First off, I got the bulk of my info from optimumscouting.com, and their Diamonds in the Rough feature.
On another site, I saw a mock draft in which Butch Davis and Mike Ditka somehow comandeered the Redskins draft board and traded their first and second rounders this year, then their first and third next year, to move up two slots for RG3.
Mmm-hmm.
However, the guys they picked were interesting. At #6 they had the Browns taking Trent Richardson, the super running back, so I checked him out. If the Browns are able to trade down, and fail to re-sign Hillis, I could deal with that. Everybody I've read says he's not just the best running back in this draft, but the best in several years.
The common argument against that is that Adrian Peterson, though awesome, didn't put the Vikings over the top. Also, most of the best running backs for the last several seasons have been middle round picks. Third, most NFL offenses today have two backs, or a running back by committee, so you can't afford feature back type money for one guy.
However, this is a West Coast offense, which separates it from the majority of NFL teams. Peterson mainly runs in Minnesota; doesn't catch many passes. The running back here will get the ball as a reciever maybe 33% of the time, and Richardson has plenty of receptions to his credit (averaging over 10 yards per).
The Browns need playmakers and more speed on offense, and this guy has both--along with power. Justin Blackmon is very good, but probably not as good as the top two wide recievers of last season. If you are going to take an offensive skill player, it simply makes more sense to me to take the guy who's the best in several years, and who will be getting the ball four or five times as often.
At number 22, this mock had the Browns taking Jason Wright, the Baylor burner. Can't really fault that either, especially since I said I liked it in previous blogs. But they could also get a real sure-fire stud right tackle. Toss-up. Can't wait for the free agents to start rolling in.
But high in the second round, they had the Browns taking QB Ryan Tannehill out of Texas A&M.
I did some homework, again courtesy of optimimscouting.com, and was pretty stunned. This guy was a star HS quarterback in highschool who they turned into a wide reciever in college. The dude broke every school record, and had he remained at wide reciever would be drafted as that instead.
He was switched back to quarterback as a sophomore and redshirted that season. He didn't start until half way into his sophomore season, and instantly killed everybody.
As a senior, his completion percentage dropped from 65 to 61%, which isn't that impressive. He also throws TD's to interceptions at about a 2:1 clip, which could also be better. His physical flaws are almost non-existant and easily corrected. He's 6'4" and "big bodied" so I'll guess at over 230.
His issues are mental. He's an excellent student and very intelligent, but will need a lot of work reading coverages and doing more than one check-down. He also has the common tendancy a lot of these guys have to get stubborn and try to force the ball rather than throw it away.
He'll need a lot of coaching in the pros before he's ready. This scout called him a one or two-year project.
I just remember that they said that about Andy Dalton and Cam Newton last year. For some reason, the rules of thumb aren't the same anymore for projecting quarterback development.
In this case, however, the West Coast is the most complex pro offense, so this is a guy you can't count on as a rookie.
I'd still do it, and ignore the ignorant comments and the lynch-mobs. Tannehill would have an outside shot of beating out McCoy, at least. He'd definitely push him. His arm is much better, and he can take a hit and burn you on the ground, (although more like a faster Roethsenburger than an RG3 or a Vick. He's faster than most H-backs and some wide recievers and has moves).
Most scouts agree that he looks like a true franchise quarterback. It's just a matter of when.
I'd do this, because I do not agree that Colt McCoy was the problem last season. Entering the second year in a new system, and his third season on the league personally, a marked improvement can be expected by anybody with a 3-digit I.Q. He may or may not grow into a franchise quarterback, but he can manage for awhile, with improved protection and help.
For that matter, Seneca Wallace is a solid journeyman, and I see no need to replace him as a mentor. Except maybe with Kyle Orton, who's never gotten a fair deal.
optimumscouting.com's Diamonds in the Rough showed several players that are projected to go lower than the fourth, and broke down the "why" of that.
I focussed on Browns needs:
1: Tavaris Cadet, RB(WR), Appalacian State 6'2" 215 (he gets MUCH bigger as a pro): Exactly like Josh Cribbs, he was a quarterback in highschool, and was basicly his whole offense. He actually shifted back and forth between quarterback and wide reciever, and excelled at both. As a quarterback, he ran almost as often as he threw.
Then he signs with Toledo, and Toledo got in all sorts of trouble with the NCAA before he could start his first season. They screwed around with him til he went to a JUCO school in Mississipi where he was a QB/RB/WR/returner.
