Reliving Yesteryear: Tris Speaker Overcomes Denial; Embraces Trade to Indians
March 6, 2014Alex Mack ready to test free agent waters
March 6, 2014The third installment of Todd McShay’s mock draft was published on Thursday morning and the Cleveland Browns find themselves once again linked to an old friend in Texas A&M Quarterback Johnny Manziel.
Manziel, who was described as the Browns’ darling prior to the elmination of Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi from the front office, had recently been bumped to the top of the pile, linked to the Houston Texans at the No. 1 spot. It appears that, for at least today, there’s a new hot name listed at No. 1 in Central Florida’s Blake Bortles, allowing Manziel to be available at No. 4 with the Browns’ first first-round selection.
Per ESPN.com’s McShay:
The mantra for the Browns is the same as for the Jaguars: take the best available QB. They’ll be pulling hard for Clowney and Robinson to be among the top three picks so they have some choices here, but in this scenario the only guy among our first round-worthy QBs is Manziel. I don’t know if he’s an ideal fit or if he’d be the Browns’ first choice, but I’m not worried about his size or arm strength as it relates to playing in cold weather. If I had to rank the top three QBs in terms of arm strength, I’d go Bridgewater, Manziel and Bortles, without much difference among the three. And Manziel’s 9 7/8-inch hands are plenty big enough to grip the ball in cold weather.
For what it’s worth, McShay has South Carolina’s Jadaveon Clowney as his No. 1 overall player and Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater as his top-ranked quarterback, each going second and third, respectively.
With Clemson’s Sammy Watkins and Texas A&M’s Mike Evans being selected fifth and 10th, respectively, the Browns are linked to Brandin Crooks, the 5-foot-9-inch wide recevier out of Oregon State at No. 26 overall. Crooks ran the fastest 40 time among receivers at the combine and his acceleration up the field right after the catch is elite. He would seemingly become the team’s No. 2 receiver opposite of Josh Gordon.
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62 Comments
sure the Falcons aren’t threatened by OAK taking their guy, but if they think that we’ll deal with someone like Tampa (or if they think OAK will) suddenly we’ve got a ballgame and the Falcons have to consider trading up in front of “mystery team” much like how we got suckered into moving up to #3 to get T-Rich.
this draft class would have been an Al Davis measurable dream. between Clowney, Mack, Barr, Robinson, Pryor, Gilbert, and Nix there is no shortage of ridiculous combine numbers going around.
of course, there would be no doubt that he’s taking Aaron Donald. it just ain’t right that a man that large can move that fast.
I don’t know, I’m still shocked Al Davis didn’t leap from the grave after Dri Archer declared for the draft.
Nah. It would just be “OY VEY, 15 and counting! Go Bruins!”
he would wait until round2 for a guy like Dri. Al never took small school guys in the 1st round but his 2nd round picks are littered with them.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6q1px2Un01rrzx66o1_400.jpg
I still don’t understand why they won’t try him at RB. The guy was an RB out of college, he has hands of stone, and we need an RB. Does that just make too much sense for them???
after watching him blow up OSU I followed that kid all year. he’s freaking great.
I think the Mock Turtle from Alice in Wonderland would be a more suitable water-faring creature for the NFL draft season. Now, if only someone would be so kind as to photoshop Mel Kiper hair onto him…
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Alice_par_John_Tenniel_34.png
No idea why people suggest this. He was such a great college RB that his coaches … moved him to receiver. What basis is there to believe he’s even a bad NFL running back? He runs upright, can’t quickly shake a defensive back, couldn’t split a seam with a running start on kickoff returns. Can’t picture him at all exploding from a standing position and through a hole. He’s a long-striding height guy who should outreach others for the ball. Except he can’t change direction to get open and can’t catch.
Whats changed? To NFL brass who know what they’re talking about, not much. To the prognosticators who are desperately trying to chase the true experts, a lot changes. Your local weatherman has a better record than most of these guys do. Zing. I think theres something to what bode said about covering their bases. you put enough lines in the water…
This has been my question all along. Not discounting what Watkins brings as a prospect, but if WR depth is as good as everyone seems to think it is, why not target position with later picks?