What the Browns should (but won't) do in the Offseason

The Cleveland Browns find themselves in a very familiar situation in the upcoming draft. For the second season in a row the Browns will have the #1 pick. This is not a preview of what I think will happen. This is simply an article about what the Browns should do. As a Bengals fan, I take a lot of pride in being the third best team in the division and I am banking on Cleveland reaching way too early for a quarterback and throwing him in the fire with no help around him and ultimately ruining his career. This is what the Browns do. At the risk of John Dorsey seeing this article I will tell you the best moves the Browns can make to make them competitive in the 2018 season.

The Browns have already made two decisions that will have an immediate impact on the 2018 season. They traded for Jarvis Landry and they instantly have a legitimate number one type receiver. This was a really good move. IF and I realize that is a huge if Josh Gordon stays on the field the Browns can give secondaries fits with those two tough matchups. The other was trading away young quarterback Deshone Kizer. I did not like this move and feel they gave up too quickly on the young prospect that came out two years early.In an ideal world the Browns would have gone after Kirk Cousins or Nick Foles. However, Cousins did not name the Browns as a finalist and the Eagles are asking too much for their Super Bowl MVP (rightfully so). They decided to trade for Tyrod Taylor which is a safer move, but I don’t think necessarily gave them the highest ceiling for the 2018 season. AJ McCarron is the best fit for the Browns. Hue Jackson was the OC at Cincinnati when AJ McCarron took over for an injured Andy Dalton and nearly upset the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild card round. The Browns had agreed to a trade with the Bengals but the deal fell through. AJ McCarron won more games in 2015 than the Browns have in the 2016 and 2017 seasons combined. He is an immediate improvement and provides stability for a young guy to learn from. Having said that, Taylor has more actual game experience so we will see how it plays out.

The Browns find themselves in a unique position with two top five picks. Conventional wisdom says you have to take a quarterback with one of those picks. This is especially the case with the Browns most recently trading Kizer. They shouldn’t use either on one. There is no Peyton Manning or Andrew Luck in this draft. The top quarterback prospects all have questions surrounding them. Sam Darnold is a turnover machine. Baker Mayfield has Johnny Manziel written all over him. Josh Allen has the build, but did not play top level competition. My personal favorite of the draft is Josh Rosen. His leadership attributes have been questioned and even though I think that is a ridiculous thing to evaluate I still would not take him with a top five pick. The Browns have shown they do not know how to draft a Quarterback in the first round. So why waste such a valuable pick?

Let’s make this one thing clear. A franchise quarterback would not fix everything. The Browns quite literally need everything. So instead of drafting for need like most franchises do the Browns should draft the best overall player with their first pick. That player is unequivocally Saquon Barkley. Barkley is a freak. He might be the best running back prospect this league has ever seen. He can run over you like Leonard Fournette, shake you out like Reggie Bush, and outrun you like Ezekiel Elliot. He is 235 pounds and ran a 4.4 forty time. He also can catch out of the backfield and is solid in pass protection. He really doesn’t have a glaring weakness. Drafting a running back early has helped teams like the Jaguars and Cowboys get back to the postseason and the Browns should follow suit.

What the Browns should do with their fourth pick is also somewhat unconventional. The Browns should once again go after the best player available. I think they can get the second best overall player in the draft in Quenton Nelson. As a Notre Dame fan I had the privilege of watching this monster play the last three years. Nelson is a guard and it is not thought of as a very valuable position. Let’s take a moment and look at the one bright spot in the Browns franchise for the last 11 years: Joe Thomas. Joe Thomas has been the best and most consistent left tackle in football. HE PLAYED OVER 10,000 SNAPS IN A ROW. He is literally hitting 260+ pounds on every play. He has made the pro bowl every year he has played excluding this year with his injury. Enter a sure fire prospect like Nelson and the Browns might just have the best left side of the offensive line in football.

The Browns have over 100 million in cap space. Who would ever want to play in Cleveland? Money talks and the Browns have a lot of it. The Browns should use the remaining money on defense defense and even more defense. There are a lot of young dependable players that the Browns could go after. The top priorities I would make are in order: Malcolm Butler(CB), Sheldon Richardson (DT), and Eric Reid (S). The Browns actually have enough money to sign all three of these players and could make this an actual formidable defense.

The Browns will not do this. They will take a quarterback in the first four picks or trade back. They will not spend their money on the right free agents and they will come in last place again next season. But beware, if this article gets in the wrong hands and the Browns follow it like an instructional manual, you might just see Cleveland make its first postseason appearance since 2002.

#Browns #Offseason #Barkely