Don't know what to take away from last night's game. Partially because I don't know that much about the Bear's personnel. I did go look at a Bears depth chart and discovered that Josh Bellamy is shown as the #5/6 WR if that tells us anything (was kind of hoping that he was on the bubble - but it doesn't look like that is the case). o Assuming we saw the #2's and #3's from Chicago . . . McFadden needs to be worried. o I think its safe to assume Grossman just made the 53 man roster. (Wondering if they can sneak Shaw onto the practice squad). o Crowell made the Turk's job a lot harder.
u drafted johnny manziel. are u saying u should have drafted a second quarterback too? in which case, maybe u shouldn't have drafted him to begin with, huh?
wait, i understand now - the team should draft nothing but QBs with every pick, every year, till one of them proves to be a great one. then and only then can they consider other needs as well.
*SCRATCH* Huh? Laugh if you will, but I actually made a {very sarcastic} post about doing just that prior to the draft. We were debating on who should be drafted as a prospective QB, I laid out a scenario taking a QB with every pick I believe in the first 3 rounds and as if I could look back and find it, I believe it was actually realistic to do. I was very much joking...but to spend ONE PICK per year is in no way unrealistic until you find the right guy!
now it's my turn to say huh. did MY sarcastic addition make u think i don't agree with the line of yours i just quoted? of course that's not unrealistic.
ah wait, i'll guess it was the "maybe u shouldn't have drafted him to begin with" comment. what i meant by that was not that u shouldn't have taken a shot at landing a franchise QB. of course u should have. but if a team drafted him, and still felt they hadn't addressed their QB issue, then maybe he wasn't the right one to draft. and if that team feels he WAS the right one, then why would they neglect other needs at that point?
While the NFL?s outdated, illogical, and unfair ?War on Drugs? obsession with players smoking marijuana on their own time triggered the suspension of Browns receiver Josh Gordon, the Browns nevertheless mishandled the situation, especially since they?ve known for a long time that they?ve been facing the potential absence of Gordon. As Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer mentioned on Thursday?s PFT Live, the Browns could have traded Gordon last year for a second-round pick and a player. But former coach Rob Chudzinski was willing to continue to keep a player who was a mere 15 ng/ml of marijuana metabolites in one of up to 10 tests per month away from a one-year suspension. Then, aware of the looming suspension in May, the Browns opted not to use the fourth overall pick on receiver Sammy Watkins or Mike Evans. The Browns then used none of their draft picks on a receiver. And so they?ll move forward with Andrew Hawkins, Miles Austin, and Nate Burleson, barring the acquisition of a veteran who has been cut or who is available via trade. But even if the Browns bring someone like Santana Moss to Cleveland from Washington, given his familiarity with the offense, it?s always difficult for a receiver to make an impact without the benefit of offseason, training camp, and/or preseason reps with his new team. In one fell swoop, the Browns went from having one of the best receivers in the NFL to having a revolving door of players who are past their prime or who may never have one. It puts extra pressure on the running game, on the quarterback, on tight end Jordan Cameron, and on a defense that now needs to serve up great field position and/or to score points via turnovers, if the Browns will have any hope in the AFC North. General Manager Ray Farmer has defended the decision not to take Watkins or Evans by arguing that no connection exists between having a high-end receiver and winning a Super Bowl. Which actually makes even more glaring the decision to not trade Gordon when they could have gotten value for him. Now, the Browns definitely don?t have a high-end receiver. If Farmer?s theory is correct, maybe that means the Browns will win the Super Bowl this year.
I went and did some snooping on the Bears board and they think its entirely possible that Bellamy gets a visit from the Turk. If he's available, what do you guys think. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BellJo02.htm
Sorry Lulz, I guess I will just come out and ask this time. How is it that they "neglected" one position, only because they took care of another need? This team won 4 games last season, they weren't a WR away from being a contender for the Lombardi Trophy. They were in major need of a CB to start opposite Haden, they were in need of major upgrades to the offensive line, they were in MAJOR NEED of an ILB, they were in MAJOR need of RB help and obviously the QB issue has been talked to death. They fixed 4 of these 5 issues and possibly all 5 with their first 5 picks of the draft. I don't understand how anyone can be critical at this point. Did we need a WR? Yes of course, and still do. Could we have drafted one instead of Justin Gilbert? Of course, but would he have made as much of an impact as Gilbert will? We will have to wait and see. What I do know for fact, 2 out of those first 5 picks we have day one starters in Gilbert and Bitonio, and possibly Kirksey has made it impossible not to make the 3rd round pick a starter as well. Terrance West will at the very least split carries with Tate, who BTW was a nice free agent pick up if he stays healthy. Probably more challenging an argument, I believe Manziel will become the starting QB for my Browns and will stay in that position for the next ten years...If he does, that would make 5 QUALITY (not just bodies) starters in the first 3 rounds of this draft. Which would be an extraordinary accomplishment for Ray Farmer.