Then he had to pay back Toledo for his scholarship so that he could sign with a major college! Twenty grand! He had to get a job, and finally his whole family chipped in with him to pay the bastards back. This cost him his shot at Kansas State, who couldn't wait for him, but Appalacian State took him on.
That was 2009, after much wasted time that wasn't his fault. That season he played mostly in the slot and at running back, gaining 700 all-purpose yards. In 2010, he lost time with a hurt thumb, but still gained 671 yards on 115 attempts from scrimmage, and over a thousand as a reciever. Last year, he got similar results.
He's projected low due to his level of competition, and a false perception of his background. He has real speed. From the slot, he was sudden and got separation. He was sure-handed. As a running back he was fast and shifty; he has NFL speed.
He can fill multiple roles including special teams, and has unknown potential. Could be another Little, OR Cribbs, for all we know!
Josh Norman, CB(S) Coastal Carolina, 6', 192: Basicly a small-school guy who tore it up in the East-West Shrine game after piling up records. He should have had more picks than the school record number he has, but quarterbacks avoided him. The article didn't mention man vs. zone skills, but he does have the hips and the speed. If he played all-zone, we can't know yet about cornerback, but he's a safety prospect for sure. Good tackler too.
Jared Green, WR, Southern 6'2", 184: He is the son of Hall of Fame CB Darrell Green, and inheritted his speed. We was ill-used for all four years at the University of Virginia. Coach Al Groh, who had recruited him, was fired 3 games into his sophomore season, and he pretty much got screwed the rest of the way.
As a FRESHMAN, he had 3 catches for 40 yards vs. USC. He caught 3 passes including a TD vs. the Miami Hurricanes. Groh had planned to use him more, but...
With his bachelor's in hand, he signed up with Southern U, where he caught 17 balls for over 300 yards.
All of this sounds unimpressive, but this scout said that he gets separation, has great hands, can jump like a kangaroo, and is usually the fastest guy on the field. My theory is that he couldn't get off a bump at the line. He's skinny and maybe got pushed off his routes. Maybe his quarterback sucked, or they ran all the time.
But he's 6'2" and he'll get bigger. At least 205, I bet.
Adrian Hamilton, DE, Prairie View A&M, 6'3", 255:
Oklahoma State recruited him, then wanted him to sit out his freshman year because they were out of scholarships. That's right: they screwed him.
So he walked on at Texas Tech. He was used sparingly his first year, and got four tackles. He probably was clueless and sucked, to be honest. Then his Coach announced that he had been dismissed, offering no explanation. The explanation was that the kid had been paying for school and couldn't afford it anymore, so he told the coach he had to leave.
He had an issue with academics, which is what messed up a scholarship. He went to a smaller university for a year to get his grades up. (I can tell you as a former corrections officer, most of the inner city inmates were highschool graduates, and many were illiterate. It's usually not about intelligence. This guy had a lot of catching up to do. Some of the othe c/o's were illiterate, for that matter.)
After this, he was off everybody's radar screens, with some bogus baggage to boot. Pairie A&M gave him his scholarship. He finished 2010, his first season, with 5 1/2 sacks, 8 TFL's, and a blocked punt touchdown.
In '11, it was 19 tackles-for-loss and 14 sacks...at the time the article was written...with four games left!
He has extra-long arms and was tough to block. Freakish speed. His head coach, Gabe Northern, said that he can bull rush, spin, and set the edge--no work needed on any of that. Northern was a second round pick and played defensive end for the Bills, so he obviously taught the kid what he knew. The scout mentioned impressive rips and swims, too.
“He reminds me of myself, with the speed, power and technique, he has way better hands than I ever had, he has a spin move that Robert Mathis, and James Harrison have mastered, which would put him way ahead of me. If I was a second round pick, I think he has the physical capabilities to be a first round pick.”
The Browns need a weak side defensive end. Mathis will be tried by 3-4 teams at linebacker, so he's likely to keep his weight down for the combine. Sounds like Dwight Freenie.
There are a few more guys, but these are the ones that I felt would be good for THIS team at this time. It sounds like all these guys will rise up the charts somewhat once they get their clock-times and they do their drills, but right now every one of them is projected to go very low or undrafted.
Unfortunately, there weren't any tackles. Bummer.
Ok now: One guy mock-drafted the Browns drafting an offensive tackle at number four..............
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