ESPN Mock: Cavs Land Harrison Barnes with Sixth-overall Pick
April 12, 2012NFL Draft: Browns Schedule Two-Day Visit for Tannehill
April 12, 2012Yesterday when talking draft, a friend of mine made a pretty good simple statement with regards to Justin Blackmon. It doesn’t really matter what a guy is “worth” on the draft value chart. Either you want him or you don’t. The draft value scale is only there to tell you what you probably have to do to get him. It also speaks to Pat McManamon’s mock draft from yesterday that I found so refreshing. It doesn’t matter what Mel Kiper thinks of Michael Floyd. If Tom Heckert thinks he is the best receiver in the draft and he wants him, he needs to either draft him at four or gamble on not getting the guy he wants in a trade down. Of course, we should have confidence that Heckert will find a way to make it happen as he has frequently traded up a couple slots when he had to in order to get a guy like Phil Taylor.
What is so helpful though is to look at the draft as binary. It’s either a 1 or a 0. You either want him for your team or you don’t. That’s the toughest part about draft speculation for fans. There are probably at least five guys projected to go in the first round that the Browns don’t want at any pick. Regardless of “rank” by experts there have to be guys that the Browns just don’t want on the team.
Much of the Ryan Tannehill talk is like that. Do the Browns even want Ryan Tannehill? They’ve talked at times like they would, but maybe that was to help drive up his price for trade purposes. Then again, if they have decided they want Tannehill on the Browns then they basically have to take him at four because he won’t be there later. That’s just taking what McManamon said about Floyd and applying it to the quarterback position.
At the same time, Mike Florio has written about the Browns draft needs and I agree with his QB takeaway as well.
Get a franchise quarterback, or stick with the journeyman you have. Drafting another quarterback of Christmas-without-the-playoffs-future won’t break the cycle of one journeyman after another.
The Browns made a play to draft Robert Griffin III because they saw him as a franchise player at quarterback. Missing out on that move doesn’t mean you can fix whatever deficiency the Browns were feeling by getting the next available options.
Last but not least, the one thing that people need to stop saying is “can’t.” I got into this conversation with (in)famous sports radio caller Hiram yesterday on Twitter as he said “You can’t draft a RT at #4!” There is no such thing as can’t. Even things others haven’t done before are fair game in the NFL because if you aren’t leading, then you’re chasing and probably never catching up.
Sure, the Dolphins never won a Superbowl with Ronnie Brown running the wildcat, but they became a far more dangerous team with it. As everyone from Cleveland to Kansas City and Denver chases the Belichick tree by bringing branches like Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Scott Pioli and Josh McDaniels, the only place it has actually retained its revered status is with Bill Belichick in New England.
While this logic may not necessarily apply to the Browns drafting Matt Kalil to be their right tackle should he be available at number four, it is still an important lesson. Championships are rarely won by trying to be the like the Patriots or Packers. Just like Apple Computer didn’t become Apple by trying to make the Palm Pilot better than Palm or trying to out-Amazon Amazon.com. Yet they found themselves one of the most revered companies by somehow ending up in the music and movie industry in a post-IBM hardware world.
In the NFL, you have to take care of business like everyone else, but along the way you also must find ways to innovate to create advantages. Innovation rarely, if ever, includes the word “can’t.”
97 Comments
top10 defense? I think you are underestimating the effects that the QBs we faced on our schedule last year. we might be able to sneak into the top10, but I would say today that we have a middle of the pack (13-18) defense and need a pass rush specialist DE (Bequette in round4!), CB2, and WOLB to be a consistent top10 defense.
Going on your principle of improve the OL first and worry about the rest next (and to placate Floyd as well). Here is what I would do if that was my strategy:
trade down from #4 to bottom of top10. draft DeCastro. draft Glenn @22 if available. if not, draft Osemele at #37 and BPA at #22 (Sanu?). Use our 3rd rounder on whichever RB drops (and hope it’s Martin though more likely Polk).
You need an OL but not one with 5 first round picks. An outstanding RB can make a pedestrian OL look good but ideally they work together.
The Browns need guys who can make plays period the problem is they also need OL help. They have enough draft picks to address both but had they participated in free agency they could have done so much more. This is just one of the reasons I’m down on this organization. We’ll see what they do in two weeks all I know is that draft guru Tom Heckert better knock these draft picks out of the park otherwise this team will be in worse shape.
Gonna go out on a limb here but no guts no glory right? Anyways I’m a fan of Wisconsin QB Russell Wilson. I saw him play in some big games this past season and liked what i saw. I watched him on the “Gruden QB camp” and liked what I heard. Gruden gave him a hard time over all of the experts discounting him because of his height, 5’10 1/2″, but I liked Wilson’s responses. In the drills the kid made all the passes and well.
