Derrick Rose: Kyrie Irving Will Only Grow as a Player
January 20, 2012Report: Rays Sign Carlos Pena
January 20, 2012I am not a talent evaluator. I scour Youtube during draft time much to the chagrin of my computer speakers which get worn out playing “Bodies” by Drowning Pool every time some no-name defensive end sacks a division two quarterback over ultra-grainy close-up video footage. With that in mind, I can’t possibly say definitively from an expert point of view that Matt Flynn is the next backup-turned-Pro-Bowler quarterback in the NFL. What I am saying is that it would be really good for the Browns if he was and they were successful in their pursuit.
Seems like too obvious a statement for a post, right? “Here’s hoping a free agent is not only a great player, but ends up in a Browns uniform!” (PUBLISH)
There’s more at work here though. The Cleveland Browns tipped their hand a bit this week when Randy Lerner spoke to Mike Trivisonno. That’s not to say that finding a franchise quarterback when you don’t have one is a trade secret that nobody knew, but the way Randy Lerner talked about it indicates just how much of a priority it is. When you think priorities like that, you start thinking about trading up in the draft. You start thinking about throwing gobs of money at free agents that fill a huge need. That’s where the Matt Flynn hope comes in for me. With those two options hanging in the balance, I would love not to have to trade up.
This isn’t a knock on Robert Griffin III either. I think he could be a dynamic talent and potentially even a franchise quarterback for the next decade plus. He is reported to possess an attitude and intangible leadership qualities that extend beyond his sick athletic abilities to make plays on the field. The problem being that Griffin just finished his junior year. He is going to be a project in some way shape or form. He can’t be expected to come straight out of the gate and run the offense with perfect efficiency while also getting used to the speed of the NFL.
If he is going to end up being a hall of famer, who cares, right? Agreed.
But, if the talent evaluators with the Browns including Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert think Matt Flynn is that guy that would prove to be a cleaner, more predictable strategy for the Browns. The Browns could throw a bunch of money at the guy and still have the draft picks that we as fans have waited so patiently for the Browns to be able to use this year. Plus, it kind of bugs me that the Browns could trade two first round draft picks for the second best guy at his position coming out this year. Maybe that is flawed logic, but I’m feeling it.
It may be simplistic, but if Matt Flynn is thought to be the future for the Browns then the Browns could end up with him and at least two first round draft picks as opposed to burning two-for-one and having to wonder if, when, and how fast Robert Griffin III can take this team to the next level.
I don’t know if Matt Flynn is the right guy or if the Browns are going to get him, but I sure hope so. Cleveland Browns fans know all about hope.
134 Comments
yes, absoluetly
i don’t think it is hard to figure out. Flynn is going to miami. if he does not go to miami then dan snyder will throw kevin kolb money at him in washington only if snyder does not think he can move up to get rg3. In the last 10 years i don’t ever remember there being 2 qb prospects that is worth taking in the first couple of picks. I personally don’t think it is ever worth drafting in the top 10 ever unless there is an amazing prospect and if you can’t see luck and rg3 are worth this chance your crazy. The people that have been in charge of cleveland in the front office has messed things up so bad that most of you guys are clouded with your thinking. So you think blackmon will make colt mccoy a good quarterback with a stronger arm all of a sudden. He can’t make certain throws and he can’t be a running threat to make up for those throws he can’t make. You can get bj cunningham quality receivers past the 3rd round and unless you take rg3 early trade down and draft right side of offensive line or defense. We need to get rg3 and if washington gives st louis or minnesota their whole draft then there is nothing we can do but some team will want blackmon or kalili so let them trade for them and get some picks in late 1st and 2nd rounders. The quarterbacks that we have picked in the past early in the first round brady quinn and tim couch for example were terrible and good scouts were saying this before the draft. Jamarcus russell was horrible in the interview process and al davis picked him because of him throwing a football from his knees 70 yards. Who knows how good he could of been if he did not get addicted to cough syrup(probably not that good anyway) but there was red flags with his behavior before the draft with his personality. Luck is solid and rg3 comes from military family and is so worth the risk.The nfl is a quarterbacks league so let’s pick the ones that are worth the risk. The scouts in cleveland until tom heckert got here have been just awful. I have a lot of faith in tom heckert because you can tell he knows how to evaluate talent.
finally a voice of reason
I think the difference between the other 10 guys on the offense this year and “amazing” is a lot bigger than you are making it sound. If we bring in a 2nd round rookie RT who pans out well, and a rookie WR at the top of the draft, AND sign a good RB, AND probably a FA WR of some skill level who is playable, then the supporting cast on our offense would probably be close to league average. I think Colt would likely do just fine with an average supporting cast but it’s clear this year that we didn’t have CLOSE to that.
