Tell me what the following list of QB's has in common. Weeden, Christian Ponder, Colt McCoy, Pat White, Chad Henne, John Beck, Kellen Clemens, Charlie Frye, JP Losman, Rex Grossman, David Garrard, Marques Tuiasosops, Tee Martin,and Dante Culpepper. There are a plethora of correct answers this group has in common, but I am looking at two common themes. Zero Superbowl appearances, in fact this group has produced a combined 4-4 postseason record. The second common theme, these were all the QB's drafted 4th in their respective class since the Brown's have come back. Fourteen signal callers and only Culpepper and Grossman have started postseason games, each going 2-2. Look farther back you won't find a better track record, in fact the only QB selected 4th in his draft class to wear rings is Joe Montana, my friends that is called the exception to the rule.
Is Brandon Weeden a better NFL QB then McCoy? It comes down to a matter of opinion and mine is yes, Weeden is the better of the two. Was he that much better though to warrant a 1st round pick, NO. Colt had a decent rookie campaign, his second season, well unimpressive is a kind way to describe it. Still it felt if we traded in a Ford Focus for a Fusion, we needed to wait to get the Mustang. I am pretty confident that with the better surrounding talent on the field last season the Brown's would have still won 5 games with Colt behind center. How nice would Decastro or Fleener looked in the orange helmet instead of Weeden. I will never be able to wrap my head around the thinking that picking the 4th best QB last year was a better option then rolling one more season with Colt, and if he failed, would put us in position to get one of the better QB's in this class. There are plenty of Russell/Leaf size busts, I know, but the probability of succeeding with the best QB in his class is much higher then getting the 4th best guy.
Franchise QB's do not come along very often. Count me as one who was more relieved then disappointed though when the Redskins swung the trade instead of the Browns last season that landed Griffin. I did not see him as a can't miss and still worry if he will have a Manning type impact when his career is done. That type of impact is what I define as a can't miss. Hindsight is 20/20 and RGIII thoroughly impressed me last season, he genuinely seems like a great guy, I am rooting for him to be successful, the only part of me that does not want to see him become one of the greats is the Brown's fan in me, knowing how close we where and what could have been if he has a long successful career.
So the old regime has left us in quite a predicament. History shows us that QB's do not have a successful track record when picked as low as Weeden was. That list above has QB's picked from number 11 in round one to pick 163 in round five. The eye test makes it look like Weeden, Smith and Barkley are on pretty equal footing. Can Norv and Chud turn Weeden into the next Montana? Doubtful, but these guys are talking a good game at least and seem like they will tailor their calls to their players strengths. So are they going to do that with the guy they inherited or are they going to pick their own? I personally don't care if he's on the roster, gets drafted, signed, traded for, or is stocking shelves at a grocery store, they just need to get it right this time, twenty years between playoff is just plain unacceptable and they need to end it now.
I know we can't go back in time and change things no matter how much we wish we can. I know your thinking if that was possible I would be taking back the Weeden pick but you are wrong. If we could change the past I would make the trade for Luck. I would have spread out four 1st round picks and two 3rd round picks to earn that right. I know a lot of you must think I am crazy, six picks for one player, especially when I was on the fence about the Griffin trade. However if we draft Smith or Barkley as I suspect we will in April that means we have spent four 1st round picks and two 3rd round picks on trying to find the right quarterback since we have been back. The most important pick the Brown's have made hasn't been in a draft, it was when Haslam tapped Banner to run this franchise. Baltimore can have the Ravens but oh I wish we still had Ozzie.
So the old regime has left us in quite a predicament. History shows us that QB's do not have a successful track record when picked as low as Weeden was. That list above has QB's picked from number 11 in round one to pick 163 in round five. The eye test makes it look like Weeden, Smith and Barkley are on pretty equal footing. Can Norv and Chud turn Weeden into the next Montana? Doubtful, but these guys are talking a good game at least and seem like they will tailor their calls to their players strengths. So are they going to do that with the guy they inherited or are they going to pick their own? I personally don't care if he's on the roster, gets drafted, signed, traded for, or is stocking shelves at a grocery store, they just need to get it right this time, twenty years between playoff is just plain unacceptable and they need to end it now.
I know we can't go back in time and change things no matter how much we wish we can. I know your thinking if that was possible I would be taking back the Weeden pick but you are wrong. If we could change the past I would make the trade for Luck. I would have spread out four 1st round picks and two 3rd round picks to earn that right. I know a lot of you must think I am crazy, six picks for one player, especially when I was on the fence about the Griffin trade. However if we draft Smith or Barkley as I suspect we will in April that means we have spent four 1st round picks and two 3rd round picks on trying to find the right quarterback since we have been back. The most important pick the Brown's have made hasn't been in a draft, it was when Haslam tapped Banner to run this franchise. Baltimore can have the Ravens but oh I wish we still had Ozzie.
No comments:
Post a Comment