CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Browns enter Thursday night's first round of the NFL draft leaning toward conservatism.
The litany of recent past draft mistakes -- some made on gut feelings, others on a hope and a prayer -- haunts President Mike Holmgren and General Manager Tom Heckert. They're the ones wielding the shovels, consigned to digging the franchise out of a mess created by bad drafts.
"The graphic of our past drafts, past No. 1 picks ... we've talked about how that's affected the team over the last number of years," Holmgren said. "I'm not placing blame. It's just a fact of life.
"I guess my marching orders [to Heckert] then is I'm less likely to take a chance. I want someone solid.
"It's really important for us for the next 2-3 years to make sure the guys we pick have a real good chance to play for a while. In the past, that hurt the team, in my opinion. We're trying to avoid that. There are no slam dunks. But we're probably going to be a little more conservative than a team that doesn't have as many needs as us."
That attitude would appear to rule out talented players with higher degrees of risks, such as Clemson defensive end Da'Quan Bowers, Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley, North Carolina defensive end Robert Quinn and Colorado cornerback Jimmy Smith. The Browns conducted visits with all these highly rated prospects, each of whom could fill an obvious need.
The Browns enter the three days of the NFL draft with eight picks. They are far more inclined to add to that haul by trading down than to reduce it by trading up for a player they fall in love with.
"We are talking to people about trading," Holmgren said. "I am not going into any more detail than that. The only thing I challenged Tom to do, I want to know names [if we trade down]. I would like some strategy to shoot for and have some reasonable idea of who we can get. I don't think you just trade down to trade.
"[A trade] has to make absolute sense to us, otherwise we take the player. I know we need other things, [but we'd] just take the player."
The Browns did not trade down in the 2010 draft -- Heckert's first in charge. Rather, they packaged three mid-round picks to Philadelphia on the second day to move up into the second round for running back Montario Hardesty. Hardesty had a history of injuries at Tennessee. He wound up missing his rookie season after suffering a torn knee ligament.
Otherwise, Heckert's first draft netted three starting players -- cornerback Joe Haden (first round), safety T.J. Ward (second) and quarterback Colt McCoy (third). Hardesty is expected to be ready to relaunch his career in summer training camp and could share the backfield with Peyton Hillis. Guard Shawn Lauvao (third) also is considered a potential starter this season. "I think we got a decent start last year [on his master plan]," Holmgren said.
Heckert has said the Browns still have "holes to fill all over the place."
The Browns can't disguise their needs at defensive line. The switch to a 4-3 defensive alignment calls for two starting pass rushers at defensive end. There is also a void at the tackle spot next to ascending star Ahtyba Rubin. But Holmgren's directive and Heckert's history suggest these multiple needs will be attacked after the first round.
"That's a need," Holmgren said of the D-line. "But that need can't force you to reach."
Wide receiver and cornerback are also needs, and the Browns very well could be staring at one of the best two in this draft at each position.
Georgia receiver A.J. Green and Alabama's Julio Jones became popular choices for the Browns in the thousands of mock drafts conducted by experts, media and fans. Holmgren fed the frenzy by announcing at the NFL Scouting Combine that he was looking for a "home run hitter" on offense.
But Holmgren has delivered the seemingly conflicting message that he has a high opinion of his current receivers, who have been belittled by everyone outside the team.
"I would keep our feelings about what we have and my feelings about getting a striker separate," he said. "I think our guys [are now in] a new system -- a little more receiver-friendly -- so we will learn a lot more in my opinion about who are receivers are than I did last year. I think there were games last year when they weren't much of a factor, but why?
"I think they're better than what people think they are, but does that mean I wouldn't want someone [else] to scare the defense? No. We're going to need four, five receivers in this offense."
But he won't tip his hand whether Green or Jones are in his sights.
"I've made a living a little bit finding receivers in the second and third round that have been very good players for us," Holmgren said. "I think there is probably a guy later that can come and be really, really good."
As for the other obvious position of need, the Browns visited with or worked out 12 prospects at cornerback, a few of which can also play safety. The top cornerback in the draft is Patrick Peterson of LSU. If the Browns devoted the sixth overall pick on Peterson after taking Haden seventh a year ago, they would be only the second team in history to use top 10 picks in back-to-back drafts on cornerbacks.
Baltimore drafted Duane Starks 10th overall in 1998 and took Chris McAlister, also 10th overall, the following year.
"Absolutely, we love him as a player," Holmgren said of Peterson. "I don't see anything wrong with devoting two years in a row to cornerbacks if that's what you need to do. Particularly, seeing more spread offenses [with multiple receivers] like you do now. Corners are always a premium, but if you can lock up a couple guys and have them play ... you're ahead of the curve."
If Peterson is off the board before the Browns pick, they could consider Prince Amukamara of Nebraska.
At his final pre-draft press conference last week, Heckert said, "There are six guys that we'd be happy with [in the first round]."
As the draft drew closer, Holmgren increased that number to seven players. A few might be in a second wave of options if the team traded down.
No comments:
Post a Comment