OKAY That's BETTER!

Ray really just did something right in signing Brian Hartline, especially as cheap as he did!

I need to tell certain local writers about this guy:

He's not only a number two reciever, but might be the best number two in the NFL.  Don't you understand football?  A number two is (ideally) a taller outside reciever who runs intermediate routes, gets open, and catches everything he can touch.

A number two is an outside possession reciever.  What is all this downgrading this guy about?

The smurfs can play outside, but not like Hartline.  They can's use their bodies to muscle, screen out, and outreach defenders.  Hartline is hard to bump off his route so he's out of position or late to his spot.  They can all catch passes over their back shoulders, but only Hartline can when he's covered.

That's a number two.  Say...do you know what the "slot" is?  Just wondering.  Number two isn't the slot reciever...just in case you don't get that.

Okay!  Let's hope this takes the injured guy who can't catch off the table so I can leave my rope in the garage for now.

The number one the Browns still need (you know, since Ray let Charles Johnson go, so he could keep the great Miles Austin and Travis Benjamin dammit) will probably have to come out of this draft.

Fortunately, there are several candidates.

But here's another thing about that:  Most teams actually don't have a true number one reciever.  It's TRUE!  Real number ones who can consistently beat double coverage are about as common as franchise quarterbacks.

Ideally you have a real number one, yes.  It's legit to call it a "need".  But if there's a trade, or guys get taken too early or whatever, and Ray comes away with just a pretty good reciever with some speed and size, that's not a failure.

In this entire draft, only two, and possibly three, wide recievers can be number ones anytime soon.  There are a whole bunch who are pretty good, but number ones are really rare.

So don't go bashing Ray if he can't bring down a big one.

Hartline will catch a lot of passes for first downs in the clutch, number one or no.  He'll do enough damage to take heat off a number 0.75 across from him, and let him get his catches too.

This was a big, big catch.  With a number one and a running game, it can be real scary.  With just a pretty good bigger guy on the other side, it can still work well.  Hartline is IMPORTANT.

Update: Just read Terry Pluto's Scribbles.  Usually Terry is incredibly good, but on the wide recievers, he seems to be over the top.

Terry thinks they should still sign Cecil Shorts, and expects them to re-sign Miles Austin.  Including Hartline, that makes three.  You've got to keep Hawkins, and if you're not nuts Taylor Gabriel--who has all the traits of a Steve Smith.

That's five.  In my own estimation, that kicks Travis Benjamin to the curb.  Right here, there's a debate waiting to happen:

Can Gramps Austin contribute as much as Benjamin?

I hear Terry's logical mind: Austin is cheap, and now you've got depth at number two.  Austin is the only other taller reciever.  Austin was reasonably productive last season, and his type tends to last longer than the burner-type.

The other debate is the one I've already repeated several times: Is Cecil Shorts better than Benjamin?  After you factor in drops and injuries?

Then, the Browns will almost certainly draft at least one first or second-tier wide reciever in this draft.

Now do you cut Gabriel, or Austin?  Obviously if Ray has signed Shorts (and I guess I could live with it if he's dirt-cheap), he stays. 

I suppose, if Shorts comes with a cheap incentive-laden contract, I could live with losing Austin, but Shorts is still a bad idea.

Terry himself wasn't sure why his yards-per-catch declined from around 16 to 10.5, but I'm pretty sure I know:

He never had much straight-line speed in the first place (4.59...but maybe he was hurt then too), and then here comes the ankles, and hamstrings, and all that. He probably hasn't been 100% for the last two seasons.  (I give him props for playing hurt).

He has never played in more than thirteen games.

After doing additional homework on Shorts, I guess he's ok, but nothing special.  He would look better outside than Benjamin, so I retract that part of it.

But he's injury-prone and drops passes.  Last season in 13 games, he caught 53 passes for a 10.5 average.  That's decent production for a number two, or above average for a tight end.

Terry projects him as a number one.  Well, he might play to the quarterback's left side, but that's about as close as he'll ever get.  If Ray lowballs him, and the newly drafted wide-out splits time with him, I guess that would be just barely sensible.  In a way.

Well, he's a homie and he plays hurt, so if they sign him I'll root for him.  I'll tell myself that the drops were concentration-lapses or injury-related, and that maybe he just had a bad stretch and he can stay healthy now.

Assuming facts not in evidence, but what the hell.