McShay: With the Fourth Pick in the 2012 NFL Draft…

@49

Greg Little 57rec 669yds 2TDs (and a boatload of drops)
Julio Jones 42rec 772yds 5TDs (not as many drops, but still some)

Also, Julio Jones has Roddy, Gonzo and Turner to keep the defenses attention and Matt Ryan to get him the ball. Just saying that last year’s trade down may workout pretty well and we shouldn’t disparage that strategy moving forward

RG3 at #4 would be a steal. This guy is gunna be a superstar. Sorry Colt, but the upside is unparalleled. With the Atlanta pick and the 2nd round pick we should go RT and LB, in whatever order makes more sense.

Resign Hillis.
Sign a playmaking WR (hello DeSean Jackson, meet your old friend Tom Heckert)
Address CB in FA.

This is how the team takes the next step. But it all starts with a SuperStar under center

Also, if you were about to say ‘What about Alex Smith?’, just keep in mind that while he hasn’t always been great, he’s going to break 3,000 yards this year with a 3 to 1 TD to INT ratio.

Richardson to the Browns only makes sense if the Browns are picking like 8th and Blackmon and the QBs are off the board. Richardson at 4 will never happen. McShay is just too lazy to update his mock draft from last week when the Browns were picking 8th.

Saggy…you sir, are a genius!

Seriously, that idea is fantastic. If they keep hillis somehow and get RG3 and Blackmon, this team is instantly transformed into a playoff contender.

I’m with you on the offensive line idea too. There’s a mentality among some fans that you need ‘all the pieces’ before you can draft the franchise QB and move forward, and it’s just unrealistic. You choose a strength, build it, and hope it’s enough to cover your deficiencies.

Just look at the Packers. They have decided to be the most ridiculous pass offense in the league. Do they need to hold opponents below 20 points per game. No…because they score 35+ on a regular basis.

You CAN’T have it all.

Let’s set the ‘Saggy Plan’ in motion!

There is no way RGIII gets past the Skins. Being a Cleveland fan in the DC area that is all they talk about (Griffin and to a lesser extent Barkley).

@37 – I LOL’d.

One reason I would think about RG3…Baylor is 9-3. Baylor is the Browns of the Big XII. Griffin is THE reason they’re 9-3.

2 thoughts -

1st, drafting in the top 10 is not as risky as it was in 2010 with the new CBA. It’s not like we will be paying a RB 20 million a year as the 4th pick. He will get paid a rookie wage just like all the other 1st round picks. Teams can now draft best available and not the least risky. (we should draft the best QB available regardless)

2nd, We do not need to pick O-line in the first round. We will have 4 quality starters next year with Pinkston moving to RT (he was drafted as a tackle). We can pick up a guard prospect in 2nd or 3rd round.

4 = Pinkston, Mack, Steinback, and Thomoas.

Sorry…typo on last post…meant ” their ” not ” there”….ughhh

@ben – who was the last Baylor QB to make it ‘to’ the NFL let alone make it ‘in’ the NFL?

you definitely have to factor in the system and evaluate the skills and can utilize the other QBs who have been in that system. and, I have some doubts on Barkley, some of it coming from those (his floating deep ball is my biggest concern).

@bossman – Pinkston was drafted as an OG, which is why he slipped in the draft. Heckert went out of his way to state that he drafted Pinkston as an OG after the selection.

could he make the transition? maybe, but if our talent evaluators specifically put him at OG, I’d feel better if we drafted a RT replacement and kept him at RG (assuming Steinbach can come back healthy)

@59 SaggyBall begins now!

This would be a lot easier if we had just taken Julio Jones last year and gotten our playmaker WR when he was there to take.

I’d rather draft Barkley than anyone. I certainly do not want to draft a running back.

I would like this pick since it seems Hillis will go elsewhere and I personally feel Richardson is a great back. Rumor mill is pumping out a first round pick of QB, but is it really Colt’s fault he’s on his back majority of the game? Switching out QB’s has not been a good pattern in CLE, and I honestly fell Colt can do big things with the right weapons. Passing on Richardson or Blackmon would be a mistake, and depending on who you choose the next picks have to go to the offensive line because let’s face it, the right side is just plain offensive.

Bad teams draft RB’s early. Good teams draft the guys who opened up the lanes for the RB’s.

@jim,
may I point out that the “only” quarterbacks listed by Ben are the only QB’s to start more than “1″ game from the past 10 years for USC? You make it sound like Ben cherry picked a few names to prove an exception to the rule. You have a bad habit of bending facts to fit your opinion. Please though, by all means list the successful starting quarterbacks from USC that Ben missed. No? No answer? What if I give you 20 full years to go back? Not going to throw Mike Van Raaport, Brad Otton or the immortal Rob Johnson in there to prove that Ben selected just that failures from USC’s QB history.

And yes you can derive usefull information from looking at past QBs. If a coach’s program consistently turns out successful college players with a common weakness exhibited in the pros than one should at least worry about it. Pete Carrols (and Kiffin as a disciple) system surrounds a QB with so much talent that a lot of QB shortcomings can be hidden. The common fault of all the pro USC guys has been work ethic. Leinart, Palmer, and Sanchez have all had there off field work ethic called into question. You can develop a theme of guys who don’t like to work hard and prefer to be surrounded by really talented guys.
Does this mean Barkley is one of those guys? no, in fact I really like him, but it is absurd to not take into consideration the history of his predecesors when judging him.
You said “no usefull information” I would say that if you as a GM had also interviewed Leinhart and he (Barkley) answers questions in a way that sounds similar than you have gained very useful information. Thats why stable teams seem to “find” players, they have front offices that know what a player that fits their system looks and sounds like.

And to those people saying that USC QBs are overrated…

Name one other school with as many starting QBs in the league right now.

The Browns haven’t had a starting caliber QB in 25 years. I’ll take a dude who’s good enough to play in the NFL. We’d be lucky to have John David Booty right now.

Those Tedford guys at Cal were all washouts. (until Rodgers). The USC guys are NFL starters and almost all of them went to the playoffs.

2012 draft for the browns:

1 – STUD WR, (PERSONALLY DONT LIKE BLACKMON) PREFER MICHAEL FLOYD

2 – OL – STEINBACH AT LG, NEED A RT TO REPLACE PASHOS

3 – RDE OR RB OR LB : DEPENDING IF HILLIS STAYS OR DQUELL STAYS.

THESE ARE OUR PRIORITIES FOR THE NEXT DRAFT, IF COMPLEMENTED WITH FREE AGENCY, WE COULD MAKE A CONTENDER.

ABOUT THE QB, ITS SIMPLE, BUILD THIS YEAR AROUND COLT, IF HE SUCKS, IN 2013, SELECT A QB IN FIRST ROUND.

ITS SO OBVIOUS EVEN FOR A PORTUGUESE GUY.

PAULO

They need to trade for the #1 pick and get Luck.

I understand it’s risky. But ask yourself this:

If you could have traded three #1 picks (two net) and two #2 picks in a past draft to get Peyton Manning, would you do it?

I’ll consider anything less than Luck a failure for the Browns draft. To win a Super Bowl, you need an elite QB. They have to try to get that now.