BEREA: The Browns gambled by drafting controversial Florida defensive tackle Caleb Brantley at the beginning of the sixth round (No. 185 overall) on Saturday.
Police in Gainesville, Fla., charged Brantley, 6-foot-2⅝ and 307 pounds, with misdemeanor battery April 21 after he allegedly punched a woman in the face April 13, knocking her unconscious and displacing a tooth.
According to a sworn complaint, Brantley made a crude comment toward the 5-foot-6, 120-pound woman during a quarrel at a bar and she pushed him. He allegedly responded by striking her.
Brantley’s attorney, Huntley Johnson, told the Tampa Bay Times the woman’s lawyers offered a financial settlement that Brantley turned down.
Browns head of football operations Sashi Brown said the incident hasn’t been resolved legally and whether the organization keeps Brantley on the team will be contingent upon whether it becomes comfortable with what happened.
“It’s something that is very concerning for us, continues to be a concern,” Brown said of the incident. “From our standpoint, we communicated to Caleb how serious a matter this is to us, this is something he can’t repeat as he moves forward. And more importantly than that, we communicated to Caleb this is still something we’re investigating and looking into.
“Facts may turn up that prevent us from being able to keep him on our roster. We did feel like at this point in the draft and what we knew so far, the person, the player, the incident, this was an OK point in the draft to take him.”
Brown said Brantley visited the Browns before the incident, but the team hasn’t spoken to him since the accusations surfaced.
Browns coach Hue Jackson said that he felt comfortable with the selection and agreed with Brown.
“I feel good,” he said. “Again, I think he said exactly how we are looking at that and what we will do in those situations.”
He also expressed faith in the Browns locker room atmosphere.
“I think our culture is strong in our locker room,” Jackson said. “They know that when we are bringing somebody in there that they have to adjust to the culture that is here. If they don’t, Sashi said exactly where we stand on that.”
Unlike other draft picks, Brantley wasn’t made available on a conference call.
NFLDraftScout.com analyst Dane Brugler ranked Brantley as the seventh-best defensive tackle in the draft and as a second- or third-round prospect.