First off, quit talking about shrimp slot recievers, because the Browns are eyeball deep in them.
Speaking of which, Kevin White did indeed clock a shockingly low 40 time. Mike Mayock (a former defensive back by the way) had this guy rated the best wide reciever already.
Jim Miller (a former quarterback by the way) still likes Amari Cooper better. Amari turns out to be a shade under 6'1" and didn't run quite as fast, but is a polished, super-reliable guy in addition to being a home-run hitter himself.
Mayock bases his ranking White ahead of him on potential, as he stipulates that at this point Cooper is a little better.
It's possible that the Browns could get one of the two at 12. It's also possible that somebody could trade ahead of the Browns to steal him. It's also possible that Ray Farmer himself could trade the pick...
Oh stop it! There are some really good recievers left. The Browns could upgrade/fix several positions, and still get a really good wide reciever. Call Manziel a miss for now, but not Gilbert. You'll see. I think.
Not stating an opinion here. I'd love either of these guys. Just sayin, if not...ahhh, shaddap!
One of the "wide recievers" who will go later is Devin Funchess. He's a 6'5", 237 lb. monster. He clocked slow for a wide reciever but fast for a tight end. He was used as a move tight end before he was a reciever, and projects to that role in the NFL.
Pat Kirwan points out that a tight end who walks a linebacker or safety outside the box before the snap is better than a blocker.
Since the Browns will probably lose Cameron, they could get this guy in the second round or lower.
Well, maybe if they have another second round pick...
The main thing is he's big and he catches passes, and if you put a linebacker on him he can score from anywhere. That works pretty good.
Jameis Winston seems to have pulled ahead of Mariota. He's a pro style quarterback and the vocal leader some coaches want.
Mariota is more soft-spoken and has almost zero experience taking snaps from under center. Some who call him a "nickle and dime" quarterback are full of crap. He can and has gone deep quite a bit.
Athletically, Mariota made Winston look like an old lady. In fact he clocked a low 4.5 and jumped out of the gym. If he weren't a quarterback, he might be a lethal wide reciever.
But Winston has abundant pro-style tape and a bunch of come-from-behind wins, and the athletic stuff is secondary.
The red flag on a spread/option quarterback isn't the physical act of taking the snap and the proper drop. It's the fact that he often turns his back on the defense, then turns back around.
He sort of takes a mental photo as he takes the snap and turns away. He sees a cornerback with inside leverage and a safety leaning right, and he knows where his guys will be and which to throw to when he turns back around.
Except when he turns back around the cornerback has forced the one reciever into a crossing pattern, and now he has to find him again. And the safety who pretended he was going to double-cover the other guy is now running with that guy.
This is where some guys will try to force the throw anyway, and others will freeze and get confused.
Mariota is a smart guy, but that's not the same thing. He's used to standing there and watching everything develop, and nobody even knows for sure if he can process things quick enough to do what Winston does.
But as Phil Savage says, if you draft Mariota, you need to adapt your offense to him at first. And, as Pat Kirwan points out, look no further than the last Superbowl to see two quarterbacks who ran more than half their plays out of the shotgun.
Chud let Cam Newton hit the ground running by building elements of Cam's college offense into his own. The Browns now have a young, new offensive coordinator who seems like he'd give that a shot.
Manziel? Well, he fits that scheme himself.
I've heard that Hundley doesn't show good anticipation. He seems to wait to see an open reciever before he'll throw, and that just can't work in the pros.
It could be corrected, but is a really bad habit which many quarterbacks keep backsliding into. Mariota and Winston have done better, and this is the main reason why Hundley isn't regarded in the same class. "Anticipation" and "throwing the reciever open" are critical.
Mariota could slide. He could be in range, and Ray might go get him.
If he and his scouts feel that Mariota has a decent chance to eventually become a Brady or at least a Wilson, he really has no choice. The Browns have a good head coach and a lot of talent, and they probably won't draft very high again. Not even with Hoyer at quarterback. Nor will they have two first round picks again.
Look at every playoff team that even advanced, and every one of them has an elite quarterback. If you don't have that guy, the odds against your ever even reaching a conference championship are microscopic.
And no. There's no such thing as a sure thing. Luck was unique. Even RGIII went off the rails.
As for Mariota's mellow personality, Pat Kirwan mentioned how, when the quarterbacks were throwing, Mariota said something to the other quarterbacks and cracked them up. Pat sees him as the loosest and most relaxed of the bunch, and says that a quarterback like that in a tough game makes his team "loose".
Pat also points out that Amari Cooper was one of the recievers running routes for the first group of quarterbacks. This group was pretty bad, but Pat says Cooper made every quarterback look good.
He adjusted to bad throws so smoothly it looked like part of the pattern. Cooper is so smooth, he doesn't even slow down to change directions--just sort of explodes sideways.
Pat also says that Hoyer might well find out that nobody will offer him more than the Browns are, and there's a good chance he'll be back.
Duh.
What Savage said about adapting the offense to the quarterback is valid, but so is letting him sit while a veteran runs things.
I hope Mariota is all that, and that Ray can get him, and has a bunker to hide in if he doesn't start immediately and carry the team to the Superbowl as a rookie.
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