Kyrie Irving to undergo MRI after injuring shoulder
February 27, 2015The Cavaliers as favorites to win it all – WFNY Podcast – 2015-02-26
February 27, 2015It’s Friday and I’m writing this one really early because I have plans on Thursday night. I have no idea if the Cavs or Buckeyes won their games last night, but I’ll try and entertain you for a bit while you, you know, wait…
To receiver or not to receiver…
Obviously the Browns need to do something at wide receiver this year. The question is whether or not they should do so in the first round of the NFL draft. I can’t answer that because I don’t know how the draft is going to fall and which players are going to be on the board when they pick. Let’s face it, I’m also not a capable enough NFL scout to tell the Browns what their draft board looks like. So, I’ll speak more generically when I say I’m not in favor of the Cleveland Browns drafting a receiver in the first round.
Unless you’ve got Julio Jones, A.J. Green or a player of that caliber available to you, I think of receiver as a complimentary position. If the quarterback is working well with a great offensive line that can run the ball, then the receivers will look better. Teams that are able to run the ball and get competent quarterbacking should be able to manufacture receiving prospects from lower in the draft and even in undrafted positions. Again, this is all generically speaking.
I would much rather see the Browns use their first round picks on primary positions that are harder to get such as offensive line and defensive line. I would prefer the Browns further bolster their linebacking corps, potentially. Again, I can’t say that the Browns should pass up Amari Cooper, Kevin White or Devante Parker if they happen to be there when the Browns are on the clock, but I can say that generically speaking, I think drafting first round wide receivers is largely similar to drafting first round running backs.
The exceptions prove the rule that you should probably just go ahead and skip receiver in the first round. If you need support, take a look at the Ravens draft history or the Steelers’ draft history.
Weekly moment of badminton zen?
I was that kid in high school that loved it when they brought out the badminton sets. No, it wasn’t the snickers over the word “shuttlecock.” I really liked the game. I was perusing Reddit yesterday and saw this epic badminton volley.
Weekly moment(s) of soccer zen…
I have a few for you this week, because I just happened to see a few that were really awesome.
First up a back heel to a nutmeg to a volley? Yes please.
Oh this stop and back heel pass…
Oh and this linesman going ape with the paint can.
40 Comments
If Amari Cooper, Kevin White or Devante Parker are available at #12, then the answer is…
http://gamemoir.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/destiny41.gif?w=1112
I disagree with you about WRs. They are not like RBs. Take a look at the leaderboards and you see Demayrius Thomas, Dez Bryant, Julio Jones, Odell Beckham, Mike Evans, Jeremy Maclin and even Torrey Smith.
WRs need a rare blend of size, speed, and ability to catch the football that is a specific genetic skillset combined with thousands of hours of work for most. Scouts have actually gotten really good at discerning the best of them.
I would actually turn your statement on it’s head a bit. If you have an elite QB, then you can get away with lesser WRs as that elite QB will make them look better. However, if you don’t, then you better have some really good WRs to help your mediocre QB out. And, I think you know which type of QB we are likely to have.
QBs can make WRs much, much better. But, WRs can make QBs a little bit better (see: 2007 Derek Anderson).
Any thoughts at all on whether the Browns should have taken a WR in the first round last year?
Also, if you have the opportunity to get a guy which turns out to be good in the first round, you will have him on a first contract (team friendly) for an additional year than the other rounds. The hard part of drafting the WR is that the distance between projections and actual performance can be much greater than a DL/OL or other positions.
We smokescreened ourselves
I am always on the side of “build the lines” in the draft. And I would expect one of the two firsts (assuming we don’t make a move up that requires both of them) to be the lines (probably defense). But with two picks in the top 20, I just don’t think there’s any way we can afford to pass on a WR this year. There are guys worthy of going in that range AND we have a glaring need. In that circumstance, pull the trigger.
As someone who took badminton class in college, I approve of badminton zen. Started out taking it just to get more time with a cute girl from my orientation class, but it turns out I really enjoy playing. Totally underrated game.
That first sequence in the soccer clips? If I’m the defending team, I’m probably just heading to the sideline after that–try again another day. Ridiculous.
Too soon
http://i.imgur.com/1E6sngB.gif
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aKk8_JHXu2w/UidZSbKAqBI/AAAAAAAAAco/pLPyKoVOB5E/s1600/1397885_o.gif
I was having a perfectly acceptable Friday.
Mmmhmmm
Maybe, but top WRs do not a Super Bowl contender make. Look at the top teams in the NFL, and compare that to the list of top WRs in the NFL. There is little to no correlation.
Facing your emotional wounds head-on is the first step in healing.
We should wait until the Dez Bryant video comes out and then sign him cheap. Should have scooped up Incognito too. Then grab Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson for pennies on the dollar. We’ll be the new 70’s Raiders or 90’s Cowboys. You commit a crime, we’ll sign you. Our soul is a small price to pay for a g-dd-mn football franchise that isn’t a g-dd-mn laughing stock.
Aaron Hernandez, come on down!
Our players don’t commit crimes. They have committed them. But they don’t now.
#California Penal League
http://i.imgur.com/CriD9Oo.jpg
LMAO !!!
the knowledgeable folks over here know that ray farmer is not going to put a premium on WR’s , as evidenced by last year’s draft … i will be totally shocked if he takes a WR in the 1st round. and there will be some very good WR’s available at 12 & 19 … but , there was a lot of good ones last year as well.
