Cleveland Browns shouldn’t draft Saquon Barkley

Penn State running back Saquon Barkley is big, he’s strong and he’s electrifying as a runner — and the Cleveland Browns have no business picking him.

Aside from the quarterbacks, no player has been more a topic of discussion regarding the Cleveland Browns than running back Saquon Barkley. With a pair of top five picks and some believing that Barkley is the best player in the entire draft class, it’s natural. It’s also a mistake. As good as Barkley is, he’s not the best prospect in this class and it’s debatable he’s even the best running back and those are just two of the reasons the Browns shouldn’t pick him.

Barkley is quite possibly the best athlete I’ve ever seen in college. The scouting combine and pro day will give him a platform to prove it. At 5-11, 230 pounds (listed), he has done some things I watched Reggie Bush do at USC, who was thirty pounds lighter. Barkley is incredibly fast, his ability to leap is outstanding and he has shown in weight room clips just how strong he is. He looks like a superhero.

At times, he plays like it too. But this is where the problem lies. Barkley shows flashes of just how special he is, but it’s incredibly inconsistent. His speed is fantastic as is his ability to make jump cuts. The highlights are incredible where he looks like a man amongst boys. When he’s right, he’s a genuine phenom and there’s no one better.

His vision and decision making aren’t where they should be. When it comes to his vision, he will miss open holes and opportunities. He doesn’t set up his blocks as well as he could and at times, he makes his job harder than it needs to be, which then forces him to make the spectacular play instead of making the right play in the first place. Occasionally, his out of this world athleticism allows him to fix mistakes and create some room for error.

In terms of decisions, he’ll make cuts he shouldn’t instead of just fundamental running. Most commonly for Barkley, this is just using his straight line speed and he has a knack for over-cutting. Barkley’s the type of guy who makes one move too many rather than one too few.

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The other part of this is when Barkley feels pinned in or occasionally just feels like he can do more, he’ll run backwards. He literally tries to out-athlete opponents by thinking he can simply run around and past everyone because he’s such a special athlete. At times, it works, which reinforces a bad habit. When it doesn’t work, he will lose a bunch of yardage, putting his team into awful positions. It could be the difference between being in second-and-8 as opposed to second-and-15.

Given the Browns are likely to have a rookie quarterback or a mediocre veteran, that’s a problem. The Browns can’t afford to be off schedule. And this is what Isaiah Crowell did so much, which drove onlookers nuts. He’d miss the right play, going for the bigger one, getting neither and losing yards. Barkley is obviously substantially more talented than Crowell, but he has some of those same bad habits.

Barkley is a runner that tends to want to bounce plays outside. Again, he’s such a spectacular athlete that it really seems like he believes he can outrun everyone, so he tries to do just that. That’s obviously going to be much more difficult in the NFL. Barkley trusts his speed and his agility more than anything else.

This goes to the last issue with Barkley. He’s incredibly strong, but doesn’t show it nearly enough on the field. Barkley trusts his speed so much that he’s so focused on keeping himself clean of contact. It’s obviously less physically taxing to beat someone with a cut than it does to run through them, but Barkley is built to do both and should embrace them.

Between the bouncing outside and trying to beat everyone with quickness, he doesn’t embrace the fact that he’s a big back. There are a number of plays where Barkley is at the second level with a defensive back in front of him and instead of going through them, he makes an unnecessary cut and ends up tripping over his own feet. Especially at the collegiate level, no defensive back wants to try to take down Barkley at a full gallop and yet so often he gives them the easy way out.

Some will defend this as Barkley protecting himself and trying to avoid a knee injury due to some defender going low on him as he goes to the NFL. Maybe that’s true, but a player is what they put on tape and that’s what’s there. A fully realized Barkley that keeps opponents guessing as he runs over them and uses his speed and quickness is truly terrifying.

The last aspect that makes Barkley such an attractive prospect is his ability as a receiver. He’s a mismatch and puts stress on opponents who have to make the decision on how they want to defend him out of the backfield. Cover with him a linebacker? A safety? With his body, it’s a difficult decision.

A lot of these things sound great and for the right team, they are. Problem is the Browns have a player that does much of what Barkley does already in Duke Johnson. He’s an outside runner who can be a mismatch in the passing game. And yes, Barkley could very well be better than Duke at those things and the natural question is what’s wrong with having two?

Someone has to be the true inside runner. The Browns need someone who can be reliable to get the tough yardage between the tackles, move the chains, and get into the end zone. Maybe Barkley gets to the NFL and he suddenly decides to embrace that part of his game and learn the parts of his game he doesn’t know.

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Here’s my question. Why are the Browns using the first or fourth pick for a running back that doesn’t do everything out of the box? Barkley may well be a caliber of athlete that are truly rare, but he’s as a pure running back, he isn’t. He’s not Ezekiel Elliot and being drafted that high, he should be.

Elliot was a technician at the position. Inside runner, outside runner, vision, speed, power and agility. Not only that, he was the team’s best lead blocker and could line up outside as a receiver and perform well in that capacity. Obviously, Elliot needs to get better at keeping his hands to himself, which is proving costly for the Dallas Cowboys, but as a running back, he’s got it all. And when he’s on the field, he may well be the best back in the entire NFL.

As good as Elliot is and can be, Jalen Ramsey is more valuable for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cowboys could have picked him. The Cowboys certainly aren’t regretting the selection of Elliot by any means, but he was a complete back from the word go and he still wasn’t the best option. Barkley isn’t, even if he might develop into one, eventually.

Now, enter the analytics. When it comes to production metrics, Barkley is no better than Derrius Guice out of LSU. Both project to be great, but not all-world backs. And Guice, younger, is going to test really well in his own right. He may not be as impressive as Barkley, but he’s going to be good. And there are people who will make it to the second round.

And that’s another reason the Browns should avoid Barkley. Not only is this class incredibly loaded at the running back position, but the Browns are loaded with picks after the first round. There’s no position that seems to fall well for the conscious consumer than running back and obviously they have the ability to move up for one they love. So it behooves the Browns to get positions of scarcity with those top two picks such as quarterback, defensive line, secondary, and offensive tackle then use collect players of value with the second and third round picks.

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There are a number of running backs that not only have the potential to make a big impact on the Browns, but should also fit what the Browns really need from a feature back. Guice, Ronald Jones II from USC are two examples of backs that bring a ton of talent to the position and will be significantly cheaper than Barkley. And for people who love Barkley, check out Rashaad Penny out of San Diego State.

Saquon Barkley is an absolutely amazing athlete to watch and will probably end up in a Pro Bowl or few before he’s done, but he’s not the right player for the Cleveland Browns. He’s loaded with talent but he doesn’t blow away what is an incredibly deep field  at his position as has often been suggested. The Browns have the draft assets to be patient and find the right running back for what they want while also capitalizing on the special talent this draft has to offer.