For the Browns, the plan must be revealed at some point
March 15, 2012PFT: Browns re-sign Dimitri Patterson for three years
March 15, 2012
What I am going to say right now will not a popular sentiment at all in this town. But the reality of the situation is, I want what is best for the organization LONG TERM. So stay with me here.
Between local sports talk radio, Twitter, newspapers, and blogs, all of the talk in Cleveland has centered around the Browns not doing anything in Free agency (other than the signing of DL Frostee Rucker. They finished as the bridesmaid in the Robert Griffin III sweepstakes and of course the sky seems to be falling. We have watched Wide Receivers such as Marcus Colston, Desean Jackson, Pierre Garcon, and Vincent Jackson come off the board. And not the latest came last night as the Browns cut the their former left guard Eric Steinbach and their leading rusher and former one-year owner of the city Peyton Hillis signed a reported one-year, $3 million deal with Kansas City.
Don’t freak out people. Stay the course.
I’m no Browns Kool-Aid drinker. I have been one of the harshest critics of this team and how it’s been run. I haven’t liked the way Mike Holmgren has acted during his almost two years of swooping in and out in Cleveland and making himself available when he wants to be available. I was not a fan of the Pat Shurmur hire, not was I a fan of his coaching and handling of the media during his first season on the job. And of course, I am not down with Randy Lerner.
However, I am in the tank for Tom Heckert, talent evaluator. With the lack of free agent moves happening with other teams, the Browns are sitting idly on the sidelines. They don’t want to spend big money to plug the holes on veterans who will eat up the valuable cap space. That has become obvious by the rhetoric that comes out of Berea (when the media is allowed to actually record it) as well as the picking and choosing of their spots in free agency.
Would I like to see a guy like Eric Winston sign here to stabilize the right tackle position? Of course I would. Would I sign up for Carl Nicks at one of the guard spots? Uh, yeah. But guess what, these things won’t happen. Do you really want to give a guy like Garcon, five years and $42 million the way the Redskins did? Not a chance. He’s a nice player, but he’s also been playing across from Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark while catching passes from Peyton Manning. That will make anyone look good.
The Browns have a ton of holes, there is no doubt about it. But the holes will be filled through the draft, which is Heckert’s specialty. He has shown that this is where he shines. So let us sit back and let him do his work. This was one of the many reasons that I was on record as completely against trading multiple high draft picks for RGIII. The Browns didn’t make the move, and they still have three picks in the top 36 picks. Heckert should, and will come out of this draft with three potential starters from day one.
SIDE NOTE – I beg of you Tom, please, for the love of every thing holy, DO NOT DRAFT RYAN TANNEHILL at #22.
So save your cap room, let Heckert do his thing in the draft, stay away from drafting Tannehill, go into the season with Colt McCoy at QB, surround him with some skilled players you drafted, and take your chances and lumps. Keeping the roster so young could cost you some wins no doubt. If Colt McCoy isn’t the guy, at least you will have given him enough rope to show he can either climb to the top of hang himself. If he proves to be nothing more than a quality backup, odds are the Browns will be right back in the top four again in 2013.
But is this really a bad thing?
Take a look at the opponents for next year. In addition to the six division games against teams that all made the playoffs last year, they will face the rugged NFC East, which includes the Super Bowl Champion Giants (road), the Cowboys (road), Michael Vick and the Eagles (home), and RGIII and the Redskins (home). They also travel to Denver (which may or may not have Peyton Manning at the helm), Oakland, and Indianapolis (which was the lucky recipients of Andrew Luck thanks to their tank of a season). Buffalo, Kansas City, and San Diego visit Cleveland.
Looking at what and who the Browns are, they are not making the playoffs with that schedule (or with any schedule for that matter). The defense is nice, but the starters at RB and QB right now are a Chris Ogbannaya/Montario Hardesty combo along with McCoy. You can bet the Browns will be taking a WR with one of their first three picks. But seriously, to me there is no point in being 6-10. You are all going to call me insane and “not a real fan,” but I am being realistic.