Wilson and Kirk Cousins would be two QBs I’d look at in the middle rounds if they are available. Instead of taking a chance with a high pick why not take a chance on either of these two later?
Gonna go out on a limb here but no guts no glory right? Anyways I’m a fan of Wisconsin QB Russell Wilson. I saw him play in some big games this past season and liked what i saw. I watched him on the “Gruden QB camp” and liked what I heard. Gruden gave him a hard time over all of the experts discounting him because of his height, 5’10 1/2″, but I liked Wilson’s responses. In the drills the kid made all the passes and well.
Wilson and Kirk Cousins would be two QBs I’d look at in the middle rounds if they are available. Instead of taking a chance with a high pick why not take a chance on either of these two later?
its the other way around a good to great o-lone makes an average or better back look amazing and make the qb look great as well…….example) leory hoard running behind t-bone jones ,steve everette and gang looked like a pro bowler the one year,barber behind cowboys great line looked like a pro bowler,adrian peterson had mckeinley,hutchidson and gang to help him run,yes he was a great back but also had great line infront of him to help him….now if he had behind pachos,lauvoa,pinkston..even with thomas and mack im sorry he would still be still great but have zero room to run with a major amount of his plays being tackles for losses……..jim brown was great and had a great o-line….emmit smith was great and had a great o-line…….the only real excemtion in my life time was barry sanders and if he had the line that emmit smith had or other players,he would of been even scarier…..there are many examples even of average backs looking like pro bowlers…..jets had a good o-line making there running back look real talented in greene….ect
its the other way around a good to great o-lone makes an average or better back look amazing and make the qb look great as well…….example) leory hoard running behind t-bone jones ,steve everette and gang looked like a pro bowler the one year,barber behind cowboys great line looked like a pro bowler,adrian peterson had mckeinley,hutchidson and gang to help him run,yes he was a great back but also had great line infront of him to help him….now if he had behind pachos,lauvoa,pinkston..even with thomas and mack im sorry he would still be still great but have zero room to run with a major amount of his plays being tackles for losses……..jim brown was great and had a great o-line….emmit smith was great and had a great o-line…….the only real excemtion in my life time was barry sanders and if he had the line that emmit smith had or other players,he would of been even scarier…..there are many examples even of average backs looking like pro bowlers…..jets had a good o-line making there running back look real talented in greene….ect
most of those players are nice but sanu is a bust….also other good players are og brandon brooks,wr alshon jefferry,wr ryan broyles,wr patrick edwards,wr jordan white,cb trumain johnson,cb dre kirkpatrick,cb cliff harris,olb/de adrian hamilton,dt jerel worthy,dt marcus forston,dt derek wolfe,de vinny curry,ect……only trade down if we get one or more extra number one picks in future years….so called experts say qb tannehill isn’t much of a drop off from griffin 111,i couldnt disagree more because he is a bust but the same experts say teams want him or even other players,so if you want him or them then pay us like you want him or them….we are not chumps so don’t pay us like chumps
yes agree we do need anthor de….i would look at de vinny curry,de/olb adrian hamilton in 2nd to third and then sixth to seventh respectably…and if cb trumain johnson,cb dre kirk patrick,cb cliff harris and next year lb mati te’o and qb matt barkley could be had it would be great by trading furture number one or more picks to get both….but this year needs to be ot matt kalil if he is there he would make a huge difference in all aspects of the game ,helping the run,pass,scoring,keeping the defence fresh……any time you play pits puke twice,baltabums twice,even bungles went to play offs and raiders where good last year as well………rubin,taylor,sheard,jackson,hadden,and ward when we get him back is a heck of a foundation…im a defence of guy but top four if the second best to best player falls to us in kalil then it’s a blessing and we need to pick the best at every pick
the vikings are trading to the dolphins for an over drafting of tannehill…….the colts even want this to happen because they would love the chance to trade with the browns and get kalil at four a great player in pick 22 and good to great player at 37 with two piicks next year and get two great players in barkley and manti te’o,another offensive tackle,wr,or cb amerson..ect…….if they take luck they have no players with him and he will get beat up like former first round pick qb’s with zero talent around him,besides i don’t think griffin 111 or luck want to go to colts………but would you rather have luck…..or barkley when he played luck nose to nose and only losed because a rb’s fumble in multiple over times,and ot kalil and two other high picks….tough choice…we have holes everywhere…
What facts did you give to dispute my argument. That a handful of o-linemen haven’t worked out since 2005. Now that you understand the argument than I realize you are just simply wrong. Look where Cleveland is. We need to run the ball at a high level to compete because of our climate. Mack is responsible to call pass protections to put people in place. Your argument is funny because if Mack is good your saying the 2 guards and right tackle are terrible. You probably won’t understand the irony of it though. Cleveland has to have one of the best lines in the league to compete because of their climate.
