May 22, 2013

Was Drafting Kellen Winslow Wrong?

February 4, 2009 by 20 Comments

Kellen WinslowI’m notcing that a  lot is being made of the 2004 NFL Draft.  After all, the last two quarterbacks to win the Super Bowl were drafted in the first round of 2004.  Eli Manning made the most news that year by saying that he did not want to play for the San Diego Chargers, who then had the top selection.  But not long after he was traded to the New York Giants, another trade went down that saw the Browns add their second-round selection to their first-rounder in order to move up one slot to grab tight end Kellen Winslow, Jr. out of Miami.

Five selections later, the Pittsburgh Steelers took Ohio native Ben Roethlisberger.  Five years later, Roethlisberger has two Super Bowl rings and Winslow has entering his second coaching regime.

Sean McClelland from the Dayton Daily News says that the Browns are now being haunted by the “Curse of Big Ben.”  I am not sure that I agree.  He mentions the previous drafts that saw the Browns leave with Gerard Warren (over LaDanian Tomlinson) and William Green (over Ed Reed).  McClelland then cherry-picks a bit when jumping aboard the “We could have had Kurt Warner” train, and then pointing out that the Browns selected Spergon Wynn instead of Tom Brady.

While I can see what he’s saying in the Warren/Green drafts, the others I simply cannot agree with.  Warner went unprotected by his own team.  Every team in the league could have added him while he was playing in places like the AFL – it wasn’t a miscalculation by the Browns.  He’s the Black Swan of the NFL.  Same goes for Brady.  How many teams passed on this guy six-or-seven times?  Sure, selecting a QB there doesn’t make matters better, but what were the odds?  We could go through drafts for any team and say “look what you could have had.”  Sure, the Browns have missed at an extraordinarily high rate, but I don’t think 2004 was one of those years.

Specifically related to Winslow, I do not think that many fans would take this pick back.  Sure, hindsight is always 20-20.  And yes, there is no doubt that Roethlisberger has had a better career thus far.  But when you have the surrounding players that the Steelers have had, Ben has had a lot of time to grow into the game and become a better player.  He didn’t start right away.  Winslow had no choice but to hit the ground running.  At least until that late-game onside kick that ended his season.

We could argue that the Browns shouldn’t have traded away picks to get him – that is something I could entertain.  Losing that second-round selection and then taking a quarterback named Luke McCown later in the draft didn’t exactly work out as planned.  But motorcycle/knee injury aside, name me one other offensive player on the Browns that can match his level of intensity and desire. 

If it is any consolation, the guy who a ton of Browns fans wanted that year was Robert Gallery.  He wound d up being selected by Oakland with their second overall selection and has been one of the biggest busts this decade.  Just imagine if they would have traded up to the second slot…

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‘Curse of Big Ben’ haunting Browns [Sean McClelland/Dayton Daily News]

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  • Josh

    Agreed! I was one of those people who wanted Gallery…Boy, i’m glad i didn’t get what i wanted.

    I love K2. His intensity and passion outweigh his mouth. I like the pick. Had we drafted Big Ben, we would have screwed him up like every other QB we get our hands on…

  • http://www.twitter.com/dennymayo IRB?

    “Winslow had no choice but to hit the ground running. At least until that late-game onside kick that ended his season.”

    He did however have a choice to not hit the ground rolling off his bike.

  • Humboldt

    Scott – good thoughts. Winslow has been a steady and productive player who has the fight and grit we love in Cleveland. I think people have been too harsh on him, though, granted, sometimes his emotionality has gotten the better of him. Still I agree that we did well to pick him, as he is a player who could be a “tipping point” on a good/above average offense. I say hold on to Kellon and feature him in the offense with Brady at the helms

  • mj

    Not a bad pick at all.

    The trade to move up, however, was horrible–no hindsight required. Giving away a high 2nd rounder to move up one spot… well, those are the kind of moves that keep a franchise in the cellar. The hallmark of Browns’ GMs since 1999! ;-)

  • Swig

    How good would Ben look with no offensive line, no running back and no wide receivers?

    Deja Vu?

    I think he’d look a lot like Derek Anderson.

  • http://theaustincarr.com Wally

    Let’s look at the positive side here as opposed to the negatives. Roy williams, D. hall, Reggie williams, and Dunta Robinson were after we selected K2. I would rather have kellen than any of these players. I see it as the Steelers got big ben as a steal, rather than the browns drafting irresponsibly. In my mind, we got the most talent that we could with our pick. We have one of the top 5 best TE’s, if not top 3 and he is only going to get better. We did a hell of a job drafting Kellen.