Give me 2-14 or 3-13 and a chance to draft USC QB Matt Barkley in the 2013 draft.
Wouldn’t Barkley to Justin Blackmon in two years get you a little excited? The plan has worked for the Lions. The fruits of their brutal decade stretch of football brought them a franchise QB (Matt Stafford), a franchise-changing defensive lineman (Ndamakong Suh), and one of the best WR’s in the game (Calvin Johnson) among others. Those are three nice pieces to build around, which the hard-charging Lions have done.
If the Browns tank again this season and end up with a shot to take that franchise QB in Barkley, it will be a blessing in disguise. I for one won’t be disappointed. In three years, you will all agree with me if this comes to fruition.
145 Comments
waiting for next next year…
This article is dead on…
I don’t want the moon this year. I just want to see clear signs of improvement, and that we are undoubtedly headed in the right direction.
8-8 would qualify.
EXCUSE ME: Whatever happened to W-I-N-N-I-N-G a game for heavens sake?
Has WAITING become the new version of winning?
The desire to being a cream puff is more comforting than manning up and playing and competing tough above one’s expectations cause there’s the drive to excell?
PLEASE studying the goal line, looking at the goal line on the horizon isn’t going to get one any touchdowns unless one crosses the goal line.
Winning indeed does involve much failing, but failing to win makes NO SENSE whatsoever!
Hardesty seems to be a bust. I think Taylor and Little have shown some signs, at the very least they won’t be washing out of the league in 2-3 years like Robo and MoMass
Kool-aid drinking fans, of course!
I normally really enjoy reading this site, but this article is f$%^ing crap. This is the reason we get garbage and more garbage year after year, because fans like you are cool with the idea of tanking and losing for a high draft pick the next year so we can maybe get THE guy. Thats not how it works, this is a team of 53 guys, the #1 vs the #4 pick isn’t going to make the difference. A team like the Browns needed to go out and address a few areas in free agency, and then draft for need the holes they didn’t fill. If we wait to try and fill all the gaps through the draft, but the time they end up with a good RG, RB, and WR, we’ll need a new LT, CB, and DE because Thomas Haden and Sheard will be gone, hurt or retired.
I wish i could adequately describe how outraged I am you’d even post this, and the worst part is all the morons supporting this argument. Yea, keep losing, keep paying your money to support crap. Great gameplan. The fans of Cleveland admit defeat before the season even starts.
I think you’ve had too much Novocaine to think that this “plan” is going to work.
2013 will be H&H fourth draft. There’s planning for the “LONG TERM”, and then there’s just not getting any better. If you’re already anticipating that the team will once again be drafting in the top 5 — or higher! — then maybe it’s time to wonder if the track the team is on is going anywhere. Show me one other team on the NFL where it takes this long to put together a single winning season, where the fans are this patient with a front office even its supporters don’t think are capable of putting together a competitive team in three years.
Was this the plan when H&H were hired? Did Mike Holmgren, when interviewing with Randy Lerner two years ago say that his plan was to accumulate draft picks and continue losing games so as to be in position to draft a franchise quarterback in his FOURTH draft? And how long will it take after that to develop that quarterback? Will we be looking for a replacement for a retiring Joe Haden, realizing that’s another hole to fill, before we next even try to make a playoff run?
I love this site and usually read it everyday but garbage like this makes me tend to question my actions. This is a garbage article written by someone with a loser’s mentality.
If heckert is only going to get real talent via the draft than he cannot ever miss. Ever. I don’t want to hear rhetoric that every GM misses every now and again. If you aren’t going to trade or get into FA than you better be about perfect when it comes to the draft.
Barkley is a small step up from Sanchez coming out of USC. If we are tanking for him instead of tanking for Luck…… expect another 6 rebuilding season
Woah woah woah….
