The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Waiting ’til next year might be wise for Browns at QB
No matter how much the Browns would like it otherwise, wishing won’t make the quarterbacks in the 2017 draft worth picking higher than their talents merit.
Analysts from one end of the country to the other paid a lot of money to study draft prospects year-round say this year’s quarterback class is not a strong one.
Would the Browns dare put off drafting their franchise quarterback when Sam Darnold of USC and Josh Rosen of UCLA are already projected to go first and second in the draft next year?
Darnold, 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, threw 31 touchdown passes and nine interceptions as a redshirt freshman in 2016.
Nor is 2018 just a twoquarterback draft. Luke Falk of Washington State, Josh Allen of Wyoming and Jarrett Stidham of Auburn could all go in the first round in 2018. Darnold and Rosen are projected to be the cream of a bountiful crop of quarterbacks next year.
We’ll be able to tell a lot about what quarterback needy teams are thinking by how they navigate through the first round of this year’s draft on April 27.
The Browns, 49ers, Jaguars, Jets and Bills are all picking in the 10 and all need quarterbacks to turn their team around. The teams that pass on a quarterback in the first round this year could be willing to wait ‘til next year – a phrase Browns fans have uttered since 1999.
Most analysts agree Mitchell Trubisky of Mentor High and North Carolina is the best quarterback in the 2017 draft, but none rank him as a top 10 pick. Scouts Inc. ranks Trubisky 24th. Mel Kiper of ESPN ranks Trubisky 18th on his Big Board. Todd McShay of ESPN ranks Trubisky 24th.
The Browns pick first and 12th in the first round. They have the first pick in the second round – pick 33 overall. Coincidentally, NFLDraftScout. com ranks Trubisky 12th overall.
Teams that need quarterbacks often reach now to regret it later. The Jacksonville Jaguars reached for Blaine Gabbert at No. 10 in 2011 (Mike Mayock of NFL Network said Gabbert was the best player in the draft that year) and they reached for Blake Bortles in 2014. The Jaguars best record since 2011 is 5-11.
Not all the quarterback needy teams will sacrifice 2017 for a shot at Darnold or Rosen. That’s why the Browns might not wait until they’re picking 12th to take Trubisky, Deshaun Watson of Clemson, DeShone Kizer of Notre Dame, or whichever quarterback is at the top of their board.
If the Browns truly believe Trubisky is worth trading up to five with Tennessee to get ahead of the Jets at six, fine.
If they are totally convinced he can be a franchise quarterback, then don’t mess around. Take him with the first pick and conserve their 10 other draft choices.
This is the biggest decision of the Jimmy Haslam-Sashi BrownHue Jackson era. Even so, if the Browns do draft a quarterback on April 27 or 28 and end up picking first again next year, they should still take Darnold if he duplicates his 2016 season.
A team can’t stop picking quarterbacks until it picks the right one, and it won’t start winning until it does.
You can already plan on an early pick in 2018. The Browns got better on the offensive line in free agency by signing guard Kevin Zeitler and center JC Tretter, but that’s it. They aren’t likely to get much help from a rookie quarterback. None are ready to play.
I will have the Browns picking Mitchell Trubisky in my final mock draft later this week, but I won’t criticize them if they don’t take a quarterback until the second or third round. There are certainly enough holes to fill at other spots after taking defensive end Myles Garrett with the first pick – if that’s what they do.
Riding out 2017 with Cody Kessler and Brock Osweiler at quarterback wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen – not if it means the Browns will get a franchise quarterback in 2018.