After some time in the NFL you stop becoming what you were drafted as and you start to become judged more by your play on the field in pre-season and post. Valuation of Flynn has changed because of his performance against NFL players over the last few years. So too did Brian Brohm’s performance change his valuation for the worse. The Packers kept Flynn over Brohm (their own 2nd rd pick and at one time considered a potential #1 overall) because he was a better NFL player in their eyes. Draft status is not a be-all end-all criteria for how good a player is, and should be weighted less the longer a player has been in the pros.
McCoy I think is fine. Flynn I think would be fine. He was underrated at LSU imo. In any case though the logic that McCoy is better than Flynn because he was drafted in a higher round is absolute BS, as is the argument that RGIII by being a higher pick will perform better than Flynn.
Schaub – drafted in the 3rd round, played 11 games in ATL, traded for 2nd round picks in separate drafts
Cassel – Dude went 11-6 starting for the Patriots
Kolb – 2nd round pick, named starter over both McNabb and Vick with the Eagles.
Inexperienced? Backups? I’m not seeing it.
Flynn started two games. His second was against a team that was obviously taking the day off against GB, who didn’t even play their starting QB.
I don’t think H+H would start Flynn over McCoy let alone RGIII.
What are RGIII’s negatives exactly? That he runs a lot because he’s got world-class sprinter speed and because he CAN? There’s a REASON teams will be fighting to draft RGIII before the 5th pick. Do you see a lot of teams looking to give-up two 1st rounders to grab Matt Flynn?
You’re TRYING to draw a comparison between Matt Flynn and Tom Brady? And I’m the one who doesn’t know anything about football…
Tell me then, o’ wise one, how exactly does the great Tom Brady compare to Matt Flynn? Bestow upon me your football expertise. BTW, Tom Brady is an American hero… don’t hate.
“It’s a QB driven league”… and I’m captain obvious… If that’s the case, tell me why you’d rather have a 7th round QB drafted to be a backup with 2 years and 2 starts (1 because they rested Rodgers) over a Heisman-winning top-5 pick with outstanding accuracy, intelligence, arm-strength, speed, and toughness… o’ wise one.
jimkanicki – and everyone else that says draft position doesn’t matter
I generally agree with you, sometimes players are over/under-rated, BUT, how many 1st round QBs haven’t panned-out compared to 6th and 7th round picks in the last 10 years? I’m too lazy to do the math…
“I personally don’t think it is ever worth drafting in the top 10 ever”
“In the last 10 years i don’t ever remember there being 2 qb prospects that is worth taking in the first couple of picks”
?
i got into this last year when everyone wanted a WR. i went back and looked at all the 1st round picks for OT and WR since 1985 and looked at the washout rate. the premise being that the browns could not afford to whiff. a fairly compelling case can be made that OT is safer (as you would expect). it’s like a 2:1 ratio.
i havent done it on QB, but could take a swing at it. stay tuned..
i never said matt flynn and tom brady should be compared but try to spin this anyway so you don’t look bad. What I said is you don’t know if a guy is good or bad because what round he came in. If you are so great at evaluating talent why don’t you try to be a scout.(not for cleveland though because we are turning corner now and getting rid of bad scouts.) I heard pittsburgh is hiring and really the best way for you to help cleveland is going to work for pittsburgh. My point is in any spewing rhetoric i have uttered that cleveland needs to start going after aggressively the most important part of the team which is a quarterback. I hope we get either peyton manning(if healthy) in trade and then we draft rg3 also. Grab matt flynn if you can get him for less than 6 million and draft rg3 if you can. Don’t just assume we will get rg3 in draft because you never know what will happen. I hope they go over the top with getting quarterbacks because I would rather have a mentality of having too many then none in the last 20 years. If you think that i was comparing tom brady and matt flynn talent level wise then i have some nice ocean front property in montana for sale.
so you are aiming for just fine with the most important position on your team.
so you flipped the order of 2 sentences of my comment to try to make yourself feel better. you are at rock bottom quickly. If you read thoroughly that the only time it is worth drafting in the top 10 is if there is a quarterback worth taking. In the last 10 years or so there has been no one worth taking in the top 10. If you look at the history of the nfl in the last 15 years or so anybody who drafts in the top 10 does not make the playoffs for the most part because the way the salary structure was with high draft picks.
“I personally don’t think it is ever worth drafting in the top 10 ever
unless there is an amazing prospect and if you can’t see luck and rg3
are worth this chance your crazy.”
i wrote this a sentence down too after you flipped them
how many times are you going to read 1 sentence and not read the rest of the comment.
Looking at RGIII highlights and Troy Smith highlights –they are the same in college.
Hoping for Matt Flynn and Trent Richardson and a WR at #22. Best available OL for the right side in the 2nd. Defensive after that. History says that given the choice the Browns make the wrong one. Wish the Browns had a coaching staff that could teach and develop
like the Steelers and Ravens. The Browns draft and hope then give up on a player too early.
The player then goes on and is successful some where else because they have better coaches. Remember Bellichick use to coach here but the media didn’t like him
What a stupid sports town Cleveland is!
