You read something in my last post from the best pro football writer there is, sportsillustrated.com’s Peter King, concerning what the Browns will do with their No. 1 overall and No. 4 picks in the NFL Draft.
Now here’s something from the second-best NFL writer, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, on that same subject.
Mortensen, who was the guest Tuesday morning of “The Really Big Show” co-hosts Tony Rizzo and Aaron Goldhammer on Cleveland’s ESPN radio affiliate, WKNR-AM, said some interesting things in his 20-minute segment.
He said, as everyone knows, that the Browns will take a quarterback at No. 1. That’s hardly a surprise. But, like the supposed friend of Cleveland General Manager John Dorsey who King talked to and quoted in his “Monday Moring Quarterback” column, Mortensen said it is not a lock that the Browns will take USC’s Sam Darnold. He thinks Wyoming’s Josh Allen is very much in play as well and in fact may actually be the pick.
That was good to hear. I like Allen. I hope the Browns take him, or even Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield. Just don’t let it be Darnold, who offers the same wow factor of watching a traffic light change.
Mortenen also discounts the Browns taking UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen. Thank goodness for that.
But unlike Dorsey’s buddy, Mortensen really holds little hope that the Brown select Penn State running Saquon Barkley at No. 4. He thinks the pick there will be North Carolina State defensive end Bradley Chubb, who, along with last year’s No. 1 overall choice, defensive end Myles Garrett, would give Cleveland two fierce pass rushers off the edge, thus keeping teams from double-teaming both of them. Opponents would have to pick their poison and double only one of them, leaving the other to work on-on-one. That should result in more sacks and quarterback pressures.
Whatever the case, stay tuned. This draft talk will only get hotter, and more voluminous over the next three weeks.