Here is a question... When is the last time the consensus #1 pick that was a QB was a surprise? I can't think of any myself. Every year where there are QBs who are said to be closely ranked at the top of the draft, it seems to me it always goes according to most of the "experts" projections. ie. Goff, Wentz... It seems leading up to the draft everyone tries to act like there is suspense, but is there really any? Does history continuously repeat itself?
In reality, would any of this year's QBs be a surprise? There are factions advocating 4 different guys that should be the #1 overall pick...so SOME people will be surprised, while others are not at all. I would say Darnold has the most "supporters" in that line if talk, but he has just as many detractors. We should have a clearer picture in about 3 weeks, that's when the actual trade talks will start heating up.
Literally two years ago. We didn't find out until the week of the draft who was going to go #1 and #2 between Goff and Wentz. In fact, the Browns traded out of #2 only eight days before the actual draft. Up until that time, it was being widely speculated that Carson Wentz was going to go #1 overall and the Browns would get the QB Hue Jackson desired in Goff. Before that? 2014. Houston was linked considerably to Johnny Manziel and while the eventual #1 pick (Jadeveon Clowney) was what most people considered to be the right choice, it wasn't again until the week of the draft that everyone put it together. I don't expect we'll be having these same conversations April 20 - 26th, but with just under a month to go, we can still have these debates.
^^^^^ 2013 was obviously a very forgettable draft, but I seem to remember most people thinking Joeckel would get picked ahead of Eric Fisher.
*AND* pursuing a trade for Odell Beckham Jr. (rumored to be looking for $20 million a year on his contract). And almost no cap space left? Aaron Donald: If I'm John Dorsey, I call Los Angeles and give them #4 for Donald today.
I guess that was a local Cleveland thing SAS... It appeared to me that Goff was the #1 QB for months. There is always smoke and mirrors leading up to the draft and then remains chalk. IMHO I am only talking about when QBs are involved.
Well, we've been pretty downright bad for the past decade, so we're always (1) looking for a QB, and (2) drafting in the Top 5 (or 10). Literally, pre-trades: 2009 - 5 2010 - 7 2011 - 6 2012 - 4 2013 - 6 2014 - 4 2015 - 12 2016 - 2 2017 - 1 2018 - 1 ADP = 4.8 over the past decade. QB debates and early draft picks are kind of our thing.
If I am correct in what I believe has happened time and time again... Darnold will end up being the first QB picked. That doesn't mean Cleveland will necessarily pick him. I guess we will see. It just seems to me that the NFL does this dance every year there are multiple QBs " who could go #1".
2009... trade down... trade down... draft Alex Mack 2010... draft Joe Haden 2011... trade down... trade up... draft Phil Taylor 2012... trade up... draft Trent Richardson 2013... draft Barkevious Mingo 2014... trade down... draft Justin Gilbert 2015... draft Danny Shelton 2016... trade down... trade down... draft Corey Coleman 2017... draft Myles Garrett 2018... ??? If 2018 is Josh Allen or Sam Darnold, just put me out of my professional football misery.
I'm not saying who should be picked. I'm not invested enough to know who "should" be picked. I just know this seems like groundhog day to me. And if I'm correct it will be Darnold.
One consistentcy I noticed is all your 1st rd picks are either out of Cleveland or the league all together. Great drafting the last ten years.
Well nobody is gonna show their hand. I get the sense that the Browns WANT the teams behind them to think we like Darnold. Having the owner at his pro-day, hanging out with Darnold's family, just seemed calculated to me. Perhaps the Browns are trying to trigger the Giants or Jets to jump up? To me, that seems more logical than than the Browns being so enamoured that they just can't help themselves...We'll find out soon enough.
That will be tough to stomach after having sat through 0-16. "Thanks for sitting through the worst season in our history, Browns fans! Here's a not-as-good Mark Sanchez."