Official 2014 NFL Draft Thread - Quarterbacks

I think people really need to face the facts... this team is drafting a QB at #4.

The Browns simply cannot keep trying to plug has-beens and maybes into the most important position in sports and expect to have success. As much whining is done over how much the front office is over-turned (and I agree, it's out of hand) we don't see the same complaints with QBs.

[In fact, it's typically the opposite. "Give him three to four years, jeeze!" Brandon Weeden shouldn't have been allowed to finish his rookie season. If a dud running back (Richardson) can be traded / replaced after 15 games, why can't a dud QB?]

If I'm the F/O, I'm taking a QB in the first round and a QB in the later rounds every season until one pans out. At this point, it's their only play left.

Now, we can argue about who's going to be that QB at #4, but you can scratch Teddy Bridgewater off the list (#1 overall) and then it's a two-man race between Johnny Manziel and Blake Bortles.

The smart money is:

Houston - Teddy Bridgewater
St. Louis - Jake Matthews
Jacksonville - Blake Bortles
Cleveland - Johnny Manziel

Bortles is one of those football darlings we see every year who comes on strong at the end of the college season, intrigues everyone in the offseason and gets drafted 10 - 30 spots higher than normal. Jacksonville is a team dysfunctional enough to do that.

That leaves us with just Johnny Football.

 

IDK, Sammy. Bortles strikes me as more like a Ben Roethlisberger type. I have a gut feeling that he will succeed at the NFL level.

 

And that is the crux of the whole argument... Who will the Browns take at #4?...

What if someone else takes Johnny Phuqeup before the Browns select at #4?

There are no guarantees that He IS the Browns only option at #4.

That is merely an ASS-UMEption made at this point.

Yes the Browns FO is going to take a QB in the upcoming draft we just don't have a Phuqing clue who... YET!

The reality is we as fans will be STUCK w/ whomever it is... *PARDON*

 

That AV is going to your head...how long do we have to look at that thing?

 

I'm telling you, don't discount the Texans wanting to trade down to 4 to get their guy...Manziel, Texans stick together and taking the Browns 2nd first rounder to do it...

 

Problem is that everywhere I look Manzel does not rank as a top 10 prospect let alone top 5. That is looking at sites like Walter Footabll, Drafttek, ESPN,etc...

Yes he is graded as a first round prospect but in the late teens to twenties. NOT top 10 at this time. Yes there is the combine and pro days yet to go for scouts to look at the draft prospects for this year so that could possibly change between now and May.

Keep in mind I'm not looking at Mock draft boards, I'm looking at overall prospect rankings.

 

Huh?

Why would they (the Texans) have to trade down when they could simply pick him instead of Bridgewater? *SCRATCH*

 

Unfortunately, through the Super Bowl. :!

And . . . it's all your fault! You fed me too much Weeden Kool-Aid before the start of the season. :/

 

Quite frankly because I don't think they want the #1 pick overall period!! It wouldn't be IN ORDER TO draft Manziel...With the QBs they have on staff, I don't think they as a team would have an issue with any of the 3 in Manziel, another Texas product in Jake Matthews and even more likely DE Jadeveon Clowney.

But, knowing they can get one of these 3 players AND another first rounder at the bottom of the round would be very enticing to this team, who much like the Colts a couple of years back, that is close to playoff caliber already. It is a fluke that they ended up in the top spot of the draft.


As for the AV, you never listen to me any other time, what in Sam Hill! made you place a bet on anything I said...Silly Lym, just plain silly!!

 

OK, I understand you are looking at Big Boards, but that has little to do with where guys are really prospected to be drafted. For instance, QB which we are talking about is the single most coveted position in the draft. ESPECIALLY with the new rookie wage scale. There are certainly players graded out higher at other positions, but even so, they don't have the same ability to influence a game as much as the QB. In other words some have Clowney as #1, others have Matthews as #1, but no one really expects either to be taken #1 overall...some don't expect them to be drafted in the top 4 spots. So, instead of looking at the big boards, you need to think in means of draft placing.

Most Big Boards will place "sure things" ahead of high ceiling potential...Which is they way it should be in my opinion.

However, it isn't how it will happen on draft day...

 

I get that teams will reach for players (especially QB) based on need and not based on taking the most talented player available.

