THEM

Oh, check this out!  The Browns have two first-rounders!  They might be able to get Mariota!

Crap!  What can we do?

We've got to pull out all the stops.  Ok...let's see...ok we move the Chargers to Los Angeles!

What's that going to do?

Philip Rivers said he doesn't want to go there, and he's in the last year of his deal!

So?

Sooo, the Chargers will either have to replace him, or else lose him after this season.

They can franchise him.

For one year.  To franchise him a second time becomes cost-prohibitive.  And now he's unhappy.  This is a serious guy--a family guy, and he might retire if they franchise him.

Oh.  OH!

Bingo!  Would Tennessee rather have the Browns' draft picks, or a proven top five quarterback?

YES!  Browns are screwed again!  Brilliant!  Okay call Roger--let's set this up!

Yeah, we need to cancel open season on Cameron and tell the refs to stop fabricating calls on Skrine anyway.

Tell 'em target Gilbert now!

Heh-heh excellent!

Yeah, Browns fans, it looks bad now.  The Titans and Chargers are already talking, and Tennessee is a perfect landing spot for Philip Rivers too.

It aint over, by any means.  Tennessee needs more than just a quarterback and, in my opinion, they have a young and promising quarterback in Mettenberger.  I would rather have two first rounders, a 2016 second rounder, and a lottery ticket named Manziel than a 33-year-old quarterback.

Yes, Rivers is well-proven and on a par with any in the NFL, but look at Denver.  There's a fairly talented team that went all-in with none other than Peyton Manning, and hasn't been able to get it done.

The Titans aren't as good as the Broncos.  Rivers can't get them there all by himself.  

But I know I'm different, and most likely the Titans want the big shiny expensive thing like everybody else, and the Browns are indeed screwed again.

Well, I loved what Roger Staubach said: Manziel has Wilson-like abilities.  No doubt Roger reads my blog.  

All Johnny's elder teammates, Roger, Rich Gannon, Jim Miller, and everybody else also must read my blog, because they agree that IF Johnny loves football enough to focus and work on it like all the best ones do, he can become like Russell Wilson.

That's kind of the problem, because it's a huge "IF".  It's hard to make yourself love something.  Like all these players say, quarterback is different.  They have to be obsessed.  They have to LIVE for this game.  

Johnny loves the challenge--running around, making something out of nothing--flying by the seat of his pants playing back yard football.  

He'll have no problem spending hours in the film room studying himself, but what about studying next week's defense?  That's not so much fun.

And standing in the pocket when his instincts scream "RUN!"; that's hard.  

(A note on that: Johnny is short and will need to shift around some to find throwing lanes.  He will never be a classic drop-back quarterback.  But he'll have to stay in that area so that his offensive linemen can know where he is, and so that he can threaten the whole field.)

I dunno, but if THEY screw the Browns out of a top quarterback again, what else do they have?

Well, I've got a few ideas, actually.  METTENBERGER!  I like him better than Glennon.  The top two teams might want to hold onto their young guns, though.  Those who think a third round pick could buy them may be optimistic.

They represent quality depth for these teams.  They aren't paid much, and do have a lot of upside, so if I'm them I just hold onto them.

But like I said I'm different.  And both teams also lack talent in other areas that a higher draft pick could help a lot with.

Who knows?  But let's deal with the worst-case scenario, which is Josh McCown and Johnny.

If you say just draft a quarterback later and make him a project, you haven't been paying attention.  That works about one out of eight times.  One out of eight or ten times, a guy with warts similar to the ones these "other" quarterbacks have ever become starting--let alone elite--quarterbacks.

Mettenberger could be an exception, because it was an injury that kept him out of the first round--and maybe the top twenty.  

Connor Shaw is a great dark-horse, because he has everything except a strong arm.  He tore it up throughout his college carreer, and he's exactly right for the West Coast offense this team wants to run.

I'd rather have Shaw than any of these other guys.  You want to draft another quarterback and kick Shaw to the curb?

Thad Lewis?  I like him better than these other guys too.  I like Shaw better because he's younger, though, and did a lot more in college.

But Johnny has the arm, and can also be very accurate, with touch, too.  He's the one with the best chance to succeed.

If a quarterback can't make certain hard, frozen-rope throws to the sideline, or low-trajectory throws deep, defenses quickly recognize these limitations and exploit them.  

Manziel can threaten the whole field, so he has to get first crack.

Nice consolation prizes if the Browns get screwed out of the Mariota sweepstakes, though:  I doubt that all of the top three wide recievers will be gone by twelve.  There should be an elite centerguardtackle at 19, or at least one of several edge-rushers.

And hopefully Ray ignores Grossi and the majority of you guys and once again peddles some of his lower picks for 2016 picks one round higher again.  

Hope for Mariota.  Expect Johnny.  Because of THEM.