Browns Draft Addressed Needs

With all of the discussion that takes place before the NFL draft, what comes after the selection meeting, which is what the NFL calls it, the so-called grading period, can be even more ridiculous.

Usually these grades are given based on where the person assigning the mark had them rated. Which means if you like player A, and your team takes player A, then that team gets a good grade. Really meaningless if you think about it.

The Browns went into the draft needing to improve their offense, and their first three selections produced three likely starters, which for those with limited math skills, is 27% of the starting lineup.

While we can all debate on the wisdom of taking QB Brandon Weeden with the 22nd overall pick, if GM Tom Heckert and coach Pat Shurmur felt that Colt McCoy was part of the problem with the offense, then Cleveland moved quickly to improve that position.

And the supposed failure to draft a wide receiver in the first three rounds is also predicated on that opinion. Obviously, the front office and coaching staff felt McCoy was the reason the receivers were not as productive as they could be and will be with Weeden under center.

Really, what comes first: The “#1” receiver or the franchise quarterback?

Green Bay has a tremendous passing game, right? Well, their two leading receivers (Jordy Nelson and Greg Jennings) were both 2nd round picks out of Kansas State and Western Michigan respectively.

Drew Brees’ favorite targets in New Orleans were TE Jimmy Graham, a 3rd round pick and former basketball player, and WR Marques Colston, picked in round seven.

The other top three passing team in the NFL was New England, and Tom Brady’s favorite guys to throw to are Wes Welker, an undrafted free agent, and TE Rob Gronkowski, another 2nd round pick.

All of these receivers are talented, without a doubt, but they weren’t regarded as future All-Pro’s at the time they were drafted. The guys who throw the ball made them that.

Both Shurmur and Heckert seem to feel the production of players like Greg Little, Josh Cribbs, Ben Watson, and others will increase with a stronger armed passer throwing them the football.

The Browns also addressed the weakness on the offensive line by draft T Mitchell Schwartz from California to replace Tony Pashos as the starter on the right side. If he’s as good as advertised, Weeden and new feature back Trent Richardson will operate behind a young group, with Joe Thomas being the oldest.

Nevada LB James-Michael Johnson is another selection who figures to be on the field quite a bit as a rookie. Johnson played inside in college, but several reports have him possibly beating out veteran Scott Fujita on the outside.

Cleveland needed some depth at linebacker, so Johnson and 6th round pick Emmanuel Acho from Texas should provide that.

The other picks made by Heckert also addressed depth. G Ryan Miller, DE Billy Winn, and CB Trevin Wade should be able to help out positions where you can’t have enough good players.

In addition, Winn and Wade were both graded as 2nd or 3rd round talents by CBS Sports, so they were good value picks in the 6th and 7th rounds.

Most of the critics of the draft cite the picks of DT John Hughes in the third round and not picking a wide receiver until the 4th when speedster Travis Benjamin was picked. If those critics are to be fair, they have to give Heckert kudos for Winn and Wade.

No matter what people want to say, the Browns identified their weaknesses, the same ones the fans could see, and they picked players who can improve the team in those areas.

What else did anyone want them to do?

Browns Offense Gets A Makeover

The Cleveland Browns acted boldly in the first round of the NFL draft trading up at the beginning of the draft, and making a quarterback change later in the first round.

Moving up one spot to pick Alabama RB Trent Richardson was done to make sure the Browns got the best running back in the draft. Richardson is arguably the best runner Cleveland has had since the days of Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner.

There are critics who say GM Tom Heckert didn’t have to move up, but obviously he was weary of Tampa Bay dealing with the Vikings to get the pick with the idea of getting Richardson.

It says something about it being a good pick that other teams were trying to move up to get him.

Besides, even though the NF L is a passing league, you still can’t win unless you can run the ball and you can stop the run. The Browns have ranked in the lower third in the league in rushing for sometime now.

The bigger surprise was the selection of Oklahoma State QB Brandon Weeden with the 22nd pick.

There were reports that the Browns were enamored of Weeden, but it was thought Heckert would take him with his second round selection.

That choice tells you all you want to know about how the team felt about Colt McCoy. It is obvious coach Pat Shurmur felt McCoy was responsible for the poor performance of the offense last year.

Now, Cleveland has a passer with a big time arm, so there can be no more excuses as to why the attack doesn’t throw the ball downfield more often.

As for the biggest question mark about Weeden, his age, if he’s going to start next season, it’s not really a factor. The Browns can still get 8-10 years out of him if he avoids injury.

And that’s up to Holmgren and Heckert to make sure he has the proper protection.

It would be surprising if McCoy is still on the roster come Monday morning. The bet here is he will be dealt for a late round draft pick before the end of the draft.

Just remember this, however, St. Louis’ offense had similar yards per attempt numbers when Shurmur was the Rams’ coordinator, and he had Sam Bradford as his quarterback in the second year there.

So, fans will see once and for all if it was McCoy or the Pat Shurmur version of the west coast offense that is the problem.

Shurmur will have a lot of explaining to do if after the first half of the season, the passing offense is still filled with a variety of short throws. West coast offense or not, the passing attack has to be opened up if Cleveland is to win.

Back to Richardson, if he’s as good as advertised, we will provide someone opposing defenses will have to game plan for. When was the last time the Browns could say that?

He also takes pressure off of Weeden, who should have a strong running game to keep the heat off of him.

And you can expect Heckert to draft a wide receiver today, perhaps as early as the 37th overall pick. That would give Weeden a pair of solid wide outs, as we suspect Greg Little will be a much better player than he was as a rookie.

Perhaps it’s the Browns version of “the triplets”.

Hopefully, yesterday started the next era of Browns football. There is no doubt it will continue today with rounds two and three.

