THE DRAFT, THE DRAFT, THE DRAFT TAKES CENTER STAGE
By STEVE KING
With March Madness concluding on Monday night, the full focus of the sports world is now on the NFL Draft that will be held in 3½ weeks in none other than Cleveland.
So, then, what will the Browns do with their first-round pick at No. 26 overall?
Despite what you have read and heard, no one knows, likely not even the Browns, because a lot can – and no doubt will – happen leading up to the draft, and on draft night in the picks ahead of them, that will impact their decision.
Like all teams except new head coach Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have the No. 1 overall selection, the Browns can opt to do three things: trade up, trade down or stay right where they’re at. Again, it’s impossible to tell, but the best guess is that they will stand pat, but there will probably also be a strong temptation to move back and gather some more draft assets by dealing with a team that is intent on moving up to get a player it has targeted.
This current regime is not in the business of surrendering assets, which is what it would have to do to move up, so it doesn’t seem as if that will have much of a chance of happening.
The Browns are confident in their scouting, and their decision-making process, to remain at 26 and grab a top-flight player at one of their three greatest areas of need: a speedy wide receiver who can stretch the defense, an edge rusher who van harass the quarterback and a linebacker who can play all three downs, probably in that order.
My guess between the two? The speedy wideout has a slight edge over the edge rusher. The NFL is now, has been for a long, long time and will continue to be an offensive game, and the team with the most offense has the most chance to win. And the Browns offense would morph from being very good to great if they can get the right receiver.
Who that would be remains to be seen, but you can bet the Browns have a guy in mind. But if their wideout is gone when it comes to their turn to pick and their edge rusher is still there, they wouldn’t reach for another receiver and instead would take the edge rusher.
Ladies and gentlemen, this draft stuff seems hard in a lot of ways, but in its purest form, it really isn’t. Just take the player who helps the team the most.
