Browns Need Draft To Address Defense, Not QB

In our last post, we talked about Baker Mayfield and asked the people who have seen enough of him as the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns what is the alternative.

We know the other QB on the roster, Case Keenum, will be 33 years old soon, and has a 27-35 record as a starter, with just one season, 2017 with the Vikings, with a winning record. His record taking the opening offensive snap that season was 11-3.

This means, even with rudimentary math skills, other than that season, Keenum is 16-32 as a starter, so he is not exactly a QB who raises his team over their shortcomings. He’s a journeyman. He’s a good backup because he’s a former starter in the league, but we don’t think for a minute that Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt want to explore a scenario where Keenum is getting the majority of snaps for the Browns.

What this also means is if Mayfield will not be the quarterback in 2021, his replacement isn’t on the roster right now.

Where would the Browns find a replacement?

Keep in mind, the Browns still have weaknesses on the defensive side of the football, and we would have expected a great deal of next spring’s NFL Draft (to be held here in Cleveland) will be spent upgrading that unit.

Right now, the defense has Myles Garrett, a candidate for the league’s defensive player of the year, and a very good cornerback in Denzel Ward, although many around northeast Ohio don’t seem to realize how good he is.

Larry Ogunjobi and Sheldon Richardson are solid on the defensive line, but the linebacking corps and the safety positions have to be addressed if the Browns are going to be on the same level as the Ravens and Steelers.

So, trading draft picks to either move up in the draft or to get a veteran starting quarterback from another team looking to rebuild inhibits the team’s ability to address the defense.

And do you really want to go back in the draft to find your next signal caller? The year the Browns drafted Mayfield (2018), here are the other passers taken in the first round: Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, Josh Rosen, and Lamar Jackson.

Jackson won the league MVP last season, but more for his all around skills than as a passer, and Allen is on a team that made the playoffs a year ago, but his numbers aren’t as good as Mayfield’s. He has 20 touchdowns running the ball, three more than the guy picked second that season, Saquon Barkley.

In the 2017 draft, two excellent quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson were taken in the first round. That’s the good news.

The bad news is the first QB taken was Mitchell Trubisky by Chicago. He’s been benched.

So, will the Browns find someone better than Mayfield in the draft next year? We would say it’s 50/50. And any thoughts of another tank job to secure the first pick in any subsequent draft should be squelched by everyone. Been there, done that.

That leaves with the veteran option, and who are you going to get on that market. First, you will have to pay a king’s ransom in terms of draft capital and takes a significant salary cap hit.

Likely, you will also be getting someone past their prime. And if you don’t win a Super Bowl within two or three seasons, you will be setting back the franchise in the long run, because you will need to find a younger QB very soon.

It’s definitely a quandary for Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski, but hopefully Stefanski will coach and guide Mayfield, and we will see better results going forward. Remember, this is Mayfield’s fourth coach since he was drafted.

It hasn’t been fair to his development and hopefully he is strong enough to overcome the obstacles his career has had.

What’s needed most? Patience.

Browns Can’t Gamble At Quarterback This Time.

In about two and a half weeks, the Cleveland Browns will select their potential future franchise quarterback with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft.

Forget about the mock drafts which have Cleveland taking Penn State RB Saquon Barkley, when the best signal caller you have had since returning to the NFL in 1999 is Tim Couch, you need to address the position.

By the way, that’s not a slight at Couch, who was battered and beaten during his time here because the offensive line was not built at that time.

Really, the last time the Browns have had a QB who ranked in the top ten in the league was when Bernie Kosar was behind center. That was 25 years ago.

We disagree with those who say GM John Dorsey should take a passer who has the biggest upside. After going 1-31 over the past two seasons, and having a void at the position for years and years, we feel you have to take the player with the highest floor, and in our opinion, that player is UCLA QB Josh Rosen.

Rosen was considered one of the three best passers coming out of high school, and basically has held that ranking throughout his college career.

The scouting report on him has him as the most natural pocket passer, with great mechanics and a tight spiral. Since we believe the most successful NFL teams win with pocket quarterbacks, we would seem to be a player who will be a solid pro passer.

We wouldn’t be overly upset if Dorsey selected USC signal caller Sam Darnold, because he’s only 20 years old, and has a lot of upside. His biggest strength is accuracy, but he had turnover issues last year in college.

Baker Mayfield is another player we like, but we worry about his upside since he is turning 23 years old on Saturday.

The NFL media is drooling over Wyoming’s Josh Allen, because he’s 6’5″ and can throw the ball 70 yards in the air. However, accuracy is of the upmost importance in the NFL, the ability to throw receivers open.

That’s the rap on Allen. We believe the national draft pundits are trying to be the guys who are touting the next Carson Wentz, the guy from a small school who becomes a big NFL passer.

Perhaps Allen will be the next Wentz or the next Ben Roethlisburger, but what if he’s the next Derek Anderson or Paxton Lynch? In our opinion, you cannot take that chance with the first overall pick in the draft.

Yes, the Browns have upgraded the position for this year by getting a solid veteran in Tyrod Taylor. But that doesn’t mean you can gamble at #1.

After all these years with no quarterback, you simply must get someone who will be able to handle the position for the next ten years.

Rosen may not seem like a guy who wants to play here, but if Dorsey and the front office like him, they need to sell him that things will be different now, and this is a team that can grow together with young players like Myles Garrett, Emmanuel Ogbah, David Njoku, and the others picked in the last two years along with this draft class.