All Kinds of Reasons Not to Draft People

The year of NFL draft analysis is almost over, so the Mel Kipers and Todd McShays of the world will go back to irrelevance as of Sunday.

Of course, both of those guys and others like them will start their analysis of the 2013 draft almost immediately.

It is funny how the “draftniks” decide who should be picked and where.

Everyone seems to have a reason as to why a particular player should not be picked instead of the current analysis, which would be picking the best player on a given team’s draft board.

And they bring up odd data to support their reasoning. That’s the beauty of all this misinformation.

For example, the Browns should not take Alabama RB Trent Richardson because the 4th overall pick is too high to take a running back.

Look at the NFL’s leading rushers. Maurice Jones-Drew led the league in yards gained on the ground, and he was a 2nd round pick. So, was Ray Rice of the Ravens, who finished second in the NFL in rushing.

Therefore, no team should draft a running back in the first round, right?

Heck, Houston’s Arian Foster (5th in 2011) wasn’t even drafted.

However, there are many productive backs in the league today who were picked in the first round, such as Marshawn Lynch, Steven Jackson, Ryan Mathews, and Willis McGahee.

If the Browns have Richardson as the best player available at #4, they should pick him.

Then, you have Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon, regarded as the best receiver in the draft this year.

The draft pundits will say that Blackmon is not as good as last year’s fourth overall pick, Cincinnati’s A.J. Green, so he shouldn’t be picked there.

Once again, if the GM Tom Heckert thinks he’s the best player when Cleveland in on the clock, they should take him.

The critics will say the Browns can’t take Texas A & M QB Ryan Tannehill because he’s the third best passer available in the draft. Forget that Ben Roethlisberger was rated the third quarterback in the 2006 draft behind Eli Manning and Philip Rivers.

That’s worked out pretty well for Pittsburgh, hasn’t it?

And certainly Heckert shouldn’t take LSU CB Morris Claiborne because they need help so badly on offense. Why shouldn’t the Browns take him and team him with Joe Haden to have possibly the best pair of cornerbacks in the NFL.

The last time Cleveland has a pair of shut down CB’s was in the late 1980’s when they had Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield. It is a coincidence that was the last time the Browns were a power in the league?

The way the so-called experts talk about why players shouldn’t be taken by the Browns, it’s no wonder that the talk of trading down for more picks is out there.

The purpose of the draft is so the teams who didn’t have a good record in the previous year can get better, and the way to do that is to take the most talented players.

It’s really very simple.

With the fourth pick in the draft, Heckert needs to take the best player on his board, and position shouldn’t really matter. The only caveat would be T Matt Kalil, who plays the same position as Joe Thomas, the Browns’ best player.

If Cleveland thinks Trent Richardson is that guy, and a few scouts have said he’s the best running back prospect to enter the league since Adrian Peterson, then the Browns should take him.

Of course, the “draft gurus” will tell you that’s a mistake. Then again, they aren’t picking anyone.

A Notable Week in Cleveland Sports

According to the calendar and weather forecast, this should be another cold week at the end of April.

It’s kind of cruel because of the 1o days of summer that hit northern Ohio in the middle of March. That makes this seasonal weather in April harder to take.

However, it should be an eventful week for Cleveland sports. The Indians are coming home from a tremendous 7-2 trip, which puts them back over .500 after their tough start to the season.

The Browns will be the center of the sports universe because of the NFL Draft which starts on Thursday and runs through Saturday.

And the Cavaliers are finishing up the NBA season with three games, starting tonight in Memphis. At stake for them is where they will wind up in the draft in late June.

Here’s a look at the week that will be:

Indians. The Tribe offense is striking out less and walking more and so far this has led to an attack that is scoring more runs than expected. To be fair, a boatload of those tallies came against the Royals, who are here tomorrow night for a three game series.

One Indian that is red-hot is DH Travis Hafner, currently hitting .359 with an on base percentage of .509. Pronk has even hit two tape measure home runs this young season.

There is no question that when Hafner is healthy, he’s a great offensive player. He has a lifetime OPS of close to 900, an outstanding figure.

However, we have to caution those fans proclaiming that Pronk is back. Remember, when he hit the grand slam to win the game against Toronto on July 7th, he was hitting .347 with an OPS of 994.

He wound up the season at .280 and 811.

If Hafner can stay healthy and productive, he gives Manny Acta an all-star type hitter. The biggest word in that sentence is the first one.

Browns. Enough has been written about what Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert will do with the 13 picks the team has at the end of the week.

There is no question the brown and orange need an influx of talent, particularly playmakers on offense. Look for Heckert to take at least two players who will be able to make a difference when Cleveland has the football, and take them early.

The front office needs to understand this week is the start of the turnaround of the Cleveland Browns. A disgusted fan base may turn into an apathetic one with another 4-12 record in 2012.

Cavaliers. Right now, the Cavs sit with the 5th worst record in the NBA, meaning they would have the fifth best shot at the first overall pick.

However, with three games left, they could wind up with the third worst record or the finish with the 8th worst mark. This wild fluctuation is obviously very important to their future.

We never advocate losing, but with two of the three games being on the road, the lone home game left is with Washington, a winnable contest, it is likely Byron Scott’s team will finish at 22-44.

The wild card is New Orleans, who has won six of their last ten, but whose two remaining games are on the road.

The Cavs-Wizard’s game makes no difference for Cleveland because the wine and gold cannot finish with a worse record than Washington.

Still, we will have a good idea of where GM Chris Grant will be able to pick at the end of this week.

It may not be a huge week on the field or court, but make no mistake. By next Sunday, Cleveland fans will know a little more about the future of their football and basketball squads.