I don’t buy the whole “Farmer doesn’t value WR” narrative. You can quibble with the actual picks from 2014, but each one addressed a position of need. And you can criticize on passing on Sammy Watkins, but at least the Browns got a hefty return for him. If the Colts passed on Donte Moncrief in the third and we ended up getting him at 94 instead of West, would we all be sitting here talking about how Farmer doesn’t value RBs?
hi GARRY … yeah , it would’ve been great to have watkins , evans or bechkam. but it’s obvious farmer’s MO is to run the ball & play defense.
his thought is you can get by with decent/average WR’s … and you can’t argue with him … the browns went from having the most drops in the league , 2 or 3 years in-a-row , to having the second FEWEST drops in the league … and it was a blue collar group of austin , hawkins , benjamin & gabriel getting it done.
http://theshoegame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/01.1-back-away.gif
perfect. And as they felony out of our roster, there’s a seemingly endless supply still pouring in.
Don’t care much about the new uni as long as it has stripes.
hi RGB … i would agree with you , but i just don’t think farmer will draft one in the 1st round , or draft one at all , for that matter.
hi B-bo … good post. we had a glaring need last year with gordon being suspended & you saw what happened.
hi nj0 … you bring up a good point , but i see farmer trying to emulate the seahawks … can you name any of the seahawks WR’s ?? farmer thinks you can “get by” at WR.
i’m not saying we shouldn’t take a WR at 12 or 19 , i just don’t think farmer will do it.
… and WR WAS a position of need going into the last draft.
An orange uniform with stripes and players that commit lots of felonies?
http://www.bengalsgab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/ocho-cinco.jpg
Look at the contenders and you see a whole slew. Do not let the perception based on a the few trees of the past few winners corrupt your vision of the forest in it’s entirety.
True, but so were CB, QB, LB, and RB.
We shall see. If we don’t draft a WR this year, then I will agree with you.
fair enough … i personally see farmer going after a 2nd or 3rd tier free-agent WR , or he will try to find a hidden gem late in the draft.
Those guys COMMIT crimes. Our guys will have COMMITTED crimes. Big difference.
The Bengals are the opening act. We’re the last one in the uplifting redemption story.
hi MG … i totally agree with you. but farmer has this fascination with the “seahawks” way of doing things … and it’s hard to argue with that when you see the success seattle has had.
the other thing he did was load-up on DB’s in last year’s draft (gilbert ,desir & k.williams).
… and the one glaring thing the seahawks have that we don’t is russell wilson.
You see a few, but the best WRs are split pretty much across the board. Seattle and NE have nobody near the top; even with GB and DEN, their WRs seem more a function of the QB than anything else. Before that, the Ravens and 49ers? Giants and Pats? Packers/Steelers?
There are a handful of good WRs in there, sure, but it’s not the transcendent first-round WRs who are winning championships. Look at the first-round WR picks since 2001: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/draft-finder.cgi?request=1&year_min=2001&year_max=2014&type=&round_min=1&round_max=1&slot_min=1&slot_max=500&league_id=&team_id=&pos=WR&college_id=all&conference=any&show=all&order_by=career_av
Reggie Wayne has one ring with mostly Peyton at QB. Andre Johnson? Roddy/Julio? Megatron? AJ Green? Fitz? Dez? Only the 8-8 Cards of those guys even made a Super Bowl.
Did Seattle win the Superbowl when they had Percy Harvin and Golden Tate or when they didn’t?
I understand that the best WRs tend to go to the teams with the worst QBs and the teams with the best QBs tend to win the Superbowls. That is not a good reason to not draft the best WRs (it is a good reason to draft a QB over WR if they are anywhere near each other on your ranked draft board).
good point … but , they let tate walk after the 2013 season & traded harvin halfway through last season & still made it to the super bowl again.
Harvin – both. 🙂
I just think that the stats bear out that there are other priorities that are more impactful, not to mention salary and other concerns that come from big WRs.
and lost 🙂
I was mostly using that example to show the folly in trying to pigeon-hole the scenario. I agree with Ezzie that there are other more impactful positions. But, WR is far more valuable than RB in the 1st round and if a WR with top talent is there for the taking then grabbing him is a good thing (especially if your other option is reaching for one of those more impactful positions).
to be fair, the team supposedly only found out when we did (I don’t know if true), and that was after the 1st round.
we could have panicked and picked Marquise Lee over Bitionio. We didn’t. I’m happy.
I agree with RGB if you can get one of the top 3 WR’s then get one if not,
get the best NT in the draft . Browns were horrible against the run last year.
A few questions: Doesn’t the current reluctance to take a RB in the first round involve the perception that RBs have shorter careers? Are more prone to injury? I’m not sure that applies to WRs. Second, from Farmer’s latest press conference, didn’t he say rather matter-of-factly that he’s committed to the concealment and deception strategy for now? So I’m thinking, as a second-yr GM, he’s still developing a team draft strategy. Third, did he say explicitly that he’s following the Seattle model? Because if he did, Pete Carroll and John Schneider (GM) have said several times that, come hell or high water, they’re committed to the best player available. Final question, is there ANY position on the Browns’ roster that has absolutely no need of an upgrade? If there is no clear-cut BPA I also like B-bo’s OL/DL fall-back. Or should I call it “The Trenches” strategy. Now I just have to go find a short vid of, what? WWI trench warfare?