This is not the time to gamble. You have Taylor for this year and maybe the next, but all that does it buy time for whoever you take to develop so he can take over.

It’s not time to take a project. Take a quarterback who has played against the best college competition.

Browns Should Draft QB At One, No Matter What.

Well, the Super Bowl was held last Sunday and that means the real football season for fans of the Cleveland Browns is here…

The NFL Draft.

The next two and a half months will be filled with speculation as to which one of the quarterbacks entering the NFL this fall does GM John Dorsey like the best.

And make no mistake about it, the Browns should and in our opinion, will draft a signal caller when the draft meeting opens on April 26th.

There are many fans with the thought if Dorsey can sign (or trade for, depending on what Washington does) Kirk Cousins, then they can use the first and fourth overall picks on other needs.

We feel that would be a mistake.

Cousins has had a decent NFL career, starting 57 games and compiling a 26-30-1 record in those starts. Yes, we know win/loss record isn’t a very good way of judging QBs.

The former fourth round pick out of Michigan State has a career 93.7 passer rating. completing 65.5% of his throws, with 99 touchdowns, compared to 55 interceptions.

His average yards per attempt was 7.6 in 2017, ranking in a 9th place tie with Ben Roethlisburger in that category.

But is Cousins one of the best in the NFL?

We would rank him just outside of the top ten, which compared to the play the Browns have had at the position over the last 20 years, would make him Otto Graham.

However, we would not pass on a chance for greatness because we had a guy who might be better than average.

We have no idea if any of the quarterbacks coming into the NFL this spring will be great, but we know that Kirk Cousins isn’t great, nor will he ever be.

Here is who we would rank ahead of the potential free agent passer: Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Roethlisburger, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan, Cam Newton, Matthew Stafford, and Russell Wilson.

And by the end of next year, you may have no choice but to add Carson Wentz and Jared Goff. Also, if Andrew Luck is healthy, he’s yet another addition to the list.

The Browns would be better served seeing if Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold, or Baker Mayfield can become elite NFL starters than signing Cousins and not adding a QB at the top of this year’s draft.

What if one of those passers became another Rodgers?

Signing Cousins would mean a four or five year commitment to him, which doesn’t work for drafting your future franchise quarterback with the first overall pick. That’s why we would stay away from him.

We would prefer Dorsey draft his guy at #1 and then stash him away for at least a full season, and maybe another half season beyond that. Let the rookie learn the game, so when he does go in there, he’s as prepared as can be.

Bring in a veteran (not Josh McCown, please) who can hold down the spot and give you a professional performance for a year or two. Perhaps someone like Tyrod Taylor or yes, Chase Daniel, a player Dorsey is said to like.

Hopefully, you never are in this position again, and that’s why you have to take a QB. We would favor taking the guy with the highest floor, or the player with the least “bust” factor.

But you have to take the chance to have greatness. Use the first pick on a quarterback.

Browns Make Changes. That Can’t Be Bad.

The Cleveland Browns make a lot of news for an 0-16 football team. It’s bad enough the ownership decided to bring back a head coach that has won a single game in two seasons, so if they were totally standing pat, it would be a greater concern.

Since John Dorsey was appointed the GM, the Browns have added more executives well respected in the football industry to their front office, hiring Alonzo Highsmith and Eliot Wolf away from Green Bay.

Although we thought Sashi Brown got a raw deal from Jimmy Haslam, we cannot complain about bringing people with solid credentials in.

Some in the media have been critical that more people from the past regime have not been let go, but that’s just silly. Why wouldn’t you want as many qualified people as you can involved with building a team that has reached depths in terms of losing that no team in NFL history has seen.

Our guess is Dorsey came in, and much to Hue Jackson’s chagrin, didn’t find a bunch of idiots in the front office, so he kept them around. We believe the reporter spouting this opinion is echoing the comments of the head coach.

As for the coaching staff, Jackson has yet to give up play calling duties, but he has brought in Adam Henry (who worked on his staff in Oakland) as wide receivers coach, and Ken Zampese (who worked with him in Cincinnati and was fired two games into the 2017 season) as quarterbacks coach.

Running game coordinator Kirby Wilson was let go, but the way the head coach eschews the running game, this position could be considered superfluous.

Rumors emerged yesterday that Mike Mularkey, just let go as head coach of the Tennessee Titans, may come aboard as offensive coordinator.

Mularkey liked to run the ball as head coach of the Titans, especially the last two seasons, but in eight years as a coordinator, his offense finished in the top ten in rushing offense just three times (2001 and 2002 in Pittsburgh, and 2008 in Atlanta).

He did finish in the top ten in scoring offense five times in those eight years.

It would be interesting if Mularkey comes aboard if he can get Jackson to run the ball more often. In 10 of his 14 years as head coach or offensive coordinator, his teams have been in the top half of the league in running attempts.

The game plan should not be changing, though. We would go out and get a competent veteran quarterback, one that takes care of the football. That was DeShone Kizer’s biggest weakness this past season, and he really didn’t progress in that area as the season went on.

Then draft your future franchise guy with the first overall pick. You have the guy who has been rated the best QB since he came out of high school in Josh Rosen. You have the guy who was the darling of the college football world after last season in Sam Darnold.

And you have the Heisman Trophy winner in Baker Mayfield.

Don’t overthink it, take one of them and let them learn behind the veteran for at least a season.

Bringing in good front office people is great. Making changes to the coaching staff is fine. However, until they start winning football games, it’s all a bunch of noise.