Browns Sign Five Undrafted Free Agents Plus Troubled DT Malik McDowell
The Cleveland Browns announced on Monday that they were signing five undrafted free agents as well as free agent defensive tackle Malik McDowell. The rookie signings had been discovered and covered, but the announcement of McDowell was a strange wrinkle.
The other rookies are Romeo McKnight, a defensive end who played spent time at the University of Iowa, Illinois State and then the University of Charlotte. Fellow Charlotte 49er and running back Tre Harbison III, who is the second undrafted back the Browns have signed in two years. The other was Benny LeMay.
They signed a pair of defensive backs including Kiondre Thomas out of Kansas State. A good athlete, he started his career at the University of Minnesota. They also signed Miami (OH) defensive back Emmanuel Rogamba.
McDowell was a second round defensive tackle selected by the Seattle Seahawks out of Michigan State in 2017. Almost immediately after being drafted, McDowell purchased an ATV that he drove around his home town in Michigan.
Unfortunately, he was involved in a rollover accident that is shrouded in mystery because of the legalities involving his rookie contract with the Seahawks forbidding him from activities that would be unsafe which could include something he might have been doing on an ATV.
It was bad enough that he never played for the Seahawks and he suffered a head injury that has changed his life. Since the accident and his split from the Seahawks, he's been arrested four times, including an incident with a stolen truck and another that led to a fight with a police officer at a gas station over a traffic stop.
McDowell will only be 25 years old in June, which actually makes him younger than one of the players drafted this past weekend.
This signing raises several questions.
What is the status of both his physical and mental health?
Clearly, he had to pass a physical to sign a contract, but where is he relative to the 2017 NFL Draft?
There have been suggestions that the accident truly altered his mental health, that he's simply a different person since the accident? Is that true and if it is, has been there been a development that has enabled him to regain balance in his life?
It's also at least notable that the Browns are at least right now only bringing in six players for their rookie minicamp. Maybe they are planning to bring more in on a tryout basis or they are very sure of what they want and want to focus all of their attention on these players. Typically, teams have enough to put full offenses and defenses out on the field in some capacity.
