INDIANAPOLIS -- When a player grows up in a certain environment he understands what some of the environment’s peculiarities.
As one player said Sunday at the NFL Scouting Combine: “My dad barks every time he comes to Cleveland.”
In some circles that might not be the best of things to publicize. But Chase Minnifield considers it a compliment. His father Frank was one of the original “Dawgs” in Cleveland. He started at cornerback opposite Hanford Dixon and transformed a Cleveland Browns defense into a team that three times played in the AFC Championship Game.
“My dad is a rock star in Cleveland,” Minnifield said. “And it’s real. It’s real.”
Well … perhaps not a rock star. There’s a spot near Cleveland Stadium for rock stars. But Minnifield was popular. Now his son has a chance to follow him to the NFL.
The scouting reports for father and son might read almost identically. Both are short, aggressive, studious corners. Chase measured 5-10 1/2 and 183 pounds at the Combine. He played an aggressive man corner at Virginia.
“My goal in life is to be better than my Dad and it pushes me every day,” Chase Minnifield said. “Everybody tells me I won’t be, so it’s a good fuel.”
He said football is ingrained in him, that it’s been part of his life for as long as he can remember. He had a choice between offense and defense at Virginia, and he chose defense -- figuring coaches might then play him both ways.
The one thing his father passed on to son?
“His work ethic,” Chase Minnifield said. “I’m a big believer in you get out the work you put into it. My Dad was a walk-on that turned into a four-time Pro Bowler.”
Frank Minnifield was one of the first players to use a laptop to study video of opposing player. His son does the same, and has an Excel formula he uses to keep track of other players and tendencies.
Chase Minnifield said he had not talked to the Browns, but he would be thrilled if they drafted him.
“That would be an awesome situation,” he said. “I wouldn’t be trying to carry on what my father [did]. I’d try to make my own thing.
“My goal is to do more than what my Dad did. He never got to the Super Bowl with the Browns so that would be something I would try to do. I’m always trying to strive to do more.”