IMHO that is why teams like the Browns are always drafting top 10 and teams like BAL are drafting in the bottom half of the draft consistently. *WALL*

 

I don't put as much merit on the draft as I do consistency in the front office and coaching changes. Good systems will give you good teams consistently. At some point though, I think you need a special player to put you over the top..In Baltimore that player was Ray Lewis, In Pittsburgh it has been a slow steady set of players reaching all the way back to the 60's, In Denver they had Elway, then they struggled, then they went and got Manning...You can usually pinpoint a franchise turnaround (if they are consistent about it) to a player or a group of players that gel.

But the draft should always bring about players that can learn from the core and consistently make the team better...

This is where the regime comes in...when changing regimes every 2-4 years, the players never develop a core as every regime wants their own stamp..thus the core players never reach their potential as they are moving on before they, in reality, should just be starting in the franchise.


I still believe it should be the exception, not the rule, that ANY draft pick start their first year in the league...There is way more than just learning a position to the jump and it takes time to acclimate. Giving a young man that time is imperative to his growth imho.

 

I agree Irish, consistancy starts at the top and right now our beloved Browns just don't have it. Even with the "new" owner and FO. At this point I am unsure if the Browns will ever have it.

I agree that rookies starting from day one should be the eception rather than the rule. Unfortunatley in the case of the Browns we just have never been able to get that core group of players for the rookies to learn from.

As for that special someone to put you over the top... I'd settle for building a solid foundation before swinging for the fence.

 

Really?

Since 1999, here are Cleveland's Top 10 picks.

1999: 1-1, Tim Touch QB
2000: 1-1, Courtney Brown DE
2001: 1-3, Gerard Warren DT
2004: 1-6, Kellen Winslow II TE
2005: 1-3, Braylon Edwards WR
2007: 1-3, Joe Thomas LT
2010: 1-7, Joe Haden CB
2012: 1-3, Trent Richardson RB
2013: 1-6, Barkevious Mingo DE/OLB

In fact, it's been Cleveland's sheer avoidance of drafting a QB high that has led (in part) to their constant struggles. At least when you're drafting QBs in the Top 10, you're getting an elite prospect that you are forced to build around.

Tim Couch lasted for five years.

No other QB since the expansion (including fellow first-round picks, Brady Quinn and Brandon Weeden) has made it half that long.

 

Neither did most QBs who declared for the Draft and then helped their stock in the postseason.

Cam Newton wasn't tabbed as the first overall pick from Day 1.

Robert Griffin III was a second round prospect before his meteoric rise. And speaking of 2012 QBs, Ryan Tannehill was listed as WR when he declared and Brandon Weeden was considered a fourth round prospect, at best (accurate).

The point is, the demand for QB is going to push them 15 - 30 spots higher than they should be. I agree that you take the best player available for your team, but only after you've tabbed your franchise QB.

Q: How about if the Browns sit at #4 and have a choice between Jake Matthews (No. 1 prospect) or Johnny Manziel (No. 9 prospect)? Do you take the LT, knowing you already have the best one in football on your team, or do you take the slightly lower-rated but much higher need pick in Manziel?

A: Johnny Football

 

Look folks I get that finding that supply vs demand is going to give rise to QB prospects. I get it.

What I perhaps am failing to convey is that I am not seeing "Franchise starting QB" from day one with any of the declared QB's save maybe Bridgewater.

Talented as many of them are I'm not sold on any of them being "the guy" to take the Browns to the superbowl.

I'm fairly sure that Bonehead and Leotard WILL take a QB early in this draft. It's almost a 101% guarantee. I just hope that they?ve done their Due Diligence and get the RIGHT guy for this team.

 

Crex, I get it. And I'm not trying to suggest that Manziel is a "slam dunk".

For me, he's the best available (assuming he makes it to #4) and a guy that I could get excited about as the Browns' starting QB.

 

OK, so the stage is set for the Browns 1st round...with the Colts losing the Browns will have #25 if the Chargers win or #26 if the Chargers lose..

What do we do with this pivot-able pick to improve this team over the next decade? Use it as currency to get "The Franchise QB"? Use it to make the right side of our line less permeable? Give Josh Gordon more running lanes by giving him a viable Robin to his Batman?

How does one simple trade of a bust top 5 pick help turn this franchise around?

 

In continuing to try and focus on the fact that The Browns are loaded with draft picks and will be drafting one if not two QB's this year...

A few notes on some interesting prospects from the Senior Bowl...

Hopefully these mistakes can be corrected with a good coach.

Who knows this kid may just turn into a decent QB in the NFL...

 

Derek Carr = Brady Quinn