Cleveland Browns Do Not Have to Take a QB at No. 2

The Cleveland Browns will select a quarterback in the 2016 NFL Draft. Cleveland may just do so later than the first round.

The birds are chirping, the temperatures outside are getting warmer, and fans of the Cleveland Browns see a potential savior in a to-be National Football League quarterback.

A NFL Draft must be close by.

It is indeed true that the Browns still need a franchise QB because of course the team does. The Johnny Manziel experiment is over after two tumultuous years. There is no guarantee that Robert Griffin III will play even a down of meaningful football for the Browns. Josh McCown is not a long-term answer for any team.

It is once again dark days in northeast Ohio.

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Cleveland’s continued need for a legitimate starting QB caused some who follow the team to feel as if the pro football fates had again conspired against the Browns when the Los Angeles Rams traded up to obtain the rights for the first overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft. Disaster had struck for the “x-th” time, and the Browns would have to wait at least another 12 months before the team landed its true quarterback of the future.

Maybe. But maybe not.

First of all, it must be pointed out that the Rams did not move up in the draft order because head coach Jeff Fisher believes that either Jarod Goff or Carson Wentz is Peyton Manning 2.o or the next Aaron Rodgers. Fisher could find himself looking for new work if the Rams do not contend for at least a playoff spot next season, and the Rams needed a new attraction to excite fans in the club’s shiny new home.

Guess Peyton Manning isn’t coming out of retirement, after all.

The Browns, on the other hand, are in the midst of a complete rebuild, perhaps the biggest rebuild the team has undergone since returning to the NFL in 1999. Take a look at the team’s (in)activity in free agency if you have any questions about that. All that is left for the Browns to do is trade future Hall of Fame left tackle Joe Thomas at some point between now and August, and the club will essentially be a makeshift expansion franchise with a new front office and a new head coach in Hue Jackson.

Logic would suggest that such a squad needs a young gunslinger to right the ship and also to get fans excited about what could be a losing team for at least a couple of seasons. CBS Sports analyst and NFL Draft guru Dane Brugler currently has the Browns drafting Wentz. Walter Football, on the other hand, has the Browns selecting Goff. From sea to shining sea, the direction the Browns must go in involves the team using the second overall pick on a QB.

The flaws in this logic go beyond perceptions that neither Goff nor Wentz are worth such a high pick for any team let alone for the Browns. What will be the 2016 Browns are not a QB away from being anything resembling a playoff team. A great QB could be the difference between the Browns going 1-15 and the team capable of maybe winning a total of five games this coming season.

This harsh reality is why there are some respected football minds out there who have suggested that the Browns need to trade down if at all possible.

Say, for the sake of argument, that neither the Philadelphia Eagles nor any other team in the NFL is willing to make a trade with the Browns before the first night of the draft begins. That should not force Cleveland’s hand into picking either Goff or Wentz depending on what the Rams do at the top of the overall draft board, and not just because the Browns need to be using a high pick to grab the best player available this time around.

Those who are desperate for the Browns to use the second overall pick on either Goff or Wentz are seemingly forgetting that the previously mentioned Jackson is supposedly a QB guru. His ability to turn a player such as Andy Dalton from being just a middle-of-the-road quarterback into a winner who could lead a team such as the Cincinnati Bengals to a division title is what made Jackson such an exciting hire among Cleveland fans.

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Assuming that Jackson will prove to be as good as advertised while leading the new-look Browns, he should theoretically not require a top QB prospect in order to help the franchise locate the winning ways it has not been able to find on a consistent basis for nearly 20 years.

Remember that you, as a fan of the Browns, as an analyst or as a person who randomly found this piece, do not need to love Connor Cook. You may not believe that Christian Hackenberg can be the guy in Cleveland or anywhere else in the NFL. Perhaps you are not enamored with Dak Prescott, Paxton Lynch or any other QB not named Goff or Wentz. That’s fine, because it does not matter one bit.

All that matters is that Jackson and his staff believe that they can mold one of these other QBs into somebody who can win on Sundays.

One other things needs to be considered before the Browns pull the trigger on a quarterback with the second overall pick. RG3 is seemingly the starting QB of the Browns heading into summer training camp sessions. While it is nice that Griffin has said all of the right things since joining up with the Browns, Griffin is still attempting to save his NFL career in Cleveland.

Per the terms of NFL contracts, a quarterback taken with the second overall pick would have more money guaranteed to him than what Griffin knows for sure will be coming his way from the Browns. Would Griffin really be keen on mentoring his future replacement in such a scenario?

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All of this is irrelevant, of course, if Jackson believes that either Goff or Wentz can be the answer for the Browns. In that case, Jackson needs to take either player with the second overall pick, and then move the Browns forward in the draft. Otherwise, Jackson and the Browns must ignore the temptation of reaching for any player in the upcoming draft.

The Browns have reached in draft classes multiple times over the past decade. It hasn’t worked once.