MVN - Most Valuable Network

Grading the Browns’ Draft

The future for most teams was dependent on this year’s NFL Draft. The Dolphins, Falcons, Chiefs, and many other teams made franchise-changing draft picks that they hope will bring them from the outhouse to the penthouse. The Browns, however, had that draft last year, and without having a pick until the fourth round, this draft isn’t really going to have a huge impact on this team’s future.

With that said, Phil Savage and company still managed to draft some pretty good players. I’m not going to sit here and act like I know everything about these players because I’ve barely heard of any of them and I’ve maybe seen them play once if I’m lucky.

Beau Bell seems to be all the talk in Cleveland, and the organization must have thought very high of him to trade up a few spots to get him. According to Yahoo! Sports, “It isn’t often a team can wait more than 100 picks and still get the player they wanted, but the Browns got that player in Bell. He played outside linebacker in a 4-3 at UNLV, but he will be given the chance to be the inside run-stuffer the Browns have been seeking. He describes himself as “being real physical at the point of attack,” and said he likes to “run around and hit people” while “playing under control.” Nice. I always like my linebackers when they run around and hit people. I wish the ones we already have would do such.

Another interesting pick by the Browns was tight-end Martin Rucker from Missouri. The team needed some help in the secondary due to the departure of Leigh Bodden, but they drafted two linebackers, a tight-end, wide receiver, and a defensive tackle, so drafting Rucker and the others somewhat surprised me. But back to Rucker. Some people compared him to Kellen Winslow during the draft, but I’m not so certain how legit those comparisons are. Winslow is the kind of tight-end that comes around rarely, so if Rucker really is that good, I don’t see how the Browns got him so late. Winslow isn’t working out in Berea apparently, so who knows what the deal is with his knee. Rucker could see the field early.

Overall, it wasn’t a great draft by the Browns, but it certainly wasn’t a bad one. Again, I would have liked them to take a cornerback, but must be very confident in the abilities of Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald, which makes sense because they both had outstanding rookie seasons.

On a side note, two of my friends made a great bet during the draft. One bet the other that if Derek Anderson is traded on draft day he gets to shave his arm-pit hair and the other guy has to glue it to his face. On the flip side, if Anderson isn’t traded (which he wasn’t… by the way….) my one buddy has to shave his head into a mohawk. Needless to say, we’re getting the clippers ready this weekend.

Full list of draft picks

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 7:35 am and is filed under Columns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.