Ray Farmer ‘enamored with’ Teddy Bridgewater
Teddy Bridgewater (5) celebrates. David Manning-USA TODAY Sports
The Cleveland Browns rumor mill is at it again, churning out reports linking the club with another top quarterback in the 2014 NFL Draft class, and the latest reports are circling around Louisville Cardinals product Teddy Bridgewater, who has always been my top-ranked QB in the class. After reporting earlier today that the Browns are interested in drafting Bridgewater at 26 or trading up a little bit to secure him, the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Mary Kay Cabot reports, citing league sources, that Browns first-year GM Ray Farmer is “enamored with” Bridgewater and will “strongly consider” drafting him with the 26th pick.
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Almost every report this close to the draft has to be viewed cynically due to the ever-present threat of the smokescreen, and there’s a good chance that these Bridgewater-Browns reports are meant as a smokescreen to try and get other teams to trade with the Browns (or something like that).
But these reports could very well be true, since drafting Bridgewater would make a ton of sense for the Browns, and it’s even possible that they are leaking that he’s a possibility at 26 so that they can try and secure him fourth overall and perhaps get teams picking in the top three to pass up on him. That’s a bit of a stretch, but sometimes I wonder if Bridgewater’s stock has only tumbled in the media because of misleading leaks. Anyway, I think Bridgewater would be an excellent pick for the Browns at 26, and it would be a dream draft for them to be able to snag Greg Robinson or Sammy Watkins at No. 4, Bridgewater at 26, and then an impact player at 35.