you could add og kelechi osemele or og brandon brooks to those four and make a malling,pave you into the dirt o-line
Name the teams that were in the super bowl last year. Where were there receivers taken. Hakeem Nicks was the earliest at 29th. I do agree that you might have to reach a little for the right guy but Stephen Hill at #22 makes way more sense than Floyd or Blackmon at #4. If Hill isn’t there than you team build and stop getting drawn into what Mel Kiper or McShay says. If you haven’t figured out Cleveland’s identity yet than let me refresh it. We have a terrible quarterback. We have a terrible line. The 2 teams that made it to the superbowl are really good at those 2 components. The Giants line is a little weaker but they have an incredible defensive line. Go ahead and take your fools gold and have no stability for the future as far as winning for the long haul. Cleveland has one of the worst lines in the league with the best left tackle in the nfl. How does this not resonate with people more.
Tis an enjoyable forum here at WFNY
P.S. If you ever change your mind (you probably won’t need me) but you can email me at joe.murph@me.com
Only because our line stinks.
The offensive line is the most important part of your offense outside the quarterback. Cleveland has one of the worst lines in the league. We play football on the lake where you have to run the ball. Our line should be one of the best in the league every year for where we play.
I agree with this assesment
I disagree on Sanu being a bust. He reminds me of Hakeem Nicks and I think that is likely the type of player he becomes.
wilson is a little better prospect then qb troy smith but don’t see him being anthing but a third starter in the nfl…..as far as cousins i don’t see him lasting long in the league at all……….a ty detmer look a like and throwing motion qb is keenum……luck with talent around him can be as successful as peyton manning……griffin 111 has the accurcy of drew brees and the running speed when a play breaks down like a micheal vick or a john elway……ot matt kalil is the best o-tackle prospect scince joe thomas,wr floyd has the potential to be a larry fizgerald type of talent, trent richardson is the nexdt great back in likes to peterson,emmit smith,sanders,peyton,jim brown and every great back has his own style and would love for the next jim brown play for the new browns with atrade up and run behind thomas,mack,kalil..ect
So now your drafting linemen. A good idea is to trade down and I like the osemele pick for a upside project but the guard we want is Zeitler from Wisconsin or Glenn would do just fine too. Draft a tackle like Reiff who has some athleticism to play right tackle and try to resign Steinbach for cheap. All of a sudden the whole draft opens up to you because you have a line that will be solid and have depth and guys have to compete for jobs. Now you can draft any player you want and drastically improve your team for the future. Osemele can take over for Steinbach in a year and we would have great depth with Pinkston and Lauvao. Now all you have to do is draft one o-linemen every 3rd year(barring injuries) in first 2 rounds and a late round project every year to maintain a dominant line for the future.
LT Joe Thomas
LG Eric Steinbach or Osemele
C Mack
RG Zeitler or Glenn
RT Reiff or Kalil
your telling me it’s not worth to do this to set us up for the next 5,6, or 7 years. Hopefully we can get our franchise quarterback and put him into a great situation. This is only 3 of our 13 picks to make us have a great team strength. This gives them a year to gel together before we get Barkley or Jones next year.
he is none existing on deep balls.slow off the line of scrimmage.doesn’t have speed to get behind nfl cb’s.can get lazy out of breaks.down field loses interists once he has to compete for beaks after 7-10 yards.not explosive or a super athlete with ball in hands after catch. was 19 in the league of college players in recieving. was onne year with half way decent numbers and still 19. runs a 4.67 40 time.game is faster then old days. 2011 stats—115 catches 1206 yards but only 7 touchdowns against inferior college competion had bad games against good teams excemtion north carolina….2010 stats-44 catches 418 yards with 2 touchdowns….2009 51 catches 639 yards and three touchdowns…….ido like your other prospects you never know but i see him being another mahomad massaquio
They don’t get it. A good line gives us a chance to be great. If we have a dominant line it opens up the world to us. Cleveland needs a dominant line because of their climate and their division. It is the way to successfully have a team that succeeds for the long haul.
i’ve always maintained to draft 1 RT in our first 3 picks. that shouldn’t change. I think if Steinbach is healthy enough to come back and we can have a 3way battle for the 2 OG spots that our OL will be good enough.
