On a day where I’m having trouble thinking about anything but the crazy news out of the next town over from me, I am trying to distract myself with RG3 stuff. And I find it all confusing.
- I’ve said it before, and I know the logic isn’t sound, but I have a lot of trouble figuring out how it makes sense to trade up with massive compensation for the Rams for the consensus second best quarterback in the draft.
- The logic stinks because some years Eli Manning and Phillip Rivers come out together and everyone wins.
- That was hard to fathom even when we thought the price tag was going to be the Browns’ #4 and #22 picks. Now the rumors are that Washington is going to trade large parts of the next two NFL drafts for the right to grab RG3 at #2.
- The last time the Browns traded up they did so for Brady Quinn. Even though it didn’t pan out, I thought it was a good gamble.
- Then again, the pick the Browns traded to the Cowboys ended up being Felix Jones. He’s had a mediocre 4-year career in Dallas, but there is little doubt that he would have finished in the top five of our most recent poll ranking the best Browns runners since 1999.
- But the Browns don’t have a dynamic playmaker on offense, really. The thought of having a dude with serious speed and a rocket arm, seemingly capable of taking it to the house on every play while playing the position that guarantees he will touch the ball on every offensive snap is indescribably exciting.
- Imagine him extending a play as pressure explodes up the middle. He rolls right, outrunning the defensive line and linebackers. He has 7 free yards in front of him to the sideline and Greg Little is breaking deep. The corner has to make a choice and either choice is a loss for his defense. This could happen twice a game if not more with someone like RG3 as your quarterback.
- Apparently the Browns are showing “uninterested signals” with regard to RG3.
- In that same post people are alleging that the Browns’ staff is “confused” on what to do with Griffin’s skill set. I would like to think this is just a communication error. I’d like to think someone on Browns staff said, “What do you do with a guy like that? I mean he has so many skills and there are so many gameplans, but he has the ability to supercede those plans by improvising.” In that scenario, “confused” isn’t a loaded word, just simple fact with regard to a talent that isn’t easily defined in a gameplan usually marked by orderly schemes of X’s and O’s. I mean Barry Sanders was instructed to “run right,” but after that you never knew where the play would end up.
- When was the last time a trade up worked? The Brady Quinn thing failed miserably for the Browns. Technically the Browns traded up to draft Phil Taylor, but that’s not the kind of trade I’m talking about.
- Ricky Williams hardly seemed to be worth what the Saints and Ditka traded to get him. You’ll remember Ditka traded his entire 1999 draft plus 1st and 3rd in 2000. That first pick in 2000 was the #2 pick overall as the Redskins selected LaVar Arrington.
- The New York Jets probably don’t miss any of the trade pieces they traded to the Browns to move up to get Mark Sanchez. Then again if the Browns had drafted LeSean McCoy (#53) instead of David Veikune (#52) with the Jets’ pick, how do you think they would feel today?
- Just because trades up in the past haven’t worked doesn’t mean that trades up in the future won’t.
And with that, I remain just as confused as when I started thinking about the RG3 stuff. Back then I thought the price was just going to be #4 and #22. Maybe I was being naive.
I guess my summary for now is that Robert Griffin III is certainly a player worth drafting. He is certainly worth trading up to get within reason. If the Browns determine as an organization that they can build around him for the next five years then they should do it. In the end, though, it is my suspicion that the Browns feel it is premature in the team’s development to mortgage the next couple drafts for any one player.
If the Browns draft well this year, I think they might finally be well-positioned to take a gamble next season after they finish establishing young depth in this year’s draft. Right, wrong or indifferent, that is my suspicion as to what Holmgren and Heckert will do.
But man I think it could be really exciting to see RG3 running the Browns offense.