Phil Savage had a very good draft record. The best guys on this team (Dqwell, Joe Thomas, Josh Cribbs), and some of the best guys that we’ve let go (Vickers, Braylon, Brodney Pool all have jobs elsewhere and were productive here) were because of Phil Savage bringing them here. I won’t claim that he was flawless (Brady Quinn says hello), but he actually brought decent talent in here through both draft and free agency (Joe Jerevicious, Eric Steinbach). To this day, I thought it was ridiculously stupid that Savage was fired over not getting along with the owner and a petty email scandal.
We have not had a better GM since returning than Phil Savage. MAYBE that could turn around with Heckert, but early results aren’t promising. Not one single player he’s taken past the 4th round has become a starter or even a meaningful contributor. The closest would be Marecic, who was used as little as possible last year because he’s not particularly useful. To be completely honest, I’m not even that impressed with Phil Taylor thus far. Yes, late rounders tend to be hit and miss, but a team that has a stated strategy to build through the draft NEEDS to hit on some of those.
And no, I don’t want Heckert run out of town. The point is that we fire people WAAYYY to quickly and for far too petty of reasons around here.
That is spot on man.
That is spot on man.
Thank you.
Here’s a scenario, what if the Browns are 7-9 and Colt McCoy with additional offensive talent and a healthy backfield is an average quarterback? (gasp!) What happens then? To many this seems like a pipe dream, but yet we were two blown snaps away from 6-10 last year.
woah woah woah, when did Steelers fans start writing for this site?
woah woah woah, when did Steelers fans start writing for this site?
Put down the crackpipe son, fans will run these clowns out of town if this happens.
Exactly, and Heckert, while better than average, is not perfect when drafting.
Of the 6 players you named, only Haden and Sheard (in particular) impress me at this point. And Hardesty is an absolute travesty. I like Haden but I am starting to wonder if he can really be worth his top 10 pick. He’s good, but I feel like he’s headed for a ceiling before he hits the elite CB tier.
I’ll admit, guys like Taylor, Ward, and even Little could blossom into pretty good players. But saying they are starting for THIS team is no benchmark. And I just don’t see how you can take that list of picks and extrapolate a “stellar” rating for Heckert based on those picks.
Didn’t Savage draft Ahtybha Rubin in the sixth round too? Kokinis wasn’t here for that yet was he? I should google but I’m too lazy
“Contrary to popular belief, Heckert’s draft record is far short of average here to the extent the picks can be evaluated. Things like Hardesty and the Jordan Cameron 4R(!!!) selection are beyond the pale.”
Ha, I love statements like this. I’m not even sure what you’re trying to point out, other than you being ornery. Is there a GM ranking out there that I am unaware of? How would a GM score as “average”? Can you name 20-25 GMs (any GM not in the top 20-25 would clearly be “far below average”) that have drafted better than Heckert over the past two years” ? Maybe these average GMs have only missed on 1 pick instead of the two you mention? Does an excellent GM make negative misses?
Ridiculous. Go on any reputable sports website that evaluates drafts, and they all rate Heckert’s drafts as high. Bad mouth all all the Kipers and McShays all you want, but they have access to information and experience you can only dream of. And here’s just a taste: http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft2012/story/_/id/7442150/mel-kiper-regrading-2011-nfl-draft#AFC N
Come on! Don’t you know that irrational spending to appease fans during the off-season is the only way to success?
Come on! Don’t you know that irrational spending to appease fans during the off-season is the only way to success?
and according to Holmgren our offer wasn’t less than Washingtons for the 2nd pick
I thought kool-aid drinking fans dreamed of playoffs in April?
Note to Browns: Saints lost OL Hicks in free agency and immediately replaced him with OL Grubbs. See, that’s how free agency is supposed to work.
SIDE NOTE – I beg of you Tom, please, for the love of every thing holy, DO NOT DRAFT RYAN TANNEHILL at #22.
