May 23, 2013

Revisting the Browns 2010 Draft

November 16, 2010 by 32 Comments

On Sunday the Browns will play the Jaguars in Florida. There could be as many as four rookies starting the game for Cleveland. Even if they don’t all start, they will all play a big role in the game.

T.J. Ward (2nd round) has started since the season began. All the young safety from Oregon has done is lead the team in tackles with 75. First round pick Joe Haden could see his first start this week, depending on the health of Sheldon Brown, and the status of Eric Wright. Haden has seen plenty of action, recording 34 tackles of his own while defending seven passes and intercepting another two. Rookie corners tend to struggle. Haden is playing his way onto the field more and more.

On offense Colt McCoy (3rd round) should be the starter again this week. Not that Mangini has named him the starter, but seriously- this can’t be a discussion right? Right Eric? McCoy has started four games, and is 2-2 in those contests. He has a 60% completion percentage, 734 yards passing, two TD throws and another rushing.

Guard Shawn Lauvao (3rd round) should get his first start filling in for the injured Billy Yates. Lauvao was fighting for a starting job in training camp before an injury forced him to miss several weeks. He has played in parts of three games so far, and played a significant portion of last week’s game against the Jets.

So far, all of these picks look like good bets to become regular starters on this team next season. You hate to put lofty expectations on young players, but it is safe to say that Ward, Haden and McCoy have shown the potential to be impact players at their positions for years to come.

Even if the Browns never see legitimate production from 2nd round pick Monterio Hardesty, wouldn’t you have to say (at least early on) this draft has been a pretty big success? When was the last time the Browns had 4 solid starters from the same draft class?

I’d listen to arguments for the ’06 class that included Kam Wimbley, D’Qwell Jackson, Jerome Harrison and Lawrence Vickers. Outside of that group, you really have to go back quite a ways to find 4 four solid starters from one class.

Now, if the Browns could put together another draft like that one?

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  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Scott

    Let’s all get a big thank-you card together for Heckert and Holmgren. Three more of these and I’ll be able to forget about the utter disaster that was last year’s draft.

  • whipjacka

    The reason i am so happy with holmgren is because i get the feeling that he is building a real team with solid a foundation. and he is doing that through the draft. Imagine how successful the browns could be if he can put together a draft class with equal success next year.

  • Mark

    @ Scott – agreed. We still need 3 more really good drafts but after this one, you can actually believe it might happen.

  • Stinkfist

    Eric Wright got beat by a guy hopping around with a groin injury. How does that happen? Haden better start in his place. Put Wright 3rd on the depth chart for the game and make him work his way back up.
    No mention of Carlton Mitchell?/

  • Harv 21

    Broken record time for me: this draft, by Browns standards, might be epic, and all the more so if Montario fully recovers. It’s not just that the first three rounds have apparently produced NFL starters – that would be a really solid draft- but a few already look to be more than that.

    Can’t remember so many picks with so much upside in one year since Matthews/Newsome in the same draft. Or maybe Metcalf/Tillman. But we gave up a whole lot in those drafts to move up.

    I believe in H-squared.

  • mgbode

    remember when people complained that Holmgren ‘pulled rank’ on his GM to draft McCoy?

    or those that preferred Claussen?

  • Harv 21

    Want to temper my comment a little: I’m assuming TJ Ward will improve his pass coverage in the next couple of years, from current “lost in space” to average. Not every good player can pick things up as scary-fast as McCoy.

  • C-Bus Kevin

    @ Harv…I think Ward will improve as well. I can’t remember where I heard it, but didn’t one of the coaches say of TJ, “he may not always know where he’s going, but he’s going there fast.”

    That made me chuckle a bit.

    But yes, this draft class was great considering how many impact players it has already yielded.

    However, I still must express regret regarding Hardesty. It’s not his fault, but I just don’t see why you take a RB that has a history of knee injuries before even arriving at camp.

  • Harv 21

    C-Bus: when I saw his (7) preseason carries and I understood the infatuation. He looks just like a NFL feature back.

    Consider for the moment a real possibility: in the first rounds of the 2010 draft, we picked up 1) a quality starting CB; 2) a true intimidator in the secondary; 3) Your franchise QB; 4) an NFL feature back. And we did this without giving up any future first rounders. Even if Hardesty is just an injury-riddled tease, a monster talent in an egg-shell body, what a draft.

  • C-Bus Kevin

    @harv…I totally agree. When you combine this draft with the trade of quinn for hillis, you could make a case for 2010 being one of the best browns off-seasons ever.

  • Howard Roarke

    Typical Cleveland mentality.

    Just past the halfway point of the football season and we’re talking about next years draft.

    Do people in other NFL towns do this?

    What? How about what the Cavs do in 2011-12?

    Or the Indians in 2012?

    ‘Waiting For Next Year’ is a good site name.

  • MattyFos

    I still like Clausen and would have preferred Tebow over them all!

  • MattyFos

    The draft class was awesomeness throughout. McCoy was a low risk, medium to high reward and he’s playing well.