If I were to draft 2 OL instead of 1, then I would consider the above. That’s all.
I’m not a big Zeitler fan though, he’s all technique and no “athleticism” I think he’d be great in a zone-blocking line like Houston, Atlanta, but would struggle here.
A voice of reason. Maybe resign Steinbach and we could make the playoffs potentially with 4 great linemen. Thomas,DeCastro,Mack,Steinbach,Kalil.
We would be one of the best lines in the league immediately. This sounds good to me but if we can’t get DeCastro then Zeitler from Wisconsin is solid.
if you can’t get decastro then og cordy glenn is big and strong,og kelichi osemele is big,strong and athletic…or og brandon brooks who is as big as glenn and reminds me alot of al pro og carl nicks
thank you …hopefully people can get it because i want to be able to mall teams over,knock the snot out of someone,pave them in the dirt…play hard nose,smash them in the mouth football!!!!!!!
I agree with you that he is not as nimble and more of a power blocker. I love he is a student of the game and he takes it seriously. He is a power blocker for sure but I would obviously rather have Decastro but I don’t think he will be there. Glenn is solid too and I would take any of the 3. There are hardly any good guards in this draft so if we wait we won’t get anyone that will contribute. Zeitler is more athletic than perceived he just needs to lose a little weight.
no worries – there will always be disagreements on prospects.
I think he has elite hands, superior body control, and very good route running. MoMass was a pure deep ball guy at Georgia, so I’m not sure how they correlate at all as prospects.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFWgS5hTYBY
his bad games were Pitt (Rutgers won 34-10 and didn’t need to throw much), Cinci (20-3 Rutgers – more run-focused), and West Virginia (but he did have a TD).
Still, it was his route-running, hands, body control that I focused on more than his stats as those are also dependent on the QB and system (Schiano likes to focus on RBs, which makes it impressive he racked up what he did).
I love Osemele. If you look at my past posts for the last couple weeks I have been a big fan of his. If we can get Glenn and Kalil and then pick Osemele we would look great for the next 5 years or more on the line. Well worth doing.
It’s a balance. If we have a great OL but everyone can take out our WRs with single-coverage, then the S’s will always be in-the-box, the LBers won’t have to worry about helping on slants and our run game will still suffer.
We need an above average OL, no doubt. However, we cannot afford (nor need to afford) putting all of our drafting resources into the OL either.
I wouldn’t mind either of the Brandon OL prospects from Miami (OH or FL) with our 3rd round pick.
wr’s and rb’s can be had every year every round……..giants won a super bowl with a great d-line one of the tops in the league a solid but not great o-line with 3 wr’s not drafted so high with two bruising rb’s not drafted so high to wear down the patriots….if manning had an o-line like lt thomas lg glenn c mack rg osemele or rg brooks rt kalil then he would be even more dominate….we can get our qb in barkley or qb prospects next year being just about the only team left looking for a signal caller once the dolphins take the bait on over drafting tannehill….be patient it takes five solid draft to compete year in and yaer out …this is only prez mike and gm hecks’s third draft coming up…..there building and drafting solid and we can’t over pay for free agents when we are still building because when we finally are good enough to compete we won’t have enough money to spend when where good….look at most teams who tried to fix there teams through free agency they where one and done…..and we can’t say bill bellichick because his whole pholocicify is build through the draft as well.
Not if you get TY Hilton in the 4th or 5th round LaMichael James or Isiah Pead in the 3rd round and even a chris rainey in the 5th or 6th round. Now you have a lot of team speed and you can spread people out and run quick hitters which is all Colt McCoy can throw anyways because his arm is so weak. Ryan Broyles would be a good pick up as well later. We can draft Devier Posey and BJ Cunningham in the 6th or 7th rounds as well.
i guess the camparion is massaquio and sanu is the same hieght,weight,and speed and for georgia a.j. gree was the primary dee threat and massaquio ran alot of the short yard quick hits on quick slants,quick curls as sanu did
I like Broyles though he may be a PUP candidate early on (and the reason he could be had later).
The other guys have reasons they are expected to go later that have to do with their onfield skills.
the Giants had a bad OL for the year, so they are a bad example to use (terrible worst in the NFL rushing, lots of QB pressure). they also went 9-7 and were barely able to make the playoffs in the first place.
also, we do not have Eli Manning (who himself struggled for 3.5 years).
