As the (3-3) Cleveland Browns prepare for their matchup by the Bay against the (5-1)NFC West-leading San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland may already be planning to move in a new direction at quarterback in 2012.
According to renowned NFL mock website, Waltersfootball.com, The Browns are projected to select junior USC Trojans quarterback Matt Barkley sixth overall in the 2012 NFL Draft next April.
The 6’2, 220-pound Barkley has currently thrown for 2,006 yards and tossed 19 touchdowns and only four interceptions in 2011. And for his three-year career, Barkley has thrown for 7,532 yards, 60 touchdowns and 30 interceptions.
Current Browns quarterback Colt McCoy is 5-9 as a starter in the NFL. McCoy has completed 58.2% of his passes, thrown for 2,953 yards, 14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions and posted a QB rating of 76.3 in his career in Cleveland.
In 2011, McCoy has thrown for 1,377 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions and a QB rating of 75.4 While McCoy’s QB rating has increased from 74.5 in 2010 to 78.1 in 2011, his completion percentage has dropped from 60.8% to 56.0%
The dropoff in production should not fall on the shoulders of McCoy and it is also unfair to quickly declare McCoy a bust at quarterback when Cleveland has failed to surround him with adequate talent at the wide receiver position.
The wide receiver position in Cleveland can best be described as comical in jest and abysmal to watch in reality as the Browns currently have the eighth worst passing attack—averaging a mere 217.2 yards a game.
It falls in the hands of president Mike Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert to give McCoy a real chance in 2012 by drafting legit game-breakers such as South Carolina wideout Alshon Jeffery or Oklahoma State wideout Justin Blackmon before pulling the trigger on Barkley.
McCoy has been under duress all year behind a makeshift Cleveland offensive line that has lost two starters—most notably Pro Bowl left guard Eric Steinbach and right tackle Tony Pashos.
Any quarterback—including Barkley—would struggle to find an open target in Cleveland due to the Browns failure to address the lack of talent at wide receiver and injuries to the offensive line.
While some fans in Cleveland are not completely sold on McCoy, spending one of two draft picks on an unproven NFL commodity such as Barkley would not only be rash but also fool-hardy.
And what about Barkley? Would he be a good fit for Pat Shurmur’s West Coast offense? How accurate will he be in the NFL? Can he handle playing in the cold Midwest in December and January?
A young and talent deprived team such as Cleveland can ill-afford to wait and find out what Barkley can and cannot do.
In the case of McCoy and the Browns, Cleveland would be wise to shift their 2012 draft priorities to more important areas such as right tackle and wide receiver instead and giving their current quarterback a real chance to succeed.
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