Lulz, the Browns absolutely should have drafted a QB this year. My preference was Manziel, and my other preference was at #6 overall. I'm of the school of thought that until you have a franchise quarterback, you have no quarterback. The days of sitting a rookie for multiple seasons behind a veteran are over. The overwhelming majority of NFL starting QBs are high first round picks. If you're not drafting that guy in 1 - 10 range, then you're taking an even greater risk. You need to draft a guy high and start him early on to see how he handles the NFL. The Browns in 2014 got a guy with a huge risk/reward trade off. Manziel may work out very well, or he may fail spectacularly. I also believe -- for this reason -- the Browns need to be starting him immediately and seeing what has to offer. With two first's in next year's draft, one for sure being a Top 10 pick, they will be in a good position to rebound if they need to.
More of a question to the haters (not you Irish) and doubters over taking a WR at #6: Early returns on Watkins aren't good. When he's not in the tub, he's average-looking at best. Mike Evans seems to have a second career in street fighting armed policemen, so that bodes well there. Which wide receiver in this year's group was a "slam dunk"? Until we get another Julio Jones staring us in the face (thanks a lot, Heckert), I am content to pass up the position until the later rounds and get guys you can develop.
More to the point... What if we had passed on the Bills trade offer? Then we could have had Sammy Watkins with ribs that he keeps aggravating and more likely Teddy Bridgewater, because Farmer would have been reluctant to give up a 3rd to move up for Manziel if he hadn't received a second one from the Bills trade. Everything seemed to work out exactly the way it should. It actually seems like Karma is on our side in this, except no one wants to look at current reality because Josh Gordon failed a drug test for the 3rd time in 2 years. It is really starting to piss me off just a little bit. I am a STAUNCH supporter of Gordon and LOVE what the guy is as a player. I even defend his latest failed drug test on the basis of the leagues policy being extremely out of line with every other policy known to the world. BUT, in the end, he did put himself some where that exposed him to the second hand smoke, knowing full well he is subject to up to 10 tests per month...HE made the decision to stay in that situation and now he is paying the consequences along with all of us fans... We need to move on and realize, this draft is a failure because they didn't draft a WR. No rookie would have come in and simply took over what Gordon did last year...NONE of them, even if you had drafted Watkins AND Evans. He had the best WR output of any Browns player in history, he broke NFL records, he was on pace to have the best WR output of any in history if not for his suspension to start the season. You don't just fill in with a rookie and think that it all is better.... What Farmer did was identify the players he felt WOULD make this team better in 2014 and beyond and guess what, so far he seems like they were all very good choices in the early rounds. Manziel aside, who has had flashes that he could indeed be special, the rest of the first 5 picks look like guys that could rival some of the best drafts in history ...again, it's very early...but they have shown flashes and have shown enough that 2 of them have a starting spot from day 1. Be happy with what we got, not what might have been....
ok, i think i see the light at the end of the tunnel here. SAS - apparently we agree on some things after all, maybe even more than u realize my only point was that saying they shouldn't have drafted a WR because fitzgerald hasn't won the super bowl is a gross oversimplification of what is, as has been shown by many posts since then, by both yourself and dawg, a far more involved issue. dawg, i was trying to say that if not having a standout QB is what stops u from drafting a receiver, then either: A) u believe u have that guy now, so that is a non-issue at this point B) u don't believe u have him now, in which case u threw the pick away or C) you're not sure yet - in which case i'd argue that your talk of using a pick each year makes WAY more sense, because that at least gives u a year to watch the first guy and come to a more informed decision about him - but in the meantime, you'd consider other positions too with your remaining picks. i'd hope no GM would ever think "i'm not drafting for ANY goal but finding a franchise QB until we're sure we've filled that slot." dawg, i was NOT saying they SHOULD have drafted a WR. i was saying larry's lack of championships should not mean drafting a WR should not be considered. if u want to argue that all the people they picked were more needed than a WR, fine. and now i see more discussion about the quality of WRs available, and whether they were worth it. those are completely different discussions.
In fact, I would still say the trade was epic...It was the ineptness at using that trade for the betterment of this team (edit) that made it an EPIC FAIL!!
The "Turk" is the guy who knocks on your door and tells you "the coach wants to see you. And bring your playbook."
I just read on yahoo and heard on the radio that the Browns are looking for a WR. Both the article and the radio mentioned we have 3 picks to trade away. So Farmer is on the ball because this team needs someone. Go Brownies!
