While We’re Waiting… What does character mean in today’s NFL?
April 30, 2013Indians 9 Royals 0: UBALDO!!! UBALDO!!! UBALDO!!! I’m Sorry!
April 30, 2013
In a final breakdown of the 2013 NFL draft, Brendan Leister goes over the Browns’ performance.
- Barkevious Mingo and whether or not the Browns grabbed the right guy
- Passing up the trade with New Orleans
- The lack of stats in college for Mingo
- How did LSU use Mingo?
- Cornerback and Leon McFadden
- Ray Horton and where he’ll use Barkevious Mingo
- Mingo working on the same side as Desmond Bryant
- Jabaal Sheard and his versatility
- Leon McFadden and whether he can be the #2 instantly
- Browns trading picks and how they did value-wise
- Shamarko Thomas and how good he can be
- Thomas’ recklessness and potential for staying on the field
- Slaughter and his chance to start over Tashaun Gipson
- Kerry Rhodes and whether they should call him
- Armonty Bryant and his character issues
- Garrett Gilkey from Chadron State
- Davone Bess and just how solid he can be
- E.J. Manuel
3 Comments
Good podcast. Always interested to hear the opinions of Scott Raab and the back and forth with Craig.
There are a couple factors to consider when looking at the draft and specifically the trade out of picks in the 4th and 5th rounds.
Sitting on my couch, like Scott mentions, I thought there should be players that would help the Browns, but Banner/Lombardi chose a different strategy.
We all know that the Browns will transition from a West Coast Offense and 43 defense to a vertical passing attack and a 34 defense with a new coaching staff after Holmgren, Shurmur and Heckert were all shown the door.
Players that were not a good fit for the new direction were cut, dealt or not resigned.
However, the last remains of the old regime was the scouting department. This draft was overseen by Banner/Lombardi using the old scouting department. There are reports in the PD that some of these scouts are now on their way out of the organization since their contracts are over.
We should consider that Bannbardi did not have full confidence in the work of the lame duck scouting department in the 4th and 5th rounds and decided to get better value in next year’s draft with their own scouting department.
I was not a fan of the Lombardi hire. I thought he was dreadful in picking players during his last tour with the Browns. But he did spend 5 years in the NFL developing his contacts with the other 31 teams. He has more contacts at each team and with the NFL Network scouting people than I will ever have.
If the Browns are aggressive in assembling talent when cuts are made from other teams then the additional picks in next year’s draft allow flexibility to trade for players this year. Here are some examples:
– San Francisco is a talented and deep team. They just drafted 11 players. They all aren’t going to make the team or practice squad. Perhaps a safety or linebacker will be available when they make the cut down to 53 players. I expect Lombardi and staff to monitor and target players that are already in the league;
– Philadelphia has 5 quarterbacks on their roster after drafting Matt Barkley. Nick Foles is not a good fit for Chip Kelly’s offense, but he is a good fit for Chud’s offense. He is most likely going to be traded or released. A 6th round pick next year for Foles would bring in a developmental QB would be a win.
If the Browns execute on this strategy, and bring in complementary piayers from other teams, then this draft can be reevaluated with the additions before the season starts.
Or, conversely, the Browns could just be a merry go round of infinite suckage. This is a possibility that I cannot discount.
I am willing to take a wait and see approach. It is really all the fans can do.
Go Browns, Indians, Cavs.
I don’t think the decision to trade the 4th/5th picks had anything to do with the scouts except that next year’s draft projects to be a much, much better draft (and it’s the scouts that would tell them that).
Good tidbit from Brendan about the Browns probably selecting Slaughter in the 4th round if they had decided to use that pick. I hadn’t heard that anywhere else.