Damon to report to Indians on Tuesday; will wear 33
April 30, 2012ESPN Cleveland: John Hughes was in demand
April 30, 2012We’ve all weighed in on any number of details with regard to the draft this weekend and today, but I do have a few more things I wanted to discuss. None of these things are sourced, but these are the conclusions I am left with after draft day.
Colt McCoy will not get a fair shot to win the QB job this year. I’m not even saying he should get a “fair shot” either because the Browns have seemingly decided that the ceiling just isn’t high enough. Colt McCoy didn’t make the throws last year, but I am still not sure if he couldn’t or if he wouldn’t. Well, I know that he wouldn’t because he was king of the dump-off.
All that being said, I think it is possible that Colt McCoy could be better prepared to play QB for the Browns in the offense this season than Weeden. Regardless, I don’t think Colt will get the same chance as Weeden will be getting all the attention of the coaching staff in full groom mode.
Colt McCoy doesn’t have to leave Cleveland. I don’t think anyone lives in fear of a QB controversy more than I do. This regime hasn’t given any of us any reason to fear one. Controversies are made from people making bad decisions. Using coin flips to decide starting quarterback comes to mind. The Browns have changed quarterbacks in each of the past three years, but they honestly haven’t been embroiled in QB controversy since Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn left. As long as the Browns coaching staff handles their business they can easily go into the season with Colt McCoy and Brandon Weeden on the roster. Notice I didn’t say anything about Seneca Wallace? I think almost everyone agrees that he is the odd man out. He also probably has the largest trade value.
Tom Heckert did NOT say that he is happy with the team as it is today in terms of wide receivers. Not definitively anyway. This weekend Heckert was asked if he regretted not getting a wide receiver and he said something to the effect of, “No. We’re happy with the guys we got.” Everyone took that to mean that the Browns are coming in standing pat at the wide receiver position for training camp. I am 99.999% sure that he didn’t mean the current makeup of the roster. I am quite sure he meant he was happy with guys like Brandon Weeden, Mitchell Schwartz and the rest of the haul from draft day that he”got” instead of taking a wide receiver before Travis Benjamin. Maybe I am being naive, but I still think the Browns are going to bring a veteran wide receiver in either by trade or free agency.
Tom Heckert’s body language to me indicated that it was a frustrating weekend. I am just guessing on this, but when Terry Pluto asked his question about the 5th-6th round rating on John Hughes, Heckert was completely dismissive and basically rolled his eyes. After hearing rumors that the Browns tried to trade up from #22 to secure one of the top wide receivers before selecting Brandon Weeden, it is reasonable to assume that he just didn’t get things to fall his way this weekend. At least not enough. This doesn’t mean it is a bad draft, but it might mean that the Browns ended up being disappointed that they didn’t do better.
Finally, we should all probably treat any pick after round two or three as, either “That seems good. Interesting. We’ll see” or “That seems bad. Interesting. We’ll see.” As the draft gets more and more popular everyone wants to go crazy for the entire weekend, but honestly even as the 3rd, 4th and 5th rounds represent a splendid opportunity to score great value, it is also the biggest crap shoot. Specifically, we all have huge questions now about John Hughes. Once that’s on the record, you just have to wait and see. I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why anyone would want to extract blood over a pick in the third round beyond “Interesting. We’ll see.” It isn’t like Heckert drafted a punter or anything.
That’s it for now. I can’t wait to see how this team develops in training camp. The one positive note that I can’t help but leave with is that the Browns should have added the biggest impact player in their entire conference when they got Trent Richardson. Sure, they had to be the worst in 2011 in order to score that pick, but they got him. It could fail miserably, but there’s no way to feel badly about Richardson right now.
Might as well enjoy it.
(AP Photo/Bill Haber)
52 Comments
Moon and Young played in the USFL
Warner played in the AFL
They were still playing QB not a different sport. It does matter.
Staubach lived in another era entirely.
I hope the best for Weeden, but using baseless comparisons does not help his cause.
Go fuck yourself small d haha i mean big….z fucking troll