As NFL teams started making moves last week, the cynics out there were making subtle jabs at Browns’ GM John Dorsey for not being involved.
On Friday, Dorsey basically told those people to shut up.
The GM started the procedure to get the brown and orange to a competitive level with a trio of moves and left the five picks the organization has accumulated in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft intact.
First, he traded a 4th this year and a 7th in 2019 to Miami to get WR Jarvis Landry, a three time Pro Bowler. The Dolphins are over the salary cap and wanted to dump the receivers’ salary and Dorsey was happy to take him off Miami’s hands for a relatively cheap price.
Landry was averaged 100 catches per season in his four years with the Dolphins and gives the Browns a reliable target, one who will catch the football.
True, Miami targeted him a lot, and his average yards per catch is low, but he is only 25 years old and to get him for nothing higher than a fourth rounder is a feather in the new GM’s cap.
Next Dorsey showed he’s the guy in charge of things in Berea by trading the 65th overall pick next month for QB Tyrod Taylor.
Taylor is the perfect bridge quarterback for the Browns, holding the position for whoever the team selects with the first overall pick in April. And make no mistake, they will pick the future franchise QB in the draft.
Taylor is the antithesis of what Browns’ fans have seen over the past two seasons, meaning he takes care of the football.
He’s 29 years old, has a 22-20 record as a starter (with Buffalo), and he led the league in interception percentage last season at 1.0%.
He’s not a gunslinger, barely throwing for over 3000 yards in his best yardage years, but he does not make the crucial mistake. Plus, he’s mobile too, rushing for more than 427 yards in each of his three seasons as the Bills’ starter.
He will allow whatever rookie is drafted to sit and watch for awhile. Fans who think this trade will give Cleveland the option of not drafting a QB with the first overall pick are crazy.
It also shows the GM is in charge as the team didn’t go after Hue Jackson’s guy, A.J. McCarron.
And with the next move Dorsey made, the Browns might be looking for another passer too.
He sent last year’s starter DeShone Kizer to Green Bay for CB Damarious Randall, a former first round pick, and a swap of draft picks in the 4th and 5th rounds.
The best thing for Kizer is to watch for awhile, and he will get that opportunity in Green Bay. Even if Taylor were to get hurt this season, it wouldn’t have been good for the Browns to put Kizer back in.
His confidence had to have been shattered by last season’s disaster.
Randall has started 30 games in the NFL in three seasons, picking off 10 passes, and defending 32 more.
He is the first piece in rebuilding a secondary that is currently a weakness for the Browns. We believe another piece will be added with one of the five picks Cleveland has in the firs two rounds, and also with a high priced free agent, maybe the Rams’ Trumaine Johnson.
There are rumors that Randall may be moved to free safety with the Browns, who have said Jabril Peppers will move to strong safety.
It was a day the Browns started to get better, and there are rumors another big move will come before the free agent signing period gets under way.
The asset accumulation period is over, and the talent acquisition phase has kicked in for the Cleveland Browns. Hopefully, the days of one win in two years are over.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 