DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2018 NFL Season 2018 NFL Draft Browns Draft Options

Pick 1 - QB
The Browns have a lot of choices here but if you look at what they have done so far, it provides a much clearer picture. Taylor and now Stanton pretty much sews up QB play for 2018. So the pick will sit and thus who has the highest upside going forward? Trading Kizer sent a message you can't ignore. To unload a 20-year old who got some valuable experience blessed with a big arm makes you scratch your head but 2 things stand out with Kizer last year. Accuracy was an issue and he had a couple of concussions. If you read those tea leafs combined with the fact they went out and got Taylor with a super low turnover rate you might see the direction the Browns are going. Allen has a ton of talent but his accuracy issues are nothing more than Kizer 2. If injuries were also an issue then you have to wonder if Rosen is being considered either. Like it or not, off the field issues should automatic put a stop sign up for Mayfield so that leaves Darnold as the Browns pick. Safe, upside, hard worker, and no off the field issues.

Pick 4 - ?
Pick 4 becomes important because the Browns absolutely have to hit on all other picks in rounds 1 & 2 since #1 overall is a year 2 or 3 before you get any return. What the Giants do at 2 will have a huge bearing on this pick. If the Giants pick a QB or trade out to a team needing a QB, I believe the Browns will trade out of #4 because the take would certainly out weigh the pick. If the Giants take Chubb/Barkley then I think the Browns take the other.

A trade out of the pick would be with Buffalo. The Browns would get Buffalo's 12th, 22nd and 65th picks for the Browns 4th pick and Coleman. Trading Coleman makes all the sense in the world since he's clearly a bust and injured frequently. Plus he's still under his rookie deal - a huge plus for Buffalo.

Our selections then would be:
12th from BUF McGlinchey LT Notre Dame (replacement for Thomas)
22nd from BUF Hubbard DE Ohio State (not Chubb but the 3rd rated DE)
33rd Michel RB Georgia (clearly RB by committee with Duke and Hyde under contract and questions why the Browns would even consider an every down back like Barkley)
35th Oliver CB Colorado
64th Allen S Penn State
65th from BUF St Brown WR Notre Dame (big body)
114th Rolland-Jones OLB Arkansas St
150th Gallup WR Colorado St (big body)
175th Facyson CB Virginia Tech
205th Bierria OLB Washington

Definitely not. 12, 22, and 65 is not enough compensation to make up for the player we're giving up at 4, right off the bat.

And if Corey Coleman is a bust (which, I definitley do not agree with. Has been a bust so far, and is a bust is very different), why would Buffalo want him?

No freakin way

All due respect, you don't know who will be there when we pick. McGlinchey & Hubbard could go top ten and then what? Gallup could go in the second or third. And so on. Trading down is fool's gold, IMO. We need the difference maker we can get at #4.

(There is a forum for Mock Drafts, if you want to post your picks there it might make more sense, since tithes is your wish list.)

How many times can we trade down and end up with sub par talent like Corey Coleman, Jabril Peppers, Phil Taylor, Brandon Weeden, Cameron Erving.....before we stop trading down and take players?

Agreed. I want the best guy at number 4. Not a trade down for McLynchy and this Hubbard guy (whoever he is)

So we should stay at the top and draft guys like Tim Couch, Courtney Brown, Gerrard Warren, Braylon Edwards, Trent Richardson, and Barkevious Mingo?

Those are two lists that inspire a ton of optimism.

Couch might have been an excellent QB if he'd had an o-line, some talent and a defense. That was not a bad pick. Courtney was beast, just made of glass, but who knew? Warren, Edwards, Trent & Mingo? Bad picks by bad FO's. You really can't equate previous drafts or their situations to the one we have in front of us.

JMHO.

Ok, let me put this another way. For 2 decades the Browns have been building through the draft. Every year many fans get on this forum and swear this player will be great or that player will be great. For the Browns, in most instances it has come down to QB play or future play. In the last 30 years, I can only remember 2 QB's coming out of college that were defined as can't miss - Elway and Luck. There is no such QB this year nor was there last year. Crying over skipping this guy or skipping that guy is just arm chair QBing, there was not any guarantee that those players would have had the same success in Cleveland so in reality - its a mote point.

That said, one of the biggest if not the biggest issue the Browns have had the last 2 decades is they get QB's to save the franchise but never get playmakers on either side of the ball to go with said QB. Except for Joe Thomas (who's not a playmaker) name me a former or current Brown that had Pro Bowl caliber success on either side of the ball over a sustained period of time for the Browns the last 2 decades.

There aren't any! This organization has been cruel to rookie QB's and there's no other way to state it. Now Dorsey has laid some serious foundation blocks. He's went out a got a serviceable QB with a low turnover tendency. He's signed 3 DB's and 2 OL to shore up problem areas. He's signed an above average RB along with a 3-time Pro Bowl WR. He has the youngest team in the NFL with a trove of draft picks. However, the draft is a crap shoot and any one thinking there's a sure bet I have swamp land in Florida for you but you have to play the cards dealt to you.

Which leads me back to OBJ. At 25 and with his playmaking talent, the Browns would be complete idiots to not try to secure this playmaker to go with Gordon, Landry, and Njoku. This would give the Browns 3 current or former Pro Bowlers that are PROVEN NFL COMMODITIES. On paper, the Browns would have the most talented receiving corp in the entire NFL - can you say playmakers?

