Here's what happened Sunday inside the Browns' draft room...
10:06 a.m. - Just as the draft's second day was beginning, Phil Savage shut the door to the Browns' draft room behind him and took his seat.
"Let's talk," he told the room full of scouts, personnel people and head coach Romeo Crennel.
To Savage's left, the ESPN broadcast showed the Lions trading up to make Central Florida running back Kevin Smith the day's first selection. To his right, the television in the back corner showed NFL Network's talking heads breaking down the best available players.
Then Savage began talking to the room about the best available players himself, listing only a handful the Browns would be interested in moving up to get. He made his case for one standing out above the others, reaching out to director of football administration Trip MacCracken and director of pro personnel Steve Sabo for input on which teams might be interested in a potential trade.
Savage ran over two scenarios he'd discussed Saturday night and threw out another he envisioned for late Sunday morning. Director of player personnel T.J. McCreight updated the room on two phone calls he'd made. They ran through some names they'd targeted at Pick 122, the first pick the Browns will have barring a trade.
The picks then started coming fast. The Browns watched as two cornerbacks were selected in the first five picks of Round Three, and two more were drafted in the following 10. There were no real surprises.
Savage scanned his chart listing the names and contact numbers for each of the league's 31 other draft rooms. The work - and the day - is just beginning.
10:34 - Between phone calls, some of which he initiated and others he answered, Phil Savage turned to T.J. McCreight and asked if there was any update on a potential trade with Kansas City.
His answer was ‘no', the third such ‘no' Savage had received in the preceding 10 minutes.
The Browns kept trying, though, making calls, projecting scenarios and adjusting names of players they desired as others were picked by other teams. The one name that kept coming up, though, whether they were talking about inside linebackers, outside linebackers, cornerbacks or tight ends, was UNLV linebacker Beau Bell.
11:04 - After about 30 minutes of tossing names and watching picks, McCreight encouraged Savage to make a trade into the late 90's and get Bell.
Savage started talking aloud but to himself, listing Bell's traits and how he might fit with the Browns. National Scout Daniel Jeremiah chimed in from across the table, telling Savage he didn't envision Bell making it past the top of the fourth round.
"I went to his (campus) workout," Jeremiah said. "Fifteen teams sent their linebacker coaches to see him. That's 15 teams we have to think are going to draft him."
"Let's be honest," McCreight said. "We're going to be kicking ourselves if we lose Beau Bell."
McCreight joked with Savage - "you love Jerry, call Jerry" - and within 30 seconds, Savage was on the phone Jerry Jones of the Cowboys. They talked scenarios, and Savage presented this to the room.
"We can trade next year's (third-rounder) and they may ask for this year's seventh," he said. "At this point, is Beau Bell worth that seven? I'd say he is."
Romeo Crennel nodded in agreement.
But 30 more minutes passed before there was any real action. Savage tried unsuccessfully with another team to make a trade, and again the internal debate picked up.
The Browns were convinced trading next year's third rounder to get a fourth-rounder in this year's draft better than the one they owned, at 122, was the right thing to do. One question the Browns needed to answer was how much else they'd give up in that '09 third-round scenario.
12:02 p.m. - Savage and Jones agreed to a deal involving picks 122 and 155, the Browns' fifth-rounder. McCreight dialed Bell, and Crennel was talking to him by the time the NFL Network graphics announced the Browns had made a trade.
12:15 - The Browns worked until noon to secure the trade that brought them Beau Bell.
Fifteen minutes later, Phil Savage was back on the phone and two new, interested observers were in the draft room.
Standing behind Savage were offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski and quarterbacks coach Rip Scherer. No, the Browns weren't taking another quarterback.
But they were about to make a trade with Dallas that ended with Savage pumping his fist, just like last year.
It didn't happen right away, but what had been a list of five players (besides Bell) the Browns targeted as fourth-round guys they'd like to see in orange helmets was down to one, Missouri tight end Martin Rucker.
In the Bell trade, the Browns gave up picks 122 and 155. By 12:20, they'd made another trade with the Cowboys - maybe T.J. McCreight was right, maybe Savage does love Jerry Jones.
At the very least, they're great friends on the last weekend in April. By 12:22, Savage was pumping his fist and Romeo Crennel was welcoming Martin Rucker to the Browns.
2:05 -- Following their fourth-round picks, most of the scouts returned from a 20-minute lunch break to find the board clearing quickly, especially at the cornerback position. At one point in the fifth round, 19 corners had already been drafted.
Just before 2 p.m., director of football administration Trip MacCracken announced to the room some potential trade partners and also laid out what the Browns might have to give up to move back into Round Five.
Phil Savage and T.J. McCreight both said they'd like to preserve the rest of the Browns' 2009 draft, but McCreight admitted he was "nervous about staying where we are in the sixth" and still getting one of the Browns' targets.
The attention turned to Wisconsin receiver Paul Hubbard, the top-ranked remaining player on the Browns' board.
"If he would have been healthy this year, he would have already been drafted," Midwest scout Kevin Kelly said. "He was here on a visit this year; we liked him then."
McCreight added, "This Hubbard, he's big and fast and real tough. He only had 14 catches because of his injury last year. But he can play."
Savage asked for a consensus from the room before he committed to taking another receiver. It was a thumbs up around the room, and he got back to working the phones.
2:47 - Savage asked, "Can Ahtyba Rubin make this team?" He gets a unanimous yes in response. MacCracken continues to run through trade scenarios as the Browns figure a way to get both Hubbard and the Iowa State nose tackle.
The attention then turned back to Hubbard.
From national scout Daniel Jeremiah: "This Hubbard is tough as heck. He can play special teams right away at very least."
From McCreight: "Go back to his junior year in the bowl game against Chris Houston, who went in the first round last year. They ran the ball, he had to block and he fought every play. He really battled a guy who went in the first round."
From Paul Warfield, whose opinion on receivers carries a little weight: "He's very tough. He can play special teams. He has the mentality and athleticism to get on field. He's progressed very well at every level he's been at."
MacCracken announces the Cowboys are four picks away from being on the clock and will call the Browns to talk trade. They certainly know the number.
But that trade didn't work. Ditto for several other attempts. Finally, the Eagles agreed to trade the Browns Pick 191 for next year's fifth-rounder.
The Browns will pick back-to-back, at 190 and 191, and select Hubbard and Rubin.
4:07 -- The Browns are on the clock. Crennel talks to Rubin. MacCracken calls Hubbard's agent. Savage calls Hubbard. He and Crennel then swap phones
"Paul? Congratulations," Crennel said. "Welcome to the Cleveland Browns."
5:37 - With the Browns' final pick approaching, Phil Savage fielded two phone calls from teams looking to acquire the pick.
He told them thanks, but no thanks.
The Browns had their man. They'd actually been targeting Alex Hall of Division II St. Augustine's College for hours; since the fourth round, he'd been the highest-remaining outside linebacker on their board.
They were able to make two sixth-round selections and still be in position to get Hall in the seventh.
Savage called Hall and played it cool, asking him if he'd been getting a lot of calls from teams interested in signing him after the draft as a free agent
Hall said he'd taken eight such calls in the preceding 30 minutes.
That's when Savage told him, "Well, we're going to draft you here in about five minutes."
"You're kidding," was his response.
Nope. Savage said Hall then yelled to his family, "Hey, Cleveland is going to pick me."
Much hysteria ensued.
Savage passed the phone to Romeo Crennel, then relayed instructions to New York not to turn the card into closer to ESPN coming out of commercial.
"Good for him," Savage said. "St. Aug's gets on the football map."
