CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Despite Mike Holmgren's March proclamation that he wanted a "home run hitter" in this draft, the Browns' president ended the weekend convinced the blockbuster trade with Atlanta was best for his restructuring team.
"It was absolutely the right thing to do for our team at this particular time," Holmgren said at Saturday's wrap-up press conference. "The trade was kind of an amazing trade when you count it up. Next year we've got a one and a four and it's what we needed."
The Browns traded the sixth pick in the first round to Atlanta for five picks: their first-round choice (27th) plus their second- and fourth-rounders this year and their first- and fourth-round choices in 2012.
The Falcons used the No. 6 pick on Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones, who was not believed to be among the Browns' top six players. The Browns then traded up from No. 27 to No. 21 with Kansas City, selecting Baylor defensive tackle Phil Taylor.
With the second- and fourth-round selections from Atlanta, the Browns picked North Carolina receiver Greg Little and Stanford fullback Owen Marecic. Little, the 59th pick overall, sat out all last season after accepting improper agent benefits, but has tremendous size and potential for the new West Coast offense.
Marecic, the 124th pick, is a punishing blocker who can also catch out the backfield -- vital for the new scheme. Marecic, who also starred at linebacker in college, will also be an immediate force on special teams.
"About every morning I'd come in [to the office of General Manager Tom Heckert] and I'd bang him a little bit to make sure that this is what he wanted to do," said Holmgren. "Finally he said, 'This is what I think I want to do.' It's a big deal because at pick six, there's going to be a good player there."
Holmgren acknowledged that trading back so far can be a buzz kill after all the hype.
"The hard part for you and for my family and anyone else watching the draft is you get to six, and it's 'Who are we going to pick?' and you say 'We're trading back to 27,' and everyone goes 'Ugh.' You wait and you wait and you wait and you see players come off the board, that's the hard part. But it was the right thing to do."
Holmgren scoffed at the notion that there might not be a draft next year, depending on what happens with the labor agreement.
"There will be a draft next year," he said. "I heard someone say, 'What if there's no draft?' Well, what if they take the air out of every football in the United States? Then we can all do something else."
He said he was thinking of a couple of guys when he made his "home run" statement, presumably one being Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green.
"Because of how the draft fell, we did the right thing, first of all," Holmgren said. "Secondly, in Little, I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised if you don't know him very well. He's a young man who has a tremendous upside.
"A home-run hitter isn't necessarily everyone going out for a long one. Yards after a catch and a receiver's ability to break a tackle and move after the catch can be a home run of sorts. That's where one of his strengths is and I'm hopeful we added to our receiver pile."
The Browns weren't 100 percent sold on Jones at No. 6, in part because of concern over dropped passes. What's more, they may have saved themselves a bundle of money.
If the league ends up operating under 2010 rules -- with no rookie salary cap -- the savings will be substantial. Last year's No. 6 pick, Russell Okung, received a six-year deal worth $48.5 million, including $30 million guaranteed. The 21st pick, tight end Jermaine Gresham, received a five-year deal worth $15.8 million, with $9.6 million guaranteed.
"We're very fortunate to have an owner in Arthur Blank who is generous," Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "There aren't that many owners who would be in favor of moving up as far as we did. Financially, it's a bold move as well."
Blank also told the paper, "This is the kind of trade that a timid general manager couldn't make or wouldn't make. I would say to you that Thomas is not timid."
Heckert told Sports Illustrated's Peter King the night of the trade that they looked for a precedent.
"When we started talking about a trade this size about a week ago, we looked for a trade we might be able to pattern it after, and we found one back in 1995," Heckert told King. "Cleveland and the 49ers made a deal where the 49ers moved way up to take J.J. Stokes."
It was 1995, the Browns' last year in Cleveland before moving to Baltimore. The Browns had the 10th pick and the 49ers the 30th. Bill Belichick and Mike Lombardi were running the draft for the Browns. The 49ers traded their first-, third- and fourth-round picks in 1995 and first-rounder in 1996 to take Stokes, who averaged just 38 catches a year over nine seasons.
Belichick and Lombardi also whiffed, drafting duds with the first- and third-round picks: linebacker Craig Powell (three career starts) and defensive end Mike Frederick (12 starts). But when new Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome got his hands on the 1996 first-round pick, he used it on future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis.
Granted, the Falcons figure to be good this year and the 2012 first-rounder might be low. But Lewis was picked at No. 26.
No comments:
Post a Comment