This started gaining some traction about 2 weeks ago and the stars are lining up for this to happen. The Bowl game play of quarterbacks thus far has been uninspiring, if Rosen comes out he will not play for Cleveland if selected and if Baker does not win the college championship he may not get a seat at the table when Dorsey starts looking at who he wants to take with that first pick. Then the question becomes - do you still take Allen with that first pick or do you work out some kind of deal to move down a spot or 4 to acquire more ammunition and still come away with possibly Allen and Barkley? Or, do you take Saquon with that first pick and grab Allen with the 4th provided that no one else is targeting him at #3 with a trade to the Colts? Speaking of the Colts, why not just make that one spot move up or maybe the two spot move up to #2 and set yourself up to take your two top rated players? The fan base would undoubtedly go bananas over taking the top two players on the board... so long as they're not some kind of insanely wild picks.... and they don't forget to take a quarterback.
I can understand that because he has put out some lousy tape, but look at it like this... Hue is still the coach as of right now. Barring a miracle trade that sends Jackson to Cincy for draft picks, you are going to need a quarterback that will fit what Hue likes to do on offense. Even if they bring in a coordinator to call the plays it will still be Jackson that constructs the game plan for game day. There are going to be a lot of downfield passes and a lot of out routes at intermediate or more. Allen has a rifle for an arm, perhaps the strongest in this draft class. He can evade pressure with decent athleticism and if given a competent ground game he will have a decent set of weapons to run play-action with. Get the ground game going, get him working play-action, get him rolling out and let him throw laser beams outside the hashes and down the sidelines. It's not ideal (more so because of a returning Hue) but I can say without any hesitation that he is a much better prospect to start day one than DeShone Kizer was and if you bring in a vet to compete and possibly start while Josh acclimates to the pro game you will probably have the best starter the Browns have put on the field since Hoyer. And with that, Allen's intangibles are without question better than Hoyer's. When I put together my list of places I want to see each player go, Hue Jackson's presence will be the biggest reason why Cleveland rarely, if ever, shows up on those lists. With that being said, it does fit what Allen could excel at early, albeit in a down ridden fashion.
But that doesn't have to happen with the #1 pick right? They can get Allen outside of the Top Ten can't they? Another trade down scenario?
Typically, I would tend to agree with you on this but I think we might end up seeing a situation like we did with Locker, Ponder and Gabbert. There are so many teams going into this off-season that will be looking to land a signal caller and enough of them will be within striking distance of a trade to move up and make things interesting. 1 Cleveland Browns 0–16 .520 2 New York Giants 3–13 .531 5 Denver Broncos 5–11 .492 6 New York Jets 5–11 .520 11 Miami Dolphins 6–10 .543 12 Cincinnati Bengals 7–9 .465 13 Washington Redskins 7–9 .539 15 Arizona Cardinals 8–8 .488 16 Baltimore Ravens 9–7 .441 17 Los Angeles Chargers 9–7 .457 It has the potential to be one of the most tilted buyers markets we have ever seen when it comes to passers.
So the Browns trade away both top 5 picks and draft oline, dline, and two #1 picks next year. Would be a typical Browns draft.
God damn Baker Mayfield is a different class of talent. That opening drive was ridiculous. Great QB prospect? Or greatest QB prospect?
As long as we don't take Darnold.......he was awful in his bowl game. Other than having some touch on his throws, he reminded me of Kizer. Just lost sight of oncoming pressure and half of those 8 sacks were on him.
I struggle to understand the love some of these players get. There's way more Christian Hackenberg in Sam Darnold than there is Carson Palmer - and even Palmer isn't an elite QB. It seems like all it takes is a 6'4" 220 pound frame and a handful of spectacular throws to get everyone's blood pumping. Darnold runs very hot/cold, makes horrible decisions, and struggles reading defenses. He's only got an above-average arm and when he's not in rhythm, has a very elongated and quirky delivery. If he declares this season, he'll get eaten alive in the NFL.
In case anybody is interested, here's that Redskins website that compiles a ton of mock drafts and keeps them updated as new changes are made.. http://www.letsgoredskins.com/MockDraft.htm
Thanks, Duff! Lots of interesting reading, scenarios and opinions in there. It looks like this flock of "experts", has Darnold, Rosen and, to some degree, Mayfield as the big three QB's of the draft class. My two cents; Darnold: I just don't see it. IMHO, he's just the next USC quarterback who will not live up to the pre-draft hype. Rosen: If he truely does not want to be a Cleveland Brown, why bring in a player who could easily infect the roster with a bad attitude. In addition, he just might be better served (professionally) by returning to school and further honing his skills. Mayfield: He, by default, has moved to the top of my list. Admittedly, I was disappointed in him against Georgia last night. Play calling from the coaching staff aside, he flashed some Kizeresque moments in the second half.
Hey, I'm a Kizer apologist, but if you take Mayfield's career Kizer moments, they still wouldn't add up to a single half of Kizer being Kizer....That is a sad reality...
Oh, I agree. But Mayfield did put some things on tape last night that can't be unseen. I still think he is the pick of this liter, but perhaps we should temper our expectations just a tad.
Josh Allen... Also, Ben Allbright has spoken at length about Allen (since another popular landing spot for him as the Denver Broncos). Per the NFL people he's spoken with, Allen is the classic "we love him" talk but when asked where he ends up on the big board it's "third or fourth round" - everyone loves him but no one wants to take him.
