After the London bombing, my inner-analyst can't help (shhh!) rooting for the Browns to lose and draft first overall again.
The "best draft class in years" has (almost predictably) become much less attractive, with big ugly warts emerging all over all but one of the future Hall of Fame prospects. (The top guy is Mason Rudolph).
Most of these quarterbacks lost key parts of their supporting casts (don't only think "wide receiver". This includes every offensive position, ok?).
Rudolph is the only one who kept on truckin', and that's the very definition of a franchise quarterback. This is why Tom Brady's receivers fall off the map when they leave New England.
I'm not condemning DeShone Kizer, or even Rodney Hoganfield here. But Front Offices need to plan ahead, and plan for worst-case scenarios. Right now, it looks grim, and they have to make sure they have that most critical position covered.
Even if Kizer improves, and finishes well, they can't ignore that position.
I know I know, they need to fix wide receiver. I still hope for Josh Gordon to come back, and like Williams and (especially) Treggs a lot. Gordon's return could actually fix everything, in fact...
But the rest of the team is already there talent-wise. It's time to nail quarterback down!
If the Browns draft first overall again, they could grab Mason Rudolph, regardless of how well Kizer finishes 2017. Announce a competition between him and Kizer. Then, after Rudolph wins, TRADE Kizer for at least the second round pick it cost to draft him in the first place, ok and keep Hogan on-deck).
While I'm not burying the raw rookie DeShone Kizer yet, I am bothered by his slow processing and inaccuracy, and with all due respect to Hue Jackson (who I know knows a lot more about this than I do), don't think he will ever be truly elite.
The Browns aren't going anywhere this season. While everybody else is wallowing in despair, I remain an infernal optimist, and see a way out of this mess. ...just not in 2017.
In view of my man-crush on Mason Rudolph, I hesitate to bring this up, but Dan Labbe polled us on what we'd give up for T.Y. Hilton.
Hilton is allegedly on the block. I don't like that he's a little shrimp, but he's a proven little shrimp ala DeShaun Jackson. He'll be 28 next season, and is signed through 2020.
Jacoby Brissett isn't making the most of him the way Andrew Luck did. Brissett does not suck, but he's not elite either. With these little smurfs, you need to be a sharpshooter, and Brissett isn't that.
I think we're safe here for 2017: Kizer is inaccurate too, and unless he gets hurt, Hogan is in the dungeon. Unfortunately, Hilton might nix a trade because of this.
Now, you need to understand what I mean by "accurate", and why some alleged analysts are fulla crap:
Hilton is a playmaker, but not a vertical deep threat like the taller guys. Many cornerbacks and almost all safeties are taller than he is, and he can't blow their doors off if they're already running a race with him.
He can/will exploit an error in coverage to get behind a cornerback an holler "hit me!", but he still has a dime-sized catch radius, and the quarterback has to throw a higher, slower "bucket"-pass than he would to a taller guy with a quarter-sized catch radius when he gets deep.
In fact NO little shrimp speedster is EVER a consistent vertical threat.
Hilton, Jackson, Benjamin, Ginn etc. run slants and crosses, get lateral separation, and take short and intermediate passes upfield.
In most cases, if the quarterback doesn't hit them quickly, when they're supposed to, and in-stride, it's over. The safeties close on them, and they run out of field and have to predictably turn back inside.
Andrew Luck pulled the trigger and hit Hilton in-stride, and let him do his thing. Brissett does not. Brissett has a good arm, and can go deep. That's not the issue at all.
Poor T.Y. If he didn't nix a trade with the Browns, he'd be back where he started, because Kizer wouldn't pull the trigger or catch him in stride either.
I would still offer one of the lower second round picks for Hilton if I were Sashi. (Well...okay I would bid that high if I had to.) I don't think the Browns' competitors would beat that.
Kizer right now is a much, much better vertical passer than he is a West Coast guy. Even his best passes to Duke and the tight ends are over one shoulder or the other. When his mechanics are right, he's downright deadly on those, even at close range.
The problem is that his mechanics are still inconsistent, he is still trying to force himself to just lob it to the short crosser in under like five fkng seconds, (and I remind you that he may be incapable of that)...
Ok but Hilton is a proven lethal weapon, in his prime, so Sashi should nab him anyway. Rodney Hoganfield could use him, and so could Mason Rudolph. And ya never know: so might DeShone Kizer, eventually someday!
Why doesn't Hue Jackson want DeValve and Njoku on the field at the same time? Seriously, can somebody explain this to me? I mean, even with his man Kenny Britt unavailable?
Strictly for the sake of continuity, I don't want Hue Jackson fired, but he aint all that, ok? He insists on at least two official wide receivers at all times, no matter what. When he uses more than one tight end, one (or two) has to be an in-line blocker, no matter at.
When he's down to Louis, Williams, Treggs and Coates (*Coates might be special), at wr, he has to field at least two of those on every single down.
When is the last time Seth DeValve dropped a pass? Are you aware that DeValve can run every pattern Njoku can?
As soon as Kenny Britt is healthy, he will start again. Njoku and DeValve will not share the field any time soon, and if Njoku keeps dropping passes, that won't buy DeValve a break either.
This is the front office's fault? Hue refuses to put two of his best receivers on the field and "DePodesta did it"? Do you understand that both these guys are "seam-splitters" who do their damage making over-the-shoulder catches?
...I'm starting to think that Hue Jackson hung around Marvin Lewis too long...but don't fire him.
Yet.
THIS JUST IN: The Sith Lord just traded Jimmy Garropolo to the Niners for "a second round pick".
This means that Sashi Brown was unwilling to trade his top second round pick (presumably higher at this point) for this quarterback.
Before you fly into your kniption fit, read this:
1: Garoppolo's contract expires at the end of this season, and he has recently purchased a gun, ski mask, and Brinks truck.
2: Jimmy looks great, but is not proven.
3: He was injured in his second-ever real game.
4: The Browns' alleged pursuit of Jimmy G was a rumor (which I believed 100%), but was never confirmed, and might be fiction (never assume).
5: Unless the Niners meet his salary demands early, the Browns have the cash to bid for him when his contact expires (no draft pick required).
6: Kyle Shanahan likes Kirk Cousins a lot too. And so might the Browns!
7: Hue Jackson has a lot of input (Mary Kay Cabbot is wrong about this).
Ok you can have your temper tantrum now.
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