Cleveland Browns Select CB Joe Haden 7th Overall
Apparently Mike Holmgren wasn’t lying when he said he wasn’t a huge fan of Jimmy Clausen.
Holmgren has passed up drafting a quarterback and has instead selected Joe Haden, a cornerback out of Florida. Haden will pair with the newly-acquired Sheldon Brown and Eric Wright to create a suddenly very talented core of corners.
Brown is getting a bit old as he will be 32 once the 2010 season gets under way, so he will mentor Haden until he hangs it up. Brown doesn’t have the Pro Bowls, the stats, or a lot of the other accolades that some corners do, but there is no doubt he has been one of the best corners in the league since being drafted in the second round in 2002.
Haden is like Brown in that neither guy is afraid of contact, so there’s no one better to teach him how to play the game at the NFL level. Haden will probably start across from Brown and push Wright to the spot of third corner on day one.
The Browns probably wanted out of this pick, but getting Haden was the best possible way to go since there clearly were no takers.