Cal’s Jared Goff?

Or North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz?

Which one will it be?

Most people, from the so-called experts to the everyday fans, think the
Browns will stay at No. 2 overall and take one of the two top-rated
quarterbacks in the NFL Draft.

And they’re probably right. That what the Browns will likely do. It’s also
what they should do.

After all, this team isn’t going anywhere until it gets a top-flight
quarterback, which is why, with head coach Hue Jackson’s urging, the Browns
jump-started their search – that process – by signing free agent Robert
Griffin III.

But after a splendid rookie season, RG III has struggled with both injuries
and his on-field play, falling so far out of favor with the Washington
Redskins that he was relegated to playing on the scout team last year – as
a safety, no less. Maybe the Browns should have tried that with Johnny
Football.

But I digress.

With RG3’s injury history and the fact there’s no telling even if he stays
healthy that he will be successful, the Browns want to have a young
quarterback to bring along. As such, it’s presumed that it will be either
Wentz or Goff, or, as it were, Goff or Wentz, who will be snatched up by
the Browns at No. 2.

But what if they take neither of the above — a non-quarterback — at No.
2, trade out of the pick to get more choices, per the advice of the
analytics guys, to try to fill some of their many other needs, or if they
simply wait for their next pick, at No. 32, to take their quarterback? A
guy who might be available at No. 32 is Paxton Lynch, the Memphis product
with whom they visited a couple of days ago. So the Browns must be
considering that option, or it could be that they’re just doing their
due-diligence in case they end up thinking along those lines at some point.

Would it be a downer for you if the Browns come away from the draft with
Lynch as their young quarterback to groom? Would it be a disappointment if
they pass on the supposed A-listers for the B-lister in Lynch, who went
into the 2015 season as arguably the top quarterback prospect in the draft
before he played his way out of it?

Like Wentz and Goff, Lynch is big. In fact, at 6-foot-7 and 244 pounds,
he’s the biggest of the three. And Memphis is somewhat halfway in between
Cal and North Dakota State in terms of quality of the program. So while
Lynch didn’t play a steady diet of big-time teams, like Goff did, he also
wasn’t facing FCS competition like Wentz.

Getting Lynch might no go over well in the eyes of quarterback-starved
Browns fans, or it might, depending upon whom they would draft in front of
him.

The Browns know that, no matter what they do, all of their fans will
eventually be on board if, ultimately, their plan works out. And that’s the
key. After former General Manager Ray Farmer’s performance in the last two
drafts, when he appears to have blown – very badly so – a combined total of
four first-round draft picks, Browns fans will be, quite honestly, dubious
of anything this team does in the draft until they can see some positive
results.

Keep in mind that Jackson is a quarterback maker, and if he is comfortable
enough to stake his reputation on Lynch, then maybe – just maybe – he knows
something that we don’t.

We’ll just have to wait and see, but as the days to the draft begin to
count down – we’re just one month and a day away now from that first night
in the three-day event – and the talk of Wentz and Goff gets progressively
louder, it’s at least something to think about.

And who knows, it could be something that will happen, like it or not.

It’s the draft, and anything can happen, and many times does.