Nicks was a 1st round pick, Manningham a 3rd round pick (character red flags dropped him). Cruz was a UDFA though.
and there will always be teams looking for QB. TB/StL if their guys don’t rebound. JAX if Gabbert doesn’t improve, etc.
i’m patient but I think we can be a much better team next year with a good draft and I fully expect us to have one (with skill positions and line positions drafted)
Been a Browns fan for 55 years and the last 15 have been tough. I sincerely believe we are on the right track with Holmgren & Heckert. Building through the draft and adding a few free agents here and there is the only way to go,
I have no idea who H&H really like / want this year, but i have confidence that their decision will be the right one. If i had my way, it would be:
1. Richardson (Kalil if available)
2,. WR / RB / OL (only if rated best on our board)
3. WR / RB / OL (only if rated best on our board)
i said giants had a solid o-line good but not great……if they had a bad one it would be pashos,pickston,and lauvou, or many other examples,of many of the 32 teams with very poor linemen and play thats why they wern’t in playoffs but yes better examples could of been used but…but by no means did they have a great o-line..they where lucky and have a top ten qb in the league,with one of the top d-lines in the game……a qb …thats just isnt’t there for us this year but barkley will next year and we will be in best postion to get him…yes teams will always be looking for a top flight qb but i don’t see teams giving up on there mistakes so early even though they should…eli has 2 super bowl rings…hicks was drafted late first round was point ,not top ten,manningham was drafted third i know
agree,hopefully kalil and richardson withother og an wr withour mountin of picks to move all around and get top talent
if Barkley is the best QB next year (I have my doubts), then we will need to be a top3 picking team at the least. I am hoping that is not the case.
nothing more than hope at this point though 🙂
if you want to just go for it and not be pateint then here…………………trade 2013,2014,and 2020 drafts,qb colt mccoy and rb jackson for the colts top three draft choices in 2012 draft rounds 1-3…..then trade 2015,2016,2017 drafts,te watson,lb scott fujita,cb sheldon brown,wr mahomad massaquio to vikings for there 2012 draft picks rounds 1-3.then trade our 2018,2019,2021,2022,og pinkston,og lauvoa,wr little for the rams first round pick,two second round picks then there third round pick in 2012 draft……………….we wouldn’t have a draft choice in 10 years but have five first rounders this year,five second round picks this year,four third round picks,two fourth rounders ,two fifths,twosixths,and three sevenths….we would be build strong through the draft with a solid team at each postion for a decade or more and any small hole which we wouldn’t have we could use then rookie free agents and nfl free agents,with also trade options as well….rookie pay scale is very affordable with in the old days when it was way more expensive the jets with a much higher payroll had had four first round picks………browns first round- qb andrew luck,ot matt kalil,cb morris claiborne,rb trent richardson,wr justin blackmon, (then best of the five wr wright,wr micheal floyd,og david decastro,og cordy glenn,fs mark barron) then rest of draft best availble with all picks
agrreed they should just go all in this year with deep draft..for once be the team of the aggreeser instead of wainting
i liked og eric stienbach but once you get a back injury in lingers and always gives you problems….and unfotunitly going up against 300 pound men everyday in practic,training,and games…it’s not too promising.but i hope im wrong
When
Mike Holmgren claims that Colt McCoy is his guy, I believe him as much
as people believed John Elway when he stated, matter of factly, that Tim
Tebow was his guy and he was going to stick with him…lol. Colt
McCoy is what the Cleveland Browns are stuck with, until the Browns
management is able to get an NFL caliber quarterback for their team.
What do you get when you put the best NFL line and the best receiving
corps together with Colt McCoy, that’s easy…a losing NFL football
team. It’s not rocket science, and no matter what spin Mike Holmgren
puts on it, when he tells himself the truth, he knows that currently the
Cleveland Browns don’t have a single NFL caliber quarterback on their
team and he knows it.
To give you a perspective here, Tim Tebow is a 5 times better NFL
caliber quarterback than any quarterback currently on the Cleveland
Browns roster!!!! That fact is pretty sad when you sit down and think
about it, and it clearly shows how bad the Cleveland management has done
the past several years!
we always could trade up for qb barkley if you dont get your guy this year…i seem to disagree to a point on qb matt barkley, he throws a great ball with accurcy deep,midium,and short passes…he has a good to great touch and can fire the ball if needed……..he went nose to nose with luck and in three or four overtimes he losed because a rb fumbled at the half yard line……i think he has great intangables and is by far better then ryan (clone of derrek anderson) tannehill
agree o-line is most important,d-line,cb’s and secondary,then qb……….trent dilfer wasn’t great won super bowl,doug williams wasn’t great won a super bowl,mark rypien wasn’t great got a super bowl,ect