The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Darnold’s upside makes him top QB
If Browns draft No. 1, USC signal caller should be the pick over UCLA’s Rosen
Browns fans, all was not lost on Dec. 17.
Yes, this sad sack franchise continued its march to a possible 0-16 season with a 27-10 loss to the visiting Ravens Dec. 17.
The best news from the loss is the Browns inched closer to securing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
They could have clinched that spot had the Giants beaten the Eagles, but New York lost, 34-29.
With two weeks to play, the Browns are 0-14, the Giants 2-12. That’s a two-game lead with two games to play. Those are the best odds the Browns have had in a long time.
The top pick in the draft could be giftwrapped to the Browns next week against a familiar face. A loss at Chicago on Christmas Eve vs. Mentor graduate and quarterback Mitchell Trubisky — who went No. 2 overall in last year’s draft after the Browns picked Myles Garrett — and the No. 1 overall pick is secured. The Browns close out the season the following week at Pittsburgh.
The top pick would give General Manager John Dorsey any player he wants in a QB-heavy draft.
The top pick can’t be a cornerback, a running back, an offensive lineman, a defensive lineman, or anyone else who doesn’t throw it.
It must be a QB. Browns fans know it. Owner Jimmy Haslam knows it — “The Cleveland Browns are not going to be successful until we get a quarterback” Haslam recently said. Most important, Dorsey knows it.
Cleveland will play out the season hoping to avoid history.
Tampa Bay was 0-14 in the 1976, the team’s first year of existence, so they get a pass. Doug Williams — who eventually won a Super Bowl for the Redskins in the 1980s — arrived two years later in Tamp Bay. In 1979, the Buccaneers were in the NFC championship game.
The other winless NFL team was the 2008 Lions, who could welcome the Browns to the 0-16 club in two weeks. Look what Detroit did that season, and the months after. At 0-16, it should go without saying the team was flat-out awful. After it started 0-3, team president Matt Millen was fired. With the No. 1 pick in the next draft, the Lions took Georgia QB Matthew Stafford No. 1 overall.
Stafford has been pretty good with five 4,000-yard seasons, plus a 5,000yard season with 41 touchdowns passes in 2011. The Lions have made the playoffs three times with Stafford.
So history shows there’s hope for the Browns if they find their franchise QB next April.
That brings us to the two college QBs many believe will vie for the No. 1 overall pick — if the underclassmen declare.
USC’s Sam Darnold is a redshirt sophomore, and UCLA’s Josh Rosen is a junior who’s been the team’s starter since his true freshman season in Los Angeles. It’s fair to expect both will declare.
In that case, this race should be close. Really close.
Dorsey has been open about the Browns’ need for not only a QB but a leader and one who can “drive it and win at the end of the game.”
That should give Darnold an edge over Rosen, but it’s still close.
Darnold has turned USC into a winner. He could eventually do the same with the Browns.
In 2016, he stepped in as the backup after the Trojans’ 1-2 start and went on a 9-1 run to the Rose Bowl, where he guided his team to a wild 52-49 win over Big Ten champion Penn State.
Darnold threw for 453
yards and five touchdowns. Not to be forgotten was a huge 26-13 win at Pac-12 champion Washington during the regular season. It was a victory that stunned the nation, and put Darnold’s name on the map.
After three games in 2016, USC was going nowhere. In stepped Darnold, and the Trojans finished as an 11-win team and Rose Bowl champions. Darnold finished the season with 3,086 yards and 31 TD passes.
This season, USC went 11-2, and beat Stanford twice to win the Pac-12. Darnold threw for 3,787 yards and 26 TDs. Up next is Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.
Darnold has star power in his family. Most were standout athletes, including his late grandfather Dick Hammer, who was an inspiration for Gil Thorp newspaper comic strips. Hammer was a USC basketball player on the school’s 1954 Final Four team, and a decade later was a U.S. Olympic volleyball player. He eventually became a TV commercial star as the Marlboro Man.
Those genes do not guarantee Darnold will be a Browns savior, but it doesn’t hurt. He does have the frame, pocket presence and can make all the throws.
“If you’ve ever seen Aaron Rodgers throw the ball, it’s a fastball,” said
Steelers rookie receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who played with Darnold at USC. “It just goes there. That’s what (Darnold’s throw) is.”
Meanwhile, Rosen also has impressive credentials, none better than what he accomplished when he started as a true freshman at UCLA. That season, he threw 23 TDs against 11 interceptions with 3,670 yards. The Bruins were 8-5. By comparison, Trubisky didn’t start at North Carolina until his fourth year on campus.
As a sophomore, Rosen missed half the season with an injury and UCLA was 4-8. This season, the Bruins are 6-6, and Rosen has been fine, but not spectacular. He’s been a bit better than his freshman year with 3,756 yards, 26 TD passes and 10 picks.
Rosen is a classic pocket QB who stands tall at 6-foot-4. Darnold is also 6-4, but moves around the pocket much better than Rosen. He’s also younger than Rosen at age 20. Rosen is more experienced, but Darnold likely has the higher ceiling. Right now, it’s advantage Darnold. But the draft is four months away.
This decision — if it is the decision for Dorsey and the Browns — could go down to the wire.