Now that we’re almost a week removed from the Super Bowl, I’d say it’s safe to begin everyone’s favorite NFL offseason tradition: talking about the upcoming draft just under three months before it actually takes place.
In the coming days and weeks, teams’ projected picks will change numerous times despite very little action taking place throughout the league. Players will rise and fall based on how much they can bench press at the combine, and the title of “best available quarterback” is sure to be handed to more than a few prospects at a time.
If there’s one team interested in that last bit, it’s the Cleveland Browns. Currently holding the No. 2 overall pick and staring at a glaring hole on the QB depth chart which has been present for over two decades, it’s safe to say the Browns are very interested in seeing who the consensus top QB is this year.
However, if you believe Sashi Brown, Cleveland’s new executive VP of football operations, the team might be willing to trade out of its current spot and move down the draft order. Though it wasn’t exactly a claim this was the preferred strategy, you could see how such a plan would make sense from the Browns’ new analytics-based policy. Trading down means acquiring more picks and giving the team a chance to bring in even more prospects.
However, in a moment of way-too-early draft panic, I can’t stress enough how badly the team needs to avoid trading out of the No. 2 pick. Cleveland must stay where it is and put itself in a position to take the top available quarterback.
I’m very well aware that there is a decent crop of QBs available in the upcoming draft. Some pundits think California’s Jared Goff is the best available, while cases are also being made for Memphis’ Paxton Lynch and North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz. The logic of “let’s trade down a little bit knowing that at least one of these three will still be available” certainly makes sense on the surface.
But this is the Browns we’re talking about. Cleveland is a team which hasn’t had a franchise quarterback or anything remotely resembling one since Bernie Kosar in the 80s. The franchise is also watching the life of its latest attempt to fix this position spiral out of control. The Browns have taken numerous swings at drafting a QB, and all of them have been massive misses.
Knowing this, you can see where the idea of Cleveland moving down in the draft and selecting the second or third best available quarterback is lunacy. The Browns have taken QBs who weren’t the top prospect in their respective drafts before. Those picks – Brandon Weeden, Brady Quinn, Johnny Manziel – were all massive busts.
However, the team wasn’t in a position to take the top overall quarterback in any of those drafts. They are now, though. Unless a team trades up and grabs the Tennessee Titans’ No. 1 pick, the Browns are going to get the first crack at this year’s crop of QBs. This is an opportunity they simply can’t afford to pass up on, no matter how many picks any other team is offering.
Cleveland needs to stand pat and wait to see who everyone is labeling as this year’s can’t miss quarterback. If it’s Goff, take him. If Wentz wows scouts despite the fact he didn’t play at a major program, fine, make him a Brown. If Lynch’s stock surges and he’s determined to be the top quarterback, bring him to Cleveland.
Whichever player is determined to be the best QB in the upcoming draft, the Browns have to be there at No. 2 to take him. The franchise has blown it every single time its tried to find the quarterback of the future, and much of this was due to the fact that the team was never in the position to take the best available.
Things are different now. The Browns finally find themselves in a spot where they have a chance to select the consensus top pick at QB. This is something the team simply cannot pass up.