As I said before, the Giants only have 7.5 million in cap space so they cannot extend OBJ and draft without cutting some serious dollars elsewhere. If they trade OBJ, it would free up his 8 million and allow them to draft but having 2 high first round picks would put them back into the same boat. This is especially true if they are planning on drafting a QB at #2 which would represent 2-years of basically dead money while he sits behind Manning. That's why I'm sold on the Giants accepting our 2019 first round pick with this year #35 and Duke Johnson for OBJ. Duke is very expendable with every down backs Hyde and Barkley sharing the RB duties. Outside of injuries or off the field issues, this move would give the Browns 6 playmakers on offense for the next 4-5 years and they are all in their low to mid 20's.

Imagine what it would be like for our so called franchise QB coming into year 2 with an established playmaking force with a year under their belt working together - something Cleveland hasn't had in over 2 decades. Thinking a rookie or Coleman will give us the same threat is just silly. With the amount of cap room the Browns have, I think this is a no brainer if they can get the Giants to make the move.

Thoughts..

I sat down and wrote out the depth chart today one side of paper for offense and the other for defense. Here's a nice color coded chart for ya.. https://www.rosterresource.com/nfl-cleveland-browns/

The very first thing that stuck out at me is LT. Shon Coleman backed up by Rod Johnson?? OUCHIE.. Hubbard will be the RT. That's a position that will HAVE to be addressed in the top two 2nd round picks. We CANNOT trade out of either of those two picks. I'm wishing we still had Greco.. massive blunder IMO.

I'm becoming convinced we have to pray that Corey Coleman gets it this year.. we need him to figure it out. Color me less than excited about Louis, Higgins, Hazel, Williams, and Howard

Frankly, I think our defense is going to be ok..

just random thoughts

LT is a big area of concern - and one we have been fortunate enough to not have to think about for many years with JT there. Having TT being mobile and a vet will help some, but adding depth would be great, adding depth that could develop and start would be even better.

I agree on Coleman. I think if he can stay healthy and if he is the 3rd best WR on the team, he'll have an opportunity to shine and remind why he was a 1st round pick. I'm not setting my hopes up too high - but if he can snag 50-60 passes I'd be very happy. Higgins started to show legit flashes at the very end of the season.... there is a little hope there too.

Taylor is mobile, but he holds the ball longer than any other qb in the NFL. He does not know what the word "anticipation" means.

I like the guy, but the OL has it's work cut out. It's too damn bad we couldn't lure Solder here.

See, that's not quite true. Shaun Coleman will be backed up by Drango. So will Hubbard. Then there's this Stephenson guy who's play a lot of positions, but especially tackle (and LT) in the NFL. In actual games.

So, while it's not optimal, this Stephenson guy will be fighting with Rod Johnson to make the team. Drango will be the backup for both tackles I'd imagine. He'll probably also be the backup for both guard spots. Drango will be out jack of all trades, except for center (which we're deep at). I do think we'll probably pick up an O-Linemen somewhere in the draft though.

But Johnson, sucked in training camp and preseason last year. He'll have to show that he's shaped up, or he'll ship out. There's two other backup tackles on this team



Edit: Oh, and I heard on Nate Ulrich's podcast today that Spencer Drango will not be competing for the starting LT position (not sure why though). So it looks like it's gonna be Coleman's to lose, because Hubbard got signed to be the starting RT, and this Stephenson guy's resume doesn't look particularly impressive.

Pete,

The Depth chart I drew up has Stephenson backing up Hubbard and Johnson backing up Coleman with Drango backing up Bitonio. Quite frankly, I'm worried.

lol. Why'd you draw it up that way then! Draw it up so that Drango backs up Coleman, and Johnson backs up Drango. Who played RT in the training camp practices this year and preseason? Cause Coleman played left. So I assume Drango must have manned RT?

Can't he backup both positions, with Stephenson backing up him.

It's a helluva lot easier to find guards than tackles. So you should put Drango backing up the tackles. JC Tretter can always backup the guards and Austin Reiter can come in and play center if people start going down.


The depth chart doesn't have to be the way you drew it up man. Make some changes, lol


EDIT: If you look at the most recent Hue Jackson article, it said that Spencer Drango would be moved to RT in the interview. Leaves me quite confused, but we already know Drango can backup LT. So he'll learn how to backup RT now. Drango has also shown an ability to play LG. And they said that Hubbard (the 35 million dollar RT) has played lots of spots on the line. From guard to tackle. Bitonio has played LT in college, and in an emergency can be moved too. And JC Tretter at center has a good backup, and he played every position, including LT for Green Bay at one point. He's truly a jack of all trades.


That's the nice thing about this line. If things really start hitting the fan, we have a lot of versatility. And most importantly, we have a good backup center. We all saw what happened when Alex Mack went down the year Kyle Shannahan was OC. No one to replace him (i think the backup got hurt), and it was a disaster

Thanks for the laugh, I'll see what I can do. I'm just expressing my concerns and fears. I do have Reiter backing up Tretter btw.

How bout Drango backing up tackles.. and we draft Isaiah Wynn or Will Hernandez in the 2nd?

J/C

The LT position is clearly a concern, even if they say Coleman will get the first crack at it. Imagine this scenario:

Draft QB at #1
Manage a way to trade back from 4 and then draft Ward
Manage a way to trade up fro 33 with extra assets to secure the LT

You had me believing you until the Coleman thing... We need players... Now.. I don't trade out of 4. I take a player that will have an impact now.

The player we pick first will probably be a QB... (Darnold or Allen I think) and given we have stanton and taylor, I don't think the new guy plays this year. So he makes no impact now.

Just an opinion...

We all should be.