No matter what they do, the Browns have to be right

 


What will the Browns do with the No. 2 overall pick on the first day of the 2016 NFL Draft on April 28?

Will they use it to take a much-needed quarterback, such as Jared Goff of Cal, Paxton Lynch of Memphis or Carson Wentz of North Dakota, the last of whom has reportedly caught the Browns’ attention at this week’s Senior Bowl practices?

Or will they use it to select a player at another position, such as Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa?

Or will they use it to trade up a spot to No. 1 to make sure they don’t miss out on getting whomever, which, according to Browns Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown, is not likely?

Or will they use it to trade down in order to collect more picks to fill some of the many holes they have?

Who knows? It’s only January, so it’s hard to get a good read yet on what, exactly, they’ll do. We’ll know more – hopefully – a little later.

But here’s what we do know: For Brown, vice president of player personnel Andrew Berry, head coach Hue Jackson and chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, what they do with that No. 2 pick in their first draft together as a group will go a long way toward defining their tenure in Cleveland – at least the first part of it.

They can’t just hit the target.

They can’t just hit the bulls eye.

They have to hit the exact center of that bulls eye.

That’s how far behind the rest of the pack in the AFC North the Browns are. That’s how much they need to find not just a big-time player, but rather a real game-changer, a franchise-changer.

Sure, they can rebound if they swing and miss, but it won’t be easy because they will have dug themselves a large hole.

Nothing like putting the pressure on them right away, huh?

But that’s what Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is paying all those millions to those guys to do, to get it right.

In an event, it should be an extremely interesting next three months leading up to that big day.

By Steve King

 

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