BREAKING NEWS: The Browns will draft Myles Garrett with the #1 overall pick. I had someone who is very close with a person high up in the Browns organization tell me that Cleveland will absolutely take the Texas A&M DE with the #1 overall pick…yes that person may be a girl I know, but she knows her football better than a decent percentage of people reading this, and has mentioned previously that she does know someone who works in a prominent role for the team.
[Full disclosure in case you missed it: Schefter is saying he his hearing it will be Trubisky at #1, but Mike Silver is saying it’s Garrett. So I guess it’s the girl I know and Silver vs. Schefter, make your bets. Also, Cleveland’s GM Sashi Brown told Silver only 3-4 people know who the pick is, so maybe my source is getting fed info on a hunch rather than fact, or she is more well connected than I thought. But Sashi also told Silver the Browns aren’t desperate for a QB.]
Meanwhile, everyone else except apparently 3 or 4 people with the Browns, the girl I know, me, and now you reading this, is sitting here wondering what the heck the Browns are thinking for Thursday night. We all know the logical thing to do is take Myles Garrett with the first overall pick, he’s the hottest girl at the party you were at on Saturday night and everyone wants to take him out on the town Thursday for a real date. But Mitchell (not Mitch) Trubisky is there too. He’s the girl you grew up with, who always wanted do date you, but you just didn’t think she was as pretty as the rest of the Myles Garrett’s of the world. But now there is something in the back of your mind saying maybe this is the girl who can love me forever, a good Cleveland girl who wants to be with me, who I don’t have to make fall in love with me because she already is.
Or maybe you say screw it, ignore them both, get drunk on Thursday with your boys instead, and see who you meet this Saturday at party 3, 4, or 5, with a promise from your friend to take you to another party or two later this Saturday or a couple parties the following Saturday.
Okay, that went a little off the rails there, but I hope you get my point. Myles Garrett is the most consensus, consensus first pick since I have no idea when. The Browns have to take him. The reports coming out of Cleveland are that the coaching staff, the football guys, want Garrett, but the owner, and maybe an analytics guy or two want a QB. We’ve also heard that Hue loves Trubisky, so maybe he doesn’t want to risk him being taken at #2 or #3. Or maybe they decide to continue the strategy of stockpiling picks and trade down a few spots to pick up another couple top picks and focus on some other positional needs like CB/S/WR.
Side note: Tennessee’s Josh Dobbs got significantly more practice reps at the Senior Bowl than some of the other mid-tier prospects, so he could be Hue’s sleeper pick later in later rounds of the draft if he misses out on Trubisky.
We’ve heard the Browns will stay at #12 with their second pick, or maybe try and trade up to make sure they land both Garrett and Trubisky, anywhere from #2-8 have been the most common rumors, most likely with the Titans at #5. Others have said the Browns want to keep #1 and #12 and trade back into the late 1st round to land their QB, Texas Tech’s Pat Mahomes may still be there then. We’ve also been told that the Jimmy G asking price has dropped to potentially the Browns second this year (#33 overall) and one of next year’s second rounders (we have 3 at the moment), and then the Browns can go a number of different ways at the top to fill other holes. For the record, I don’t think a Garoppolo trade will happen.
Is it starting to feel like no one actually knows what’s going to happen? Okay, it should.
Honestly, I think the Browns should roll with former Trojan Cody Kessler again this year. (If you don’t take my word for it, Pro Football Focus has my back). None of these top QB prospects have me, or really anyone else for that matter, very excited for them to be on my team. Let’s be real, there is no way Brock Osweiler is going to be a franchise QB. I don’t want to trade two top picks for Jimmy G. The whole signing a Brady back-up plan is not a great strategy: Brian Hoyer, Matt Cassel, Ryan Mallett, etc. Any of those guys light the NFL on fire? Not so much.
But Kessler showed a lot of promise last year. If you look at his stats surrounding completion percentages while under pressure you will notice he is at the top of the league, and I mean that literally, he was #1 by adjusted completion percentage under pressure. His passer rating under pressure was only worse than Matt Ryan, Tom Brady, Sam Bradford, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson. That shows a lot of poise and confidence for a young QB.
His biggest knock was that he was afraid to let the ball go deep. He has acknowledged that fault in presser after presser, and from the looks of it has added some muscle over the offseason. Both of those things are encouraging. Do I know for sure he is our QB of the future? Absolutely not. But I also don’t NOT know he is that guy. We aren’t a playoff team this year. Let’s give Cody another year to see what he can do behind a much improved, and hopefully healthy, offensive line and a now second year Corey Coleman (and hey you never know, Josh Gordon…eye roll emoji…).
Thursday night is going to be interested kids, buckle up. It’s my second favorite football day of the year outside of that first Sunday of Browns football. And Thursday should be the roller coaster Browns fans have come to know, love, and hate.
So pour a glass of bourbon, sit back, and give me a “HERE WE GO BROWNIES, HERE WE GO!”
