April 29, 2007

Why The Browns Draft Success This Year Won't Really Matter...aka 2007 NFL Draft Retrospective Part IV


In short, it's Cleveland.

In all seriousness, and putting my obvious bias aside, Cleveland is like Arizona (though I have my reservations about continuing to doubt Arizona after Whis's draft crop...see above post). It's a black hole. They can draft all the top prospects they want, and they're still going to assume the basement position in the AFC North. I don't know what it is, call it the Paul Brown curse, but Cleveland has had chance after chance for top picks to come in and "save" the hapless franchise, and none have really panned out thus far.

Although, out of a journalistic responsibility to be moderately fair - Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow have actually produced some pretty good stats for the Browns the past couple years (when Winslow wasn't hurting himself riding his motorcycle...no comment for obvious reasons...).

Nothing like making the divisional rivalry interesting...and at least Quinn didn't end up in Baltimore! God, can you imagine the Ravens with Brady Quinn? I'd actually be somewhat scared.

So while I'm not that worried about the Browns good fortune - kudos to Phil Savage! You really nailed it by taking Joe Thomas first, then getting back in the mix just in time to get Quinn. I won't go into semantics, but this shows some draft smarts right here.

Oh, but if you guys think you're getting the Chin - forget it. If Cowher coaches in Cleveland, I'm gonna become a Patriots fan.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hopefully the Browns will see the wisdom of bringing him along rather than throwing him to the wolves. Unfortunately in todays sports world, when you pay the player the cash, they get played.

I wonder how many players are destined for stardom, but then fall short because of impatient teams who play them too soon.

Cotter said...

Very good point. I think the Browns may start out thinking this way, but to be honest, it will be tough for them to keep Quinn on the bench when their other options are Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson.

But I also think that if he really is destined to be a great player, he will be able to come in and have a positive impact from the first time he sees the field - whether it be his first NFL game or his 20th.