AMEN. I am scared to death this is going to happen. We should write Heckert a collective letter. I actually might need to start an online petition.
When did “kool-aid drinking” become the king of insults, anyway? It doesn’t quite have that punch, pun intended.
They’re also the Saints. “Come to Cleveland and play for the Browns” is just a teensy bit harder sell than “Saints. Super Bowl champs.”
Well said. The koolaiders strike again.
I think they just want their playoff tickets for the 2087 season. You know, when we have improved enough to get in a playoff game,
I’d call you by your real names but then the holy hammer of WFNY Editors would rain down bans upon me.
Kool aid? Check.
Playoff tickets? Check.
Where’s the nazi reference?
You get more and more boring with every post.
Not according to Frostee! But I was speaking metaphorically not literally heck I don’t wanna be in Cleveland either but…noone will trade/sign me.
I really like Heckert. He seems like he is competent. Without him think where we would be with only Holmgren and his pathetic decision making. Hiring Shurmur was so ridiculous that Heckert is the only person I have faith in to make the correct personnel decisions. I am not saying that Holmgren can’t coach but he stinks at anything else.
But where did he find the Bartman outfit?
I used it quite frequently here once upon a time but used to employ it a ton on CavsFanatic.com so much so they drove me away. I couldn’t stomach the brainless following and constant need to slurp some players, namely one Daniel Gibson. The phrase is timeless and will never lose it’s cutting charm!
I’ll trade you. For some fries to go with the Frostee!
TJ Ward doesn’t impress you. He impresses me. Phil Taylor played solid as a rookie. Hardesty is a bust. We won’t know about Little for a couple more years because it normally takes receivers 3 years to play consistently well. Sheard and Haden are potential all pros. Also he brought Jauron over here which was the strength of our team clearly. Outside of one blown coverage against Cincy our defense played well enough to compete for the division. Heckert has done well because we have an extra 1st rounder to work with. The situation he had when he came here was not an overnight turn around. Heckert has held up his end. Holmgren and Lerner have not.
False martyrdom? Check.
But hey, at least you have “name-calling” as a go-to skill.
I don’t know how it will end up but I agree with you on not knowing who will be the best qb next year. Barkley will be close to the top if he’s not hurt but some people might separate themselves that you don’t think would. Remember Jake Locker for being a lock as the #1 pick and he dropped after his last year. All we have to do is pick the best player available with each pick that will contribute effectively and things will take care of themselves. The video I saw on Tannehill was he is a good player but he had no advantage over Osweiler and Wheeler so why take him this early when there are players with same chance to succeed a couple rounds later. We will not find another Claiborne, Blackmon, or Kalil that late in the draft but we can get a project quarterback that late.
So Dmitri Patterson for $16M over 3 years is the epitome of discipline?
Charlie Sheen is a moron, but even he knows the goal is always… WINNING!!!
As I said before any of you, I”ll see you Wednesday and we’ll see what excuses for these inept morons you’ll have to fabricate then, mein fuhrer and everyone else always criticizing only me.
Hey, that actually feels pretty good.
I’m boring but 3-13 seasons aren’t? You better get your head checked.
Now wait, I thought you pinky-swore not to speak to me or about me anymore? I think your nose is growing in that picture!
Serious note: I’m assuming you’re just perfectly sublime with their lack of meaningful FA acquisitions because you’re playing the “long con” with this team.
The only issue is that the only people being conned are the fans.
You give him more money and he will come. It makes me sick that Cleveland is not going after a good guard especially after releasing Steinbach. I don’t mind releasing steinbach because maybe his health is worse than we know so why pay him but you need at least one dominant guard minimum and really should have 2 solid guards to play at a high level. Look how quickly a successful organization replaced a key position. Maybe we will sign one here soon.
Garry, you always give me a laugh. Thank you.
Ready for another 3-4 win season?