  • Mark

    @ C-Bus Kevin – but remember, that was the knock on TJ Ward too – injury prone. It worked out pretty well for Ward so far. Sometimes you’ve got to roll the dice a bit. I’m ok when they grab a talented player who dropped a round or 2 due to injury concerns. You can’t do it all the time. It’s a better value risk than reaching for someone who you hope will fit your system ie Veikune.

    I will admit I am somewhat biased on Hardesty. I am a big UT fan and have been going to games for about 20 years. Hardesty was one of the best RB that they’ve had there. Everyone has been going on and on this season about Arian Foster. Well, guess what? Hardesty was CLEARLY the better runner when they were both at Tennessee. Quicker, more explosive – he was a BEAST. Ask any SEC fan, they’ll agree. Was he injury prone? Yes. But his senior year, when the Vols had no passing game at all, Hardesty tore up the SEC defenses. Everyone knew to stop UT you had to stop Hardesty. They couldn’t. Remind you of anyone?

  • MattyFos

    @Mark-

    I drooled over the prospect of having Hardesty in our backfield with Harrison and Hillis as change of pace backs.

  • The Other Tim

    Our leading tackler is a safety?

  • http://gravatar.com PayDaMan

    How do you possibly like Claussen? He shows nothing to me.

  • MattyFos

    @The Other Tim-

    Have you seen our linebacker corp? If so… How are you surprised? If not, look down the roster and you’ll understand.

  • MattyFos

    I like the potential of Clausen and the arm of Clausen… McCoy has been nice and hasn’t lost games, but we haven’t asked him to win games yet and I’m sure his arm will not allow him to win games for us.
    McCoy’s completion percentage is nice, but when he’s throwing the 5 yard passes to Watson and swing passes to Hillis 65% completion percentage is expected.

  • Harv 21

    @19: “I’m sure his arm will not allow him to win games for us.”

    He’s completed a bunch of passes for 15+ yards in just 4 games. Has the front office, the town and, most importantly, his teammates excited, but you know, just not Tebow.

    Let’s see, if Tebow played with our pathetic receivers against our last 4 opponents, he’d probably be 4-0, 1200 yards, 15 TDs and less than zero intercepts, chug some milk, save a child from falling from the upper deck while patting a seeing eye dog, and give the 4 most inspiring post game pressers ever. Oh, well, we’re stuck with our little elf. Life goes on.

  • http://www.heyhokie.com Vengeful Pat

    @Mark, I’m a big VT fan so I had to let this one out… the Hokies held Hardesty to 47 yards on 18 carries in the Peach Bowl (i’m not calling it the chik-fil-a bowl… forget it). They keyed on him and shut him down. I wasn’t extremely happy about the Browns landing him, but I am very open to being proved wrong next season. I really do hope he turns out to be a great counter-punch to Hillis.

  • Chris

    harv, that’s why I’m against tebow. Everyone knows seeing eye dogs are at work and you don’t pet them while they have the harness on.

  • Reggie Ruckus

    What I like about this class is that the players can do more than just play special teams. They also say the right things and always put team first. If last year’s draft had gone as well as this one did we would be a legitimate playoff team.

  • MattyFos

    @Harv “a bunch of passes for 15+ yards” is a compelling argument. But I’m still not impressed.

  • TheThing

    @MattyFos What’s there to like from Clausen? 48.6% completion, 5.0 YPA, 1 TD, 4 INT over 8 games, 0-5 as a starter. Tebow had 1 pass attempt so far (granted it was a TD) so he has a lot to prove.

  • Chris

    Matty: Sorry man, but I’m going to defend McCoy the same way I defended Wallace and Delhomme. Troy Aikmen would be hard to judge with these receivers. I withhold judgment on any QB’s long-range game until then.

  • Believelander

    Matty: a quarterback doesn’t need to be able to throw the ball 50+ yards in the air in the nfl. It is -so- much more important to be able to hit a 2-yard pass so the receiver catches it in stride and can breakaway for 50 yards (sorry DA). Throwing past a defense requires maybe 25-30 yards with zip. Which Colt has. And being able to hit the receiver in stride is what scores breakaway touchdowns like the one Cribbs would have had Sunday if Moore wasn’t a poor blocking TE (sorry Evan).

    Give McCoy time. He’s going to be good.

  • Scotty

    @MattyFos – Did you not watch that drive McCoy orchestrated to tie the game against the Jets? You must have missed it, or else there would be no way that you could say we haven’t asked him to win games for us.

  • B-bo

    Um, Chris? St Timothy of Gainesville restores the blind man’s sight FIRST, then pets the dog–everyone wins

  • brownsfan019

    How about the 2009 draft for comparison?

    … night and day.

    In H&H We Trust

  • Anthony

    No love for Larry Asante?

    oh wait….

  • DK

    Need to give them all time. How can you not start some of these guys? Our talent isn’t great by any means accross the board basically. I don’t think that’s how we should be measuring the successes of this past year’s draft.