NFL Combine Day 2: Browns notes and concerns current players impacted by NFL free agency

Here’s some insider knowledge for those wondering what happens after hours at the NFL Combine: Lots of nothing and a lot of something.

While that sounds unusual, over a decade of attending the event has taught me that a night begins far later than non-college-age individuals prefer and can go in a variety of directions. Regardless of where the night begins, it will conclude in one of two places: the costly, nice bar or the less expensive (but still expensive) larger, less fancy bar.

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With the new schedule, the first two evenings are the busiest, with reporters, agents, and team officials catching up with old friends, meeting new ones, and determining how to spend their night based on who is around them. Nothing, aside from pleasant interaction with friends, can rapidly develop into anything when someone enters the room or a piece of information leads to a text, which leads to a DM, which leads to a panicked phone call to which you must respond.

To put it simply, last night looked like this for me:
Dinner at Shake Shack, since why spend more money on decent cuisine with a few Cleveland-based media and a few national guys?
An arcade bar with that bunch and a few more national folks to start the fun, talk shop, and meet some people (last night was a Denver radio personality with a lot of experience, a draft media man who also works for a college team, and a good friend’s employer in the industry).
A quick visit to the expensive pub stated above revealed that several of us were either A) not dressed for the occasion or B) did not want to stand all night and spend too much money (I was definitely B). A couple of head coaches were there, along with a number of representatives.

Then on to the more relaxed bar, where Mina Kimes, GM Rick Spielman, CBS’s Emory Hunt, many of the Cleveland Browns beat reporters, ESPN’s Turron Davenport, NFL media great Greg Cosell, and a host of others
They arrived back at the AirBnB at 2 AM; some continued until closer to 3 AM.
Some of you have arrived at this point and are asking, “Ummmm, anything about the Browns or the NFL?”

Listen… See the 2 a.m. time up there? I woke up at 6:30 a.m., was a little older and exhausted, and figured five or six people may be interested in hearing about what goes on behind the scenes.