Tag: rodney mcleod

With Pick #2, Gotta Go QB

The Cleveland Browns will have the second overall pick in this spring’s NFL Draft. No doubt the area’s sports talk show will devote hundreds upon hundreds of hours discussing who the team should take with that selection.

The Browns need to draft a quarterback. They have to find the right person after all these years and properly get him ready to be the starter for many years to come.

We aren’t going to pretend we are football scouts and tell everyone who should be the choice. And if the Browns would have stayed around the fifth overall pick, we would have advised trading down because the team needs to get younger and faster.

Currently, the organization has 23 players 29 or older on the team. True, two of them, Dustin Hopkins and Charley Hughlett are specialists, and another, Rodney McLeod, is retiring, but there are many key players in that group.

Among them are Joel Bitonio, who may retire, Jack Conklin, Wyatt Teller, Ethan Pocic, Juan Thornhill, and Nick Chubb. And of course, the best player on the roster and the best defensive player in the league, Myles Garrett.

Another one is Deshaun Watson, but he likely will never play another down in the brown and orange, so there’s that.

When you finish 3-14 you have holes in your roster, but in listing those players, you can see more holes are about to pop up in the not-too-distant future.

But since they moved up to second, you have to identify and draft a quarterback and then be patient enough to probably not use him for the 2025 campaign.

We are aware two rookie QBs have guided their squads to the post-season in Jayden Daniels with Washington and Bo Nix in Denver. And yes, C.J. Stroud has guided the Texans to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons.

Still, more often than not, rookies struggle at the most important position in sports, so getting an opportunity to sit and watch and be mentored should be the plan.

Everyone talks about two passers in particular, Colorado’s Shadeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward.

Sanders played two years at Jackson State and then two years at Colorado, while Ward started two seasons Washington State, before transferring to the Hurricanes this season.

Both have played a lot of college football, much like Daniels and Nix.

There are others who could and probably will put their names in the conversation.

We aren’t sure who will be deemed worthy of the selection by the Browns, but we do know we will hear ad nauseum about their personal workout days when they throw passes without a defense present, and media folks and fans will ooh and aah about guys completing 63 of 65 passes.

We could do the same in our backyard.

A former college quarterback once told me the most important thing a QB needs to do if read defenses. It doesn’t matter if you have a big arm or not, or how mobile you are if you know what the defense is going to do and can counter it.

As for the Browns, they can’t keep trying to patch a flat tire at that position. Many people thought they solved the problem when they drafted Baker Mayfield, but for whatever reason, the organization soured on him.

It says volumes that the last “franchise” player at the spot was Bernie Kosar, and he was drafted in 1985.

It’s time to identify and pick a player who can handle the spot for the next ten years. It just has to be done.

Browns Don’t Need A Total Rebuild

With the Browns sitting at 1-6 this season, the draftniks are out in full force. In their estimation, the best thing Cleveland can do is basically trade every player who has some value in order to get more picks next spring.

And that includes a great player like Myles Garrett, and very good ones such as TE David Njoku, and perhaps LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. They forget several things.

First, it’s very possible if the Browns make the correct moves, they could be making a playoff push in a couple of years, and perhaps even next season.

The second thing is overcoming a losing culture. Many of these players have experienced a pair of playoff runs. We know it doesn’t look like it, but there is a knowledge of success for a lot of these guys, and the last thing you want to do is start showing everyone in the organization is it is okay to lose.

Because of this, it is also important for the front office and the coaching staff to show everyone that winning is the utmost goal.

There is no problem with GM Andrew Berry going out and getting draft picks for veterans who are on one-year deals and are unlikely to return in 2025. We are talking about players like Za’Darius Smith, Maurice Hurst, Rodney McLeod, etc.

We have already seen Amari Cooper, another player in that category moved for basically a third-round pick.

Avoiding a losing culture is a reason we are very curious about the movement to elevate Dorian Thompson-Robinson to starting quarterback.

We don’t know how the next couple of weeks play out, but if Jameis Winston shows he can move the Browns’ offense better than Deshaun Watson, it would be tough for the front office to trade Winston or bench him.

That would tell the entire locker room that the organization has no interest in winning games. Granted, it would be the long shot of long shots for Cleveland to climb back in the playoff race, but players don’t care about next season, and they certainly don’t care about draft picks.

Yes, we understand the negative salary cap situation the Browns are in. However, the cap will probably go up next season, which should help a little bit. And hopefully, the Browns can draft their next QB in April, and that player would be on a rookie contract.

Trading some of the veterans would allow young players to get some experience and perhaps allow them to flash. We are thinking of guys like DE Isaiah McGuire, DT Mike Hall Jr., CB Cam Mitchell, and even WR Cedric Tillman.

Perhaps with some playing time, they can claim starting positions entering the off-season.

As for Thompson-Robinson, even if Winston buoys the offense and makes it productive again, you can always play the second-year passer in the last two regular season games to see how he performs.

There is no question this has been a very disappointing season, but we aren’t even a year removed from an 11-6 record. There is talent on the roster, a lot of talent. Blowing up the roster wouldn’t be prudent. This hasn’t been a five-to-ten-year span without winning.

It’s been bad, but let’s not advocate for making things worse.