In Football's game of poker, Browns might hold best hand
Let the guessing games commence.
John Dorsey, the latest “new GM” of the Cleveland Browns, is on the clock with the No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft. But despite widespread expectation that another new quarterback will be pegged, now is not the time for any grand declarations. Instead, as Dorsey fielded a battery of leading questions during a media session at the NFL scouting combine on Thursday, he danced.
“There’s a lot of things I can do at No. 1 and not just get a quarterback,” he insisted. “My door is wide open if someone wants to come up and talk to me about a trade.”
This is called NFL poker. When you have the top pick, the phone lines – or text messages – burn.
Two years ago, the Los Angeles Rams gave up a bundle to the Tennessee Titans in order to draft their franchise quarterback, Jared Goff. Sometimes, trade partners do even crazier things. Remember Mike Ditka, trading his entire draft to move up and select Ricky Williams? Or way back in the day, when Ollie Matson was dealt for nine players? Cleveland’s previous regime dealt the No. 2 pick two years ago, forgoing the opportunity to pick Carson Wentz.
“Any good GM wants to field phone calls from his peers,” Dorsey said. “Why wouldn’t I? That’s why I say, ‘Just give me a call and see what’s up.’ ”
Yeah, but Dorsey and Hue Jackson, the coach who’s gone 1-31 the past two seasons, must already have their pecking order in assessing the Los Angeles-based quarterbacks, USC’s Sam Darnold and UCLA’s Josh Rosen. And they’ve surely seen the tape on Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield and Wyoming’s Josh Allen.
“You’ll find out on draft day,” Dorsey said. “We bounce things back and forth, but they could change after the combine. It could change after pro day. It’s an evolving thing. It doesn’t matter until that draft board is set the day of the draft.”
Fair enough. It’s too early to set anything in stone, especially while dangling the top pick as trade bait.
But it’s also fair to wonder whether the Browns, who passed on Deshaun Watson and Wentz the past two years, would pull off a shocker and take Penn State running back Saquon Barkley at No.1. After all, despite the premium on quarterbacks, Barkley is arguably the best prospect available.
There were no clues from Dorsey. When asked about Barkley, he shut it down rather quickly. “Good football player,” he said. No elaboration. Hmmm.
The Browns have the fourth pick, too, and three second rounders. Including their selection at the top of the third round, they have six of the first 65 picks, including four in the first 35 slots.
The collection of high picks (and 12 overall) provides so much ammunition for maneuvering, if not just simply hitting on the choices. Add to that the most salary cap room in the NFL (more than $111 million under a projected $180 million cap, according to Spotrac.com), and there are no excuses for the Browns not to be aggressive this offseason.
“I have one single responsibility: to awaken a sleeping giant,” said Dorsey.
This is all rather fresh for Dorsey, a new start after he was shockingly dumped last summer as the Kansas City Chiefs GM just a month before training camp. He’s bolstered his personnel department by luring two of his former understudies in Green Bay, Alonzo Highsmith and Elliot Wolf, while using former Washington GM Scot McCloughan as a consultant. That’s an impressive collection of brainpower taking hold in Cleveland as the Moneyball philosophy recedes in the rear-view mirror.
Yet for long-suffering Browns followers, it must feel like Groundhog Day. Here they go again, with another new brain trust, talking about the need for a franchise quarterback. Dorsey marks the franchise’ seventh GM in the past decade.
“I feel the frustration,” he said. “I feel it from the fan base. You feel it, and it’s real. And they have a right to be cynical.”
And with the top pick in the draft, Dorsey has the right to be coy.
“I’m not going to show my cards,” he said. “But here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to explore every opportunity, whether it’s players or trades, and see what’s best for this organization.”
They’re heard that before in Cleveland. But what they haven’t seen in a while is a winner.
Which means Dorsey is on the clock in more ways than one.
Cousins finalists down to Broncos, Cardinals, Jets, Vikings
The Kirk Cousins sweepstakes could come down to four teams trying to land the free agent Washington Redskins quarterback.
The Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings are expected to be the finalists for Cousins, league sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Saturday.
Those teams privately are planning how to pursue Cousins, how to structure a contract for him and how to convince him, according to Schefter. The report said most of those teams are thinking short-term deals of potentially three years with a high guarantee in the contract.
The 29-year-old Cousins has played the past two seasons under the franchise tag for the Redskins.
In 2017, Cousins topped the 4,000yard mark for the third straight season, finishing with 4,093 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
The Redskins are set to move forward with Alex Smith as their new starting quarterback after reaching a trade agreement with the Kansas City Chiefs on Jan. 30. That deal can become official March 14, the first day of the new league year. Smith also agreed to a four-year extension once the trade becomes final.
Redskins senior vice president of player personnel Doug Williams, speaking at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Wednesday, called Cousins “a free agent for sure,” though he wouldn’t completely rule out the possibility of the team tagging him a third time.
Williams quickly downplayed such talk.
“It’s not too late,” the former quarterback said. “But we haven’t really talked about that. The media had come up with those scenarios more than what we’ve talked about it because I can’t remember one meeting where we talked about the possibility of tagging him.”
Tagging Cousins before the March 6 deadline would result in a guaranteed $34.5 million for the quarterback in 2018. With Cousins tagged, the Redskins could look to trade him for more than the compensation pick they will receive from letting him walk. However, they could only do that if Cousins signed the franchise tender, making such a move risky.
(USA Today/TNS and Reuters)