After a 15-month stint in a juvenile detention facility, Davone Bess, traded to the Cleveland Browns during the draft, stayed out of trouble and eventually reached the NFL.
BEREA, Ohio -- Receiver Davone Bess' route to the Cleveland Browns wasn't as precise as the ones he's known for running on the football field.
It featured a painful 15-month detour to a juvenile detention center after a mistake that nearly cost him his football career.
But Bess, who grew up in a crime-ridden section of Oakland, Calif. never had it easy. Born to a 15-year old single mom who struggled to provide for her two sons, he witnessed the shooting of a family member when he was 10 years old.
"I watched my uncle [Clark Robinson] get killed right in front of me at a block party for his birthday. Some guy jumped the fence and shot him on my auntie's porch," Bess told the South Florida Sun Sentinel when he first signed with the Dolphins in 2008. "I knew life isn't promised to anybody and that it and football can be taken away at any time."
Still, Bess mostly stayed out of trouble by immersing himself in football, basketball and baseball at Skyline High. Oregon State took notice, and offered him a full ride. His college future looked bright, and dreams of a pro career took root.
But a couple of weeks after graduating from Skyline High, Bess allowed some friends to hop into his car with stolen weapons and other goods. Bess was arrested and sentenced to 15 months in the Orin Allen Youth Rehabilitation Facility.
Worst of all, Oregon State rescinded his scholarship.
While while in juvy, Bess played on a 7-on-7 football team that scrimmaged other detention centers. A friend of his high school coach was working as a graduate assistant at Hawaii at the time, and sent the raw footage to June Jones.
Jones liked what he saw, and when Bess' sentence was up, he enrolled at Hawaii to get his career back on track. There, coached by Jones, he had three 1,000-yard seasons and a school-record 41 touchdown catches.
After his junior year, Bess was informed by the NFL Draft Advisory board that he'd most likely be a third-round pick if he came out early, and he jumped at the chance. But a disappointing 40 time at the Combine underwhelmed scouts, and Bess went undrafted. The Dolphins, who were watching Bess and called him during the draft, signed him as an undrafted free agent. He wasn't about to let the opportunity slip away.
Fifteen months in a cold, hard cell behind bars will do that to a young man.
Bess surprised plenty of folks by making the 53-man roster, and hung on for five seasons in Miami, mostly as a slot receiver with an uncanny knack for converting third downs. That's why the news that the Dolphins were trading him on Friday to the Browns came with a rush of emotions. The Dolphins, like Hawaii, were the only team to give him a chance, and now they were letting him go.
"My initial reaction was it was bittersweet," Bess said on a conference call Monday. "Obviously being down here in Miami since my rookie year, having developed a relationship with the organization, the fans and kind of embracing my opportunity was something special here. But all good things, they say, must come to an end. To jump ship to Cleveland was a great opportunity, a great stepping-stone for myself in my career. I'm thankful for the future and I'm looking forward to being a Brown."
Bess, who caught 61 passes for 778 yards and one TD last season, didn't deny a report in the Palm Beach Post that some Dolphins coaches were less than thrilled that he sat out the final three games of the season with a back injury. But doesn't know if it contributed to his exit.
"To be honest, I have no idea," he said. "I kind of left that in last season. It was a touchy situation, but we let bygones be bygones. We squashed it, you know? We moved forward and that's the end of that."
Bess, 27, said he is a willing mentor for young receivers Josh Gordon and Greg Little, who arrived on the Browns' doorstep with some baggage of their own.
"Obviously they have a bunch of young guys there who had pretty good seasons last year," said Bess. "[They're] young, hungry, intelligent, athletically, physically, mentally. (I want) to come in and just share my knowledge and be able to help out a group not only from a physical, playmaking standpoint."
After his ordeal as a 17-year-old, Bess will never take this opportunity for granted.
"First and foremost, there's not a day that goes by that I don't remember those times," he said. "Being undrafted and having to prove myself numerous amounts of times. Those heartaches, those tough times, those experiences in my cell molded me into the man I am today. At the time, being a young adolescent, I didn't understand it, but being older now, I'm so thankful of those moments, you know? My whole thing was going back, not only into the inner city, but abroad or wherever and teaching everybody that there is a best route."
In an effort to give back, Bess has established "The Bess Route Foundation," which is dedicated to shaping positive lifestyles for underpriveleged children and providing funds for families in need.
"That was the motto for my foundation is choosing the best route in life, and that route is the positive way," he said. "We're all going to have tough times, we're all going to have experiences, we're all going to have obstacles we got to overcome, but one thing we can always change is our mind and our attitude, and that's kinda been my motto and I'm just keeping it that way. And it's been the driving and the key to my success."
Roberts let go: On Black Monday for NFL Scouts, it's already been made clear to one member of the Browns' personnel staff that he won't be back.
The contract of Senior national scout Pat Roberts has expired and it's unlikely to be renewed.
It's not uncommon for teams with new regimes to fire members of the holdover staff. Other scouts and personnel executives hired by previous general managers Tom Heckert and Phil Savage are expected to be let go.
The top two men in the department under Heckert, Director of Player Personnel Jon Sandusky and Director of College Scouting John Spytek, are both under contract through next season, but it wouldn't be surprising if they're asked to leave.
With GM Mike Lombardi heading the department and Ray Farmer hired as his assistant, it's likely they'll bring in some of their own people and shake up the department.
Roberts, who was hired by Savage in 2005, served as the senior national scout the past three seasons. He was also the Browns' director of college scouting in 2009 after spending the previous four seasons as a national scout. Last week, college area scout Bob Welton left to take a job with Tennessee as their director of player personnel.
Justice to visit: Former Eagles and Colts free agent offensive tackle Winston Justice (6-6, 317) will visit the Browns on Wednesday, ESPN reported. He was with the Steelers Monday, the source said. Browns CEO Joe Banner had a hand in drafting Justice, 28, with the Eagles in 2006, when he was the 39th overall pick out of USC. Justice gave up four sacks in his first game, but settled down and became the Eagles starting right tackle in 2009. Last off-season, he was traded to the Colts and started 12 games. Justice would most likely provide depth behind 2012 second-rounder Mitchell Schwartz. . . . The Rams offered the Browns the same deal to move down to No. 16 as they did the Bills at No. 8, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The Browns could've picked up the No. 46 overall pick and an extra seventh-round choice. The also would've swapped third-round picks. Instead, they chose to stay at No. 6 and select LSU pass-rusher Barkevious Mingo.