CAN CADE YORK KICK THE BROWNS OUT OF THIS BIG MESS?

By STEVE KING
I gave the Browns a grade of C — that’s not great nor is it bad, but simply average — for their performance in the NFL Draft over the weekend.
They did some good things — things that made sense — such as selecting Purdue’s extremely productive wide receiver, David Bell, and attacking areas of need, such as wideout, defensive line and depth at cornerback, and they did some shaky things — things that didn’t make sense — such as trading back from No. 44 in the second round to No. 68 in the third round to make their first pick. Why in the world they just didn’t put on their big-boy pants and make a pick at 44 instead of bailing out like a bunch of indecisive school kids — is beyond me, and forever will be, regardless of the Browns’ explanations.They fall on deaf ears as far as I’m concerned
But the ultimate cumulative success of this draft will not hinge on one — and only one — thing, and that is whether fourth-rounder Cade York of LSU proves he ‘s the answer to the club’s nearly decade-long search for a competent kicker. Ever since the “genius,” then team President Joe Banner, let the great Phil Dawson walk in free agency after the 2012 season without as much as making him a contract offer, the Browns have struggled mightily at kicker. It has been nothing short of disaster.
For a team to be truly great, as the Browns hope to be this season, then it must have a great kicker, The league is so balanced, even when the best clubs play the ones at the bottom of the barrel, that the games often come down to a kick at the end to either win it, or lose it. The Browns have not had anyone on whom they could consistently count to make that kick.
If York earns that moniker — and he will most certainly earn it not in the warmth of spring work in shorts and shell pads, or even training camp or the preseason, but rather in games in the cold, swirling winds and snow and ice of late December when the AFC North title is on the line — then the Browns will have had a great draft and my grade for it will soar to A-plus.
Yes, York developing as the Browns’ kicker for the present and future, really is that important.