Should the Cleveland Browns Trade Down in 2016 NFL Draft?
By Zac Wassink
The Cleveland Browns should seriously consider trading down from the No. 2 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft regardless of what fans think about the matter.
Those screams that you are hearing are coming from emotionally disturbed fans of the Cleveland Browns who cannot imagine the Browns trading down and possibly missing out on a franchise quarterback who can lead the club to a return back to National Football League glory.
Related Story: 2016 NFL Mock Draft
Every Cleveland supporter needs to put the pitchforks away and listen to some reason before having any reaction to this idea. The conclusion of the 2016 NFL Combine is going to lead to all kinds of mock drafts put out there by supposed football experts, bloggers and random fans.
It is a safe bet that the majority of those mock drafts will link the Browns with taking a quarterback via pick No. 2. The quarterback mentioned will likely be either Jared Goff out of California or North Dakota State product Carson Wentz.
Opinions on the two young QBs are going to vary per analyst and per week. Some are going to fancy Goff, and others are going to want the Browns to select Wentz. The one perception that seems to be shared by plenty out there commenting on sports talk radio and on sports websites is that every quarterback in the upcoming NFL Draft will, in one way or another, be a project who needs to learn the NFL game from the sidelines and behind a veteran quarterback.
Assuming that is accurate, the question has to be asked: Are the Browns really in a position to use such a high draft pick on a player who won’t be NFL-ready come September?
The answer to that is, of course, “no.” That does not, however, automatically mean that the Browns should punt on taking a quarterback in the first round and trade that selection away to any team that wants to move up. New Cleveland head coach Hue Jackson could, by the time the first night of the NFL Draft rolls around, find that he is enamored with Goff, Wentz or with any other future quarterback.
If that happens, the Browns cannot afford to get cute in prime time. Take the quarterback of your choice with the second pick and move on if that does end up being the case.
Jackson is respected around the NFL for being a QB guru who could develop the man who would be the first franchise QB the Browns have had since rejoining the league in 1999. Perhaps Jackson will fall in love with a quarterback as he did with Colin Kaepernick several years ago and as Ernie Accorsi fell for Eli Manning back in 2004.
The top goal of Browns owner Jimmy Haslam as it pertains to roster building has been for the club to land a franchise QB. It has widely been speculated that Haslam was directly involved in the Browns selection Johnny Manziel with the No. 22 pick of the 2014 NFL Draft. Jackson and those in the front office of the Browns cannot allow Haslam or any other factor to convince them to reach for a QB with pick No. 2 if they do not believe a quarterback is worth that value.
Let’s say that Jackson really is the QB whisperer that the Browns have been searching for since the end of last century. Couldn’t Jackson theoretically be able to take a quarterback later in the draft, perhaps Christian Hackenberg out of Penn State or Cardale Jones from Ohio State, and then mold one of those guys into a leader who is able to win on Sundays? Doing so would allow the Browns to grab either the best player available with pick No. 2 or trade down.
For the Browns to be able to trade down in the upcoming draft, the club would have to find a team willing to part with picks and move up. We’re looking at you, Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys, particularly team owner Jerry Jones, has to realize that Tony Romo is one crunching hit away from being sidelined for longer than just a couple of quarters. Dallas needs to look toward a future that involves Romo helping a young quarterback who is not Brandon Weeden get ready to take the keys to the offense if Romo goes down to injury.
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Jones wouldn’t have to give up the farm to move up two spots, and the Browns would not get fleeced were such a trade to go down. Heck, the Browns could still get a QB if they moved down to No. 4 after trading with the Cowboys. The Cowboys could take Goff, the Browns could take Wentz and pocket an extra pick or two that they received from Dallas, and everybody could go home happy while claiming to have “won” the draft.
Done and done.
The Browns aren’t winning the Super Bowl next February. It isn’t happening. It isn’t happening if the Browns draft Goff, draft Wentz, trade down or trade for Aaron Rodgers. The Browns probably aren’t winning the Super Bowl in February 2018, either. Cleveland has holes throughout the team’s depth chart. Three-time Pro Bowl center Alex Mack could soon be leaving town. The best offensive play-maker associated with the Browns right now is wide receiver Josh Gordon, who is still technically indefinitely suspended and who has played in five regular season games since the start of the 2014 campaign.
Cleveland needs help, and that help should include all of the draft picks that the Browns can get unless the team is going to part with a second-day selection to acquire either Colin Kaepernick or Robert Griffin III.
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The Browns have a history of reaching for quarterbacks in the draft. It hasn’t worked out, because doing so almost always fails to work out for a club. Say whatever you will about analytics and how the Browns are putting together what will hopefully be a foundation for a championship team. The information collected by the team will, unless something changes over the next couple of months, probably show that the Browns could do better than taking a quarterback with the second overall pick of the draft.
That information should not be ignored.