’s autograph on the Sage canvas is unique and interesting to look at.

The idea of a jersey card is neat and all, especially when it is a jumbo swatch, but it becomes quite tricky to build a satisfying composition for the rest of the assets when it takes up so much space. Case in point this Donruss Rated rookie card. The patch takes up so much space we’re left with a discombobulated and disconnected DJ barely poking out from the right side of the card.  The autograph isn’t even completely framed up on the card, and either goes underneath the card material or is incomplete.