What* does McNabb-to-Redskins Mean for the Browns in the Draft?
April 5, 2010Open Thread: Game 1, Indians at White Sox
April 5, 2010
I know we have all kind of reveled a bit in all the bad news coming out of Pittsburgh over the last few months. Not that it really should make us feel any better to see their players make really poor decisions off the field, but sometimes you really do need to blow someone else’s candle out to make yours shine brighter. Here in Browns town, we have had our share of negative stories from players off the field. Even last week, we had Shaun Rogers’ situation with a gun at the airport. I believe Leigh Bodden had a problem at the airport too once upon a time. Bodden was arrested even if he was eventually found not guilty by a jury. Kellen Winslow’s motorcycle accident also comes to mind. I think almost all NFL teams have to deal with this on some level. The biggest difference between the Browns and the Steelers is that at least Steelers fans got a few Superbowl championships out of it.
That leads me to my question. Now that it seems like the Steelers are going to have to make somebody the fall-guy to help resurrect their floundering clean image, what lengths would you go to as Browns fans to win it all? Would you take marginal characters like Santonio Holmes (mugshot on the right) in order to make it happen? Holmes is especially interesting given the number of Buckeye fans that are simultaneously Browns backers.
If he ends up getting cut and suspended, how badly would you want to bring him into Cleveland? Obviously, one team’s bad apple is another’s positive image resuscitation story. All you have to do is look to what Donte Stallworth is trying to do this season in Baltimore for that storyline. Still, assuming Santonio Holmes continues to make bad decisions off the field, would you, as Browns fans be willing to go through all that just to win?
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Also, as an aside pointed at Braylon Edwards… The fact that Browns fans dislike Ohio State hero Santonio Holmes in Pittsburgh even though he was a Buckeye totally throws a wet blanket on your theory that we disliked you because you went to Michigan. (Sticks tongue out.)
35 Comments
how’s his motor?
Would I take Holmes specifically at this point? No.
If I thought he were the missing piece to a championship puzzle? Yes.
Would I take a number of marginal bad dudes if they composed a championship together? Yes.
We’re pretty desperate, but I don’t think Holmes is really an answer to our questions at the receiver spot.
Santonio Holmes = #1 Reciever. Yes I make the move. Put a moral clause in his contract and if he acts up, he’s gone. Sure that might stop him from signing the contract but, then you move on.
I really think Ben might end up being the fall guy next off-season though, depending on how his cases go.
Id take Holmes… Make him have a press conf where he says he just wants a new chance, knows he made mistakes, wants to start fresh, excited to be a brown, yada yada and tada.. everybody loves him. Part of it is Buckeye homer-ism yes, the other part is he’d be the best WR on our team at this point.
put me down as a pass…
I would take the best 53 ball players I could get my hands on. Period.
I don’t care if they are murderers, drug dealers, wife beaters, etc.
I don’t care any more. I just want a winner. I think we’re all old enough to know that athletes are not role models and there is no such thing as a hero. Let’s stop pretending that they are something more than they are not.
Their sole purpose is to entertain us on the football field. And they do that by winning. I don’t care what they do in their private life.
Now, I consider myself an upstanding citizen and certainly don’t condone any of these actions. Maybe if I was a Patriots fan and had a few Super Bowl trophies under the belt I would feel different.
But I’m not a Pats fan. I am a fan of all things Cleveland. I just want a damn winner.
I’m not sure how far I would look the other way. The optimal interest is a good team of good (i.e. not bad) people. See: Cavaliers, The Cleveland Basketball.
I believe having a team that’s likable, but not quite good enough would give me a similar satisfaction as an unlikable team that wins. I like learning about and following the players (even though I like the team first). I would only gain marginal satisfaction from an obnoxious group winning because I wouldn’t care about the players at all.
All we need is a knuckleheard in our locker room to really complete the picturs of a dismal decade of Browns football. So, no.
The Steelers aren’t going to just cut the former Super Bowl MVP after one season and two incidents. This is the kind of thing they will sit down with Holmes and talk out, not blow up their team over.
As a side note, how about a full length article breaking down the Tribe now that it’s opening day. You guys broke down the Browns position by position in their off-season, I don’t remember the Indians getting any such attention (maybe they did and i missed it), especially now that it’s opening day and all we’ve had is a few Tribe mentions in WWW articles. Just a suggestion.
Willing to trade first born for a Brown’s Superbowl victory
After looking at our depth chart at WR and seeing that Massaquoi and Cribbs are listed as our number 1’s and then looking at our receiving stats last year and seeing that only Massaquoi had over 300 yds receiving (624 yds) and the number 2 in receiving yards was Harrison with 220. So my answer is YES YES YES I’d take Holmes.
He’s a gamebreaker and he could completely change the dynamics of the offense. He’d have an axe to grind with the Steelers and he’d have the chance to do that twice a year.
I’m indifferent – I like Tone, and I guess I’d take a bunch of shady guys to win a SB, but I don’t care enough to vehemently want or not want guys.
Scotty, apparently you haven’t been paying enough attention. Try clicking the Indians tab to the right of this article: there have been some great Tribe-related breakdowns going for weeks now–particularly Scott’s “SABR-Toothed Triber” work.
While having the moral high ground in arguments against fans of other (more successful) teams is great and all, I think I’d rather try defending my guys for stupid decisions while the team racks up wins and titles. Good guys, good team is ideal, but I’ll take some success at this point.