I like your idea of Flynn-Richardson-WR it would automatically upgrade the offense before anyone every stepped onto the field. The only thing is each of those has ?s especially Richardson. The positive is even if they are wrong on Flynn at least it’ll only cost $$$ and not another high draft pick. I also agree about the coaching staff(s) and this is one of the main reasons I’m not a proponent of drafting Griffin.
As far as Cleveland being a stupid sports town I’d disagree there the problem as I see it is that they are blind to a fault. They’ll bleed orange and brown while driving right off the tracks with the trainwreck of a team. When others try to point out or express differing opinions they get shouted down. But this isn’t any different then other cities.
it turns out that the trick in this exercise is defining a sound definition for ‘wash-out.’ if you use a simple metric like ‘5 yrs or less is a washout for a first round pick’ then, since 1985, here are the wash-out rates by position:
position # 1st rounders since 85 # washouts (l.t. 5 years in league) %qb 59 13 22%ot 87 18 21%lb 84 15 18%rb 93 32 34%db 122 23 19%og-c 40 6 15%wr 96 23 24%
see here for supporting data.
i disagree with your analogy on rg3 and troy smith but agree with your comment in general. In order for us to make the #4 pick effective if we don’t pick quarterback is only if we get matt flynn or even a healthy playing peyton manning. If troy smith were way faster had a more accurate arm and was able to get the ball out of his hand twice as fast then he is like rg3. Look at the tape again and see that rg3 throwing 35 yards and deeper was extremely accurate. More importantly then anything is rg3’s background. Being from a military family does mean something. If you are going to invest this much time and money in someone and you know they have great character to match with amazing athletic ability you have to take this chance. His only down side is durability. Hopefully whether we get rg3 or not cleveland will address the right tackle position because rg3 is not that big.
Matt Flynn (former 7th round pick) will be going to Miami to be with the Dolphin’s new head coach, who coached up Flynn at Green Bay.
I’m for McCoy being released!
BRAVO!!!
Another trade down, get more picks, fantasy football scenario, instead of going and get the player all the experts say could be a franchise guy. I don’t believe after the workouts and combine, they will not be able to pass on Robert Griffin III.
What makes everyone think that Matt Flynn or Kevin Kolb is the answer to the Browns quarterback problems. Kevin Kolb had opportunities in Philly and didn’t take advantage of them, and Flynn hasn’t proven anything on the field. Incredible some of the comments . . .
Bro, I’ve been touting RG3 on these threads for the past 2 months, as well as this thread, check the first comment.
Yeah, yet everyone had Richardson going to us #4 for some reason. Never understood that.
Heckert’s always gotten WRs late, BUT, if he takes RG3 @ 4 or earlier I wouldn’t be surprised to see him grab Wright @ the top of the 2nd.
I read your entire post, but I chose those two sentance because I thought Cam Newton, Sam Bradford, and Eli Manning (and Mike Vick based on how you calculate 10 years) were WELL worth the #1 pick let-alone a top-10 selection. You’re also essentially saying you wouldn’t have wanted Phillip Rivers or Matt Ryan as the Browns’ QB. IMO, your post pretty much makes you illegitimate in any QB conversation. As a matter of fact, I don’t really even know why you’re trying to “let me have it”, as it seems we both really like RG3… whatevaz.
By the way, don’t assume Flynn is going to Miami just because his old O Coordinator went there. Matt Moore played solid last year. IMO, Flynn would have to compete with him for the starting job.
I have a feeling that allowing P. Hillis to leave (there had better be a REALLY, REALLY good reason for that) will blow-up in their faces massively also. Ridiculous.
I don’t think he’d beat-out Moore for the starting job.
Wow. I thought I missed a great new WFNY holiday-style give-away and was ready to re-state the question in full with a creative, snarky response.
Nope. Just 125 comments on . . . MATT FLYNN. (Seasoned with more than a fair portion of trolling, personal attacks, and soap boxery.)
first i said around 10 years not exactly. eli came out in 2004 so like i said before there has not been a good quarterback draft in around 10 years. If you thought cam newton was worth the no 1 pick and not rg3 then i am confused. cam newton ran a more basic if not the same offense was less accurate and is not as fast. Sam Bradford has not shown anything yet but st louis had to take him because he scored so high on that mental test they give for qb’s in draft. So your point has actually made my point even more so thanks for arguing. Mike vick came out before eli. And if you read my comment fully i have wrote time and time again that the only position worth taking early in draft is the quarterback. I would be ecstatic with either rivers(who came out in the eli draft in 2004) or ryan. I don’t know if you have an inability to comprehend writing in the english language but i have wrote every comment about needing a franchise quarterback. Now you just mix and match things i say to some how try to make sense of your rhetoric. By the way if someone says around 10 years they don’t mean down to the minute they normally are generalizing like saying around a certain period of time.
u mean 37
if we were one QB away I could see your argument Bobby but we’re not.
Ravens
Yeah, as you can tell there’s been a drought of Browns news lately… oh yeah, it’s the Playoffs!
RGIII = Kordell Stewert