Their exchanges – their disagreements, really – on the NFL Draft are well-publicized.
And funny.
But one of the things that ESPN analysts Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay can agree on is that the future could be bright – very, very much so – for the Browns.
Kiper has been high on the Browns for several months now, saying that with the players they’ve added via free agency and trades this offseason, coupled with their bounty of high draft picks (Nos. 1 and 4 overall and four in the top 35), they could be ready to take over the AFC North in a couple seasons “for the next three to eight years” – that is, provided they do a good job in the draft in just over two weeks.
Usually, what Kiper thinks is 180 degrees away from what McShay thinks, and vice-versa. And why not? It makes good theater.
But not this time.
McShay, in an ESPN radio show over the weekend, said he initially took Kiper’s optimism about the Browns with a grain of a salt, or, as he put it, “OK, yeah, whatever.”
McShay then pointed out that he’s now on board with Kiper.
“What’s going on in Cleveland is exciting!” McShay said more than once.
With, as mentioned, McShay almost always taking the opposite view than Kiper, and the fact that he’s not one who hands out praise excessively, McShay’s comments on the Browns take on some real significance.
It is further evidence that the Browns are sitting on a gold mine – a franchise-changing and franchise-defining opportunity – if they can just hit on their draft picks, especially the early ones and specifically at No. 1, where they are expected to take their supposed franchise quarterback.
Wow.
But that’s a big “if.” It’s one thing to have the draft choices. It’s another thing, though, to make the right decisions. The Browns – and particularly their fans – have waited a long time for this moment, and it’s almost here.
So, yes, just like Todd McShay – and Mel Kiper Jr. before him—have said, it really is an exciting time in Cleveland.
When’s the last time you heard that – or anything close to it – about the Browns?
