Newsletter: Abdul Carter Dilemma, NFLPA Organization Grades, and Thoughts on everything Kevin Stefanski had to say at the NFL Combine

What a busy day in Indianapolis. Here are all the updates.

(Photo - Cleveland Browns)

Thursday is upon us and the combine is moving rapidly. Outside of each team’s leadership spending some time with the media, it has been rather tame. There seem to be some rumors of the copy/paste brigade getting into an ego match at the local Starbucks, but again…nothing out of the ordinary there. The race to have the news first always brings out the worst in folks but I digress.

There was actual news late into the evening with real ramifications on the Browns’ upcoming plans as EDGE Abdul Carter is now under the microscope after his combine physical rendered a concern about his right foot.

From the sound of the tweet, and Carter’s social media reaction, there is little concern this will be something that lingers into the Penn State product’s rookie season. However, in the race for No. 1 in the draft, every piece of evidence matters and if Carter is unwilling to go the route of surgery and opts for playing through the issue it could raise some concerns about maximizing that ever-valuable rookie contract.

I don’t envision this being something that hinders Tennessee or Cleveland from selecting him should they love the player, but it is worth noting. Especially as the volume was turning up on the Titans desire to select him first overall in a few months. This is the key injury situation to watch closely as Penn State’s Pro Day, where Carter will do his actual athletic testing, is looming in the next month.

MORNING UPDATE

Now, this is where it gets even more interesting. With doctor’s saying surgery is not advisable for Carter it becomes pain management on the foot and how does that process work as he ages in the NFL. The debate will rage on and it feels likely it costs Carter his shot at the first overall pick. Both Carter and his agent, power broker Drew Rosenhaus, are downplaying things — which is what we would expect.

The NFLPA released their team report cards on Thursday — as is tradition around the combine. As you could probably guess in the midst of a disappointing season, the players inside the Browns organization graded just about everything poorly. The reactions to these grades are always more dramatic than what they mean internally. When you win games, the players are happier, and the grades go up.

But that doesn’t mean they should be completely ignored. The best grades for the Browns are centered on their commitment to rebuilding the strength program and facilities — no surprise there. The locker room redesign and change is going to happen at some point but there is not a doubt most of these college players had more elite locker rooms in school. It needs to change.

The two biggest concerns, that the organization can do the most to rectify, are the team travel grade and the treament of families. While you wait to organize the facilities upgrades, and perhaps location, you can control making those two elements elite for your players. Fix that. Otherwise the team was in the midst of an awful season when grades were collected and I don’t put too much weight into those results. Just win.

Now let’s get to the important things Kevin Stefanski had to say from Indianapolis.