Sign me up, he’s better than any other WR we have. TO is also better than any of our WR’s, but no one wants him either because he told people how terrible Jeff Garcia is (which is true) and called McNabb a choke artist (which is true).
B-bo yeah i read that, i was just surprised that on tribe’s opening day the front page was a handful of Browns articles, a Cavs recap, but just a mention of the tribe in the WWW.
“I don’t care if they are murderers, drug dealers, wife beaters, etc. ”
To me it’s not really as black and white as that. A team of really talented primadonna criminals is a recipe for one good year where you may or may not self-destruct due to playoff pressure surrounded by several years where a lot of your guys are getting suspended and your team is going nowhere.
What was the crime? Were they contrite? Was it intentional or stupid? How likely are they to repeat?
An excellent player that got caught with pot I’d be OK with. An excellent player that got caught with coke, maybe not. As tragic as Stallworth’s situation was, he went to lengths to cooperate, didn’t hide anything, and in the end it was a (stupid) accident. Michael Vick knowingly broke the law for an extended period of time.
The character/rap sheet question is more about “how much is this person a risk to repeat” question than anything else.
This is Holmes’ 3rd incident IIRC. While I don’t think he’s a bad dude, really, it doesn’t seem he’s all that interested in staying off of police blotters.
I agree with EZ. There is a difference between a person that made a really bad mistake and a person who can be a cancer on a team. I don’t know Holmes personally – loved him as a Buckeye, hate him as a Steeler – but he hasn’t really had such a stellar personal life since going to the NFL. Is it worth it? Doubt it. Santonio Holmes isn’t going to win us a championship. He has to have a team around him.
Besides, how am I going to be able to tease all the Bengals fans here in Columbus if the Browns get a bunch of convicts? 😉
If you believe Pryor, then you already have a team of criminals. ‘Cause, you know, everyone steals, everyone murders…
@7 Delonte’s attempt at resurrecting Antonio Banderas’ best role.
What’s with the mistake v. bad person argument?
I would say that position dictates what kind of character we should look for.
Mike, RB, FB, WR 1 -or- WR 2, Free Safety, 2 members of D Line: These positions need to be inhabited by the meanest/biggest prima-donna on the block.
The rest of the guys, esp o-line and qb, should be high character work ethic blah blah blah in order to serve as anchors.
I am damn desperate at this point. Already getting night sweats as I think about the NBA playoffs starting and then forward from there, July 1st.
All these athletes think they are larger than life. Holmgren will tell Holmes to keep is a$$ on the straight and narrow! I take him in a heartbeat.
Ummm, what? Are saying making a mistake is a definitive reflection on someone’s personality?
Call me a homer if you want, but things worse than driving on the highway with a loaded weapon
1) Throwing a glass at someone’s face
2) Watching someone be stabbed to death
3) Running a dog fighting ring
Feel free to group Delonte with Shaun Rodgers, and Gilbert Arenas, but you can’t possibly think it’s the same kind of situation as those listed above.
I’m a Buckeyes fan by default because I live in Ohio and that’s how I determine my loyalty to clubs. That being said, I can hardly imagine hardcore Buckeyes fans seeing Holmes in a positive light since he’s been in Pittsburgh. I mean, he’s pretty obnoxious, even for a Steeler. The way I see it, you’ve got #1 Hines Ward, #2 Joey Porter (when he was there) and then Santonio Holmes. Classic d-bag. I’m not interested in him. It’s hard enough watching the Cavaliers with the photo shoots and goosey crap every game.
The Browns have enough problems getting everyone to tie their own shoes, I doubt they could handle any more crap from another knuckle dragger.
He’s a college dropout anyway.
It’s hard to really answer this. Is he an upgrade over what we have? Yes he is. But is he an all pro, future hall of famer who will be consistent? Not so sure.
i’d take him
So, Matt C – Sam Bradford is also a college dropout? And Eric Berry? And everyone who leaves school early for the NFL?
No Denny, just the ones who don’t get a degree of any kind. Or, in tOSU’s case, about 40% of their football players. African American football players were around 30% (yes, 70% DON’T graduate) in the mid 2000s. But I’m sure the sweatervest got it cleaned up.
In ’08, it was 52%. Not much better than the 40 you’re claiming, but decidedly so.
He’s still in the NFL, you know, training and working. No idea whether he’ll go back to school and finish, but I’d hardly call him a ‘dropout’.
To be clear, my original comment was tongue in cheek. The NFL is the only thing keeping some of these guys out of jail, a college degree is hardly going to keep them on the straight and narrow. But, since you asked, I felt obliged to pursue it. I was using the ’09 Federal Rate #s, which are 58, and thus 40% DON’T graduate. Couldn’t find the 09 race splits.
Semantics elude me.
However, whenever I feel like driving a windowless van full of meth through a schoolyard at recess, I look at my college degree and it stops me from doing it. So you never know – it might keep folks on the up-and-up.
#2 receiver on a championship team = #1 receiver on the Browns. I am not saying he would be my first choice but if we could get him, then why not? If I’m going after a troubled receiver, however, then I’ll take Brandon Marshall or hell even T.O. for a year might be fun!!! T.O. is an idiot but at least he never blamed going to University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for his issues or brought a loaded gun to the airport!!!!
id take him
but mangini wont
Denny – does your van also have the word CANDY scrawled across it in shoe polish? 🙂