In my last post, I guessed that the Browns might not be able to get a top-ranked quarterback. If you recall the RG3 trade, the Rams already had a quarterback. If they hadn't, they might have resisted all offers for their pick and drafted the guy themselves.
This season, those teams drafting ahead of the Browns--possibly even including the Rams, who may be disappointed by Sam Bradford--want a quarterback.
Walter Football now rates Blake Bortles number two behind Bridgewater and ahead of Carr and Manziel.
CBS Sports rates him fourth, behind the aforementioned.
The way it's shaping up, there seems to be Bridgewater, who will only enhance his stock at the combine assuming he enters the draft, and those three other guys.
Theoretically, the Browns might have a shot at one of those four.
As I've said, in my amateur opinion Manziel is too scary and not a good fit for a Turner offense, and I can't believe that they would use that high pick on him.
We can hope that one of those other teams prefer him over Bortles or Carr, giving them a shot at grabbing one of those two (if they like him enough). If the Browns draft, say (optimisticly-go Squealers) sixth, they'd have a shot--but still might have to trade up, believe it or not.
A lot of fans are too lazy to think it through, and would call this a dumb trade. In reality, should one of these top quarterbacks be available one or two slots ahead of the Browns, calls are being made, and other teams are trying to jump ahead of them to grab that guy.
But listening to WKNR recently, a new guy came to my attention. I'm not sure who the hosts were quoting, but it might have been the head coach of Bowling Green University.
Jimmy Garoppolo, ranked ninth by CBS and eleventh by Walter Football, is the quarterback for Eastern Illinois.
Due to his level of competition, hand size, height (6'2" or 6'3" we'll see at the combine), and good-but-not-great arm, he may well be taken lower than he should be.
I've read conflicting analyses of this guy, but always go with the real football people. They say his arm is fine. His stats tend to support this, as he's gone deep a lot. In the two games he stepped up in class against San Diego State and Northern Illinois, he completed 68.4% of his passes for 711 yards, NINE touchdowns, and two picks.
He is described as a "rythm" quarterback with perhaps the quickest release of any quarterback in this or the last draft. He's already used to throwing timing patterns, ie to a spot, which is very important for Norv Turner.
I repeat yet again that level of competition is much less important for a quarterback than for other players, since his team mates are only as good as their opposite numbers.
Garopollo doesn't lock on or play favorites. Three different recievers have had 100-yard games with him. He distributes the ball, meaning he scans the field and throws or checks down quickly.
Some quarterbacks (see Brandon Wedone) can't even be trained to do this, and it's uncommon for a college quarterback to have this ability already developed and proven.
Some of the very same people who question his arm say he certainly can make all the throws...which is confusing, but anyway Jim Miller insists that arm strength can be improved. He cites himself and Tom Brady as examples.
Brian Hoyer doesn't have a great arm, but as we saw, he can run Turner's offense just fine.
Since Garoppolo is also pretty nifty with his feet (even caught a touchdown pass himself), I doubt that the middle rounds are realistic. A few have even suggested that when it's all said and done, this guy could go in the first round.
I doubt that as well, but if Banner pulls the trigger on him with the lower first round pick, leave me out of the necktie party.
This is all speculation, of course--but since there's a good chance the Browns will get screwed out of one of the top three quarterbacks here, I'm positive that Garoppolo will be considered as a Hoyer understudy.
Indeed, what is Hoyer? He's a guy that reads and throws quicky and on-time. With a good-but-not-great arm. He's a little smaller than Garoppolo, but they're similar.
Norv knows best, of course, but I really like this guy and think he will too. Probably. Maybe. Possibly.
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