OK, so what do the Browns do about Jimmy Garoppolo?
And, just as importantly, how do they do it?
Garoppolo, of course, is the New England Patriots backup quarterback who is the hot, sexy, supposedly franchise-changing commodity who will be on the market – or not — this offseason. Set to become an unrestricted free agent following the 2017 season, he is enticing, yet oh, so mysterious.
When he has played, which hasn’t been much, he’s been fantastic. But if he played more, how many warts would appear, and would they be enough to scare people off?
And also, how much of his mini-excellence is the fact he’s with the best team in the game and playing for the best head coach in the game in Bill Belichick?
There’s no guarantee that Garoppolo, who played at tiny Eastern Illinois, which used to be the University of Akron’s rival back in the Zips’ Mid-Continent Conference days, will ever get to free agency. The Patriots may buck up the big bucks and re-sign him before he ever gets to the market. They may not do that at all. They might not even be thinking about it. Right now as you read this, Belichick may be intent on only one thing, and that is go trade Garoppolo for some quarterback-needy team like the Browns for as many quality NFL Draft picks as he can get. Belichick craves draft choices like a starved person craves food.
Here’s what the Browns should do:
Be themselves. More specifically, be the best of themselves. In the past – not necessarily with the current regime but with some of the knucklehead groups that were here before – the Browns have spent all of their time worrying about everybody but themselves. Quit worrying about Belichick and what he says and does, and what he doesn’t say and do. In fact, turn the volume on Belichick’s rhetoric and actions to the off position and leave it there. And then have your people – coaches, scouts and whomever – make their assessment on Garoppolo as to how good he is, how good he can be, what they would be willing to give the Patriots in a trade and how much they would be willing to pay him in a new deal.
Because he’s a quarterback, which is the most important position in team sports, the Browns need to be willing to overspend a little to get him – a little, mind you, not an obscene amount.
However – and this is a big however – they have to remember that they have a lot more needs than just quarterback. With the first and No. 12 overall picks in this year’s draft, and five of the top 65 selections overall, the Browns have a tremendous, almost historic, opportunity to upgrade themselves dramatically – dramatically! – and immediately. Realistically, it doesn’t get any better than this.
If they get this – the decisions on both the quarterback and the rest of the draft — right, then the members of this regime will be canonized in Cleveland. And if they get it wrong – if they mess it up like every regime before them in this expansion era have messed it up – then they will eventually be ridden out of town on a rail.
Yes, really.
Now, what would I do if I were running the Browns?
That will come in my next post.