  • Alex

    I love K2, but I said at the time that I thought Roethlisberger would be a better pick for the Browns …

    I should preface this by saying that I wateched multiple Big Ben games because I attended Miami at the same time as he did… though I think he’s a name that would violate the WFNY commenting policy

    That being said… We had Steve Heiden at the time and the biggest hole was QB … Big Ben would have helped us immensely in 2004 when we were trying to decide between journeyman

    This is not a “Big Ben” curse on the Browns by selecting K2 by any means… but I think that Roethlisberger would have solved more problems than K2

  • Pittsburgh is for Man Lovers

    Anyone else hear colin cowherd lamenting the plight of Browns’ fans today? It was music to my ears to hear someone else finally bringing to light in the national media the repeated groin kicks we’ve been taking since at least the 80′s. He basically said in the only sport with parity and with there being pretty much no difference between Pittspuke and Cleveland (inbreeding aside), there should be no reason that the Steelers are infinitely better than the Browns aside from ownership. He said we were really the only fan base he truly feels sympathy for.

  • S-Dub

    Hall and Dunta Robinson are lock down corners and they wouldn’t be bad selections either. K2 was the right choice though, although Sean Taylor would have looked nice for us too. I also said I wanted Big Ben, but I still don’t think he’s a great QB even though his team and his Defense’s have been the best in the league the past few years.

  • Spaniard

    Kellen was the right choice although at the time I was a huge proponent of drafting Ben. K2 has been one of the few bright spots of this team despite his many unfortunate (moto) and unforseen (onside, staph) injuries and the fact that the over/under for one of his limbs falling off is now at about 10 months. For those that blame the injuries on character, remember that Ben’s head went through a windshield during a motorcycle joyride as well so he isn’t much better. With more favorable luck, Kellen would have undoubtedly become a franchise favorite for generations to come and a potential hall inductee. Ben, on the other hand, has a penchant for holding onto the ball a la Chuck Frye and lucked out with his pick by the Steelers. He would not have enjoyed the same success in Cleveland.

  • bobby

    I really like Kellen Winslow, and think he should be a franchise player. At the time i thought mr. davis was an absolute moron trading up one spot.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com DP

    I am and will always be a proponent of drafting a QB that high in the first round ONLY IF HE IS THE LAST PIECE. When it was rumored we’d draft Quinn at #3 in 2007, I was livid. Getting him at 22 wasn’t so bad, but I wouldn’t want to pay a guy top-6 money unless we were in the position of someone like, say, the Vikings right now: playoff team that just needs a solid QB.

    I wanted one of the following three in ’04: Gallery, Taylor, or Winslow. I was sure we’d get none of them. So, no, in hindsight, I don’t wish we’d taken Big Ben. I was happy we got Kellen.

  • http://clevelandcurse.com Chuck

    I guess I would rather we took Big Ben, and ruined him, rather than his current career..lol!

  • mj

    @DP – Dead on. I agree 100% with that philosophy (and was of the same mind as you about drafting Quinn.)

    @Pittsburgh is for Man Lovers – heard that on Cowherd today too. It all starts at the top, and our ownership has yet to realize that lesson.

  • SillerDu

    I agree with you that had the Brown’s taken Big Ben, he probably would have ended up like the rest of the Cleveland QB’s. However, you said “He didn’t start right away.” Actually, Ben Roethlisberger played in 14 games his rookie year and threw for 17 TD’s and 2600 yards.

  • AMC

    I thought Winslow was a good pick at the time, though I also thought we gave up way too much to move up a slot to get him (thanks Butch!). I agree with everyone else who thinks that “Ben” wouldn’t have ended up nearly as good with the crap that the Browns had at that point and at this point could be very well out of football or patrolling the sidelines a la Chaz Frye.

  • Vic

    Agreed 100%. Winslow was the right pick. Big Ben wouldn’t have made it behind our line. K2 still has the potential for a great career, and gives the Browns a fantastic offensive weapon. At the same time, I too was one of those guys calling for Robert Gallery. It just goes to show you that the guys in charge back then knew just a little bit more than I did about drafting players. At the same time, they have made plenty of screwups in the draft. I hope the new team can turn us around, but my enthusiasm is tempered at best.
    @ Alex: Nice to see another Miami alum!

  • http://clevelandbrowns.blogspot.com Ace Davis

    Butch was desperate to turn things around in ’04 after the fall to 5-11 in his third season. Taking a QB at 7 was not in his short-term interest, especially after signing Garcia. He was obviously way high on his boy from the U, despite his apparent immaturity. The trade up was pure folly. Better to have kept that high second-rounder and hope the Lions didn’t take Kellen. Ben would’ve been a nice fallback, but it just didn’t fit with the Butcher’s quick-fix mindset.

  • smrtazz

    Who taken with, and who was still on the board with the 2nd round pick that was traded? Pretty important in analyzing the trade.

  • Gskal

    this pick is the classic example A of why one person can not serve the roles of coach and GM—Butchy was under pressure to “win now”, so the coach in him made this pick for the short term success of the franchise–a GM looking at the long term health of the franchise and looking at complete chaos at the game’s most important position (Couch, Holcomb, Garcia, etc) should have taken a QB who all agreed had the prototypical NFL QB “tools”–big, strong, accurate, good football IQ, etc…the TE position is a luxury position in the NFL–always has been, always will be–it’s a position along with center that should never be used in the 1st round…even with Winslow’s intensity and desire, he rarely scores TD’s and is rarely used “down the field”–he’s basically turned into a buttonhook route runner with great hands–and he sucks as a blocker…