Oh My God! The Browns shot their eye out!!
By DraftBrowns Staff Writer, Ryan Alton
I needed a day to decompress. A day to process. To give adequate and rational thought to the Browns 2013 Draft before I attempted to analyze it. I knew that when I woke up Sunday morning with a feeling of dissatisfaction, and of disappointment, it wasn’t necessarily appropriate. It didn’t feel right. It felt petty. It was a visceral reaction. Like not getting everything you asked for on Christmas even though you still got some pretty cool stuff. Or like the feeling of coming home from vacation and having to go to work the next day. Just bummed. Deflated. A feeling that one would naturally have after the build up of something so anticipated and so hyped that nothing, no matter the outcome, could immediately fill that void except the longing to look forward to something else. And that something else is a now long way off.
THURSDAY – IT’S FINALLY HERE!
The way the NFL Draft is set up now, with it being three days long, by the time the 7th round finally ended with pick #254 late Saturday afternoon, the Browns selection of LSU outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo at pick #6 seemed like weeks ago. And the excitement and feeling I had after that pick basically did too. It’s almost too long ago to adequately recall because again, there was all that build up and excitement.
That anticipation had finally reached the pinnacle when the commissioner announced the Chiefs were on the clock with the first overall pick. That excitement within me quickly turned to fear and unrest when the Dolphins traded up to take… Dion Jordan!?!? What? That was my guy! He was my #1. They were supposed to take Lane Johnson! And there was my warning: The Draft, especially one as unpredictable as this, never goes as planned. I should have known better.
Luckily, I learned long ago to never fall in love with one player, especially at the top. Fortunately, I also REALLY, REALLY wanted Mingo. After several conversations with my DraftBrowns cohort Brendan, I came to understand that Jordan was the more versatile athlete and could be plugged in anywhere on Ray Horton’s defense and likely thrive. But Mingo is the better all around pure pass rusher, if used correctly. Though his sack totals for 2012 don’t tell the whole story, he has the ability to affect the passing game and to disrupt the rhythm of the quarterback on passing downs more than any other player in this draft. Once I became convinced of that, Jordan and Mingo were my 1A & 1B in this draft. There was still hope.
But once Jordan was off the board, surprisingly to Miami, I felt a pit in my stomach with Philadelphia due to select next at #4. Surely, Chip Kelly, Pat Shurmur, Howie Roseman and Jeffrey Lurie would love turn the screw in Cleveland one more time, right? Oh, how the headlines would just write themselves. Of course, Philly took the aforementioned Johnson to plug in at left tackle in Chip Kelly’s scheme (whatever that ends up being) and saved me from that unbearable dilemma. And I couldn’t have been happier.
Ziggy Ansah, in a move that surprised no one, went to Detroit and so the only question left for the Browns was to take Mingo at #6 or to trade down and recoup a second round pick. Joe Banner explained in a radio interview early Thursday evening that he was “65-35″ that the guy they wanted would be there. After the selection was made, Banner told the assembled Browns media that he had an offer on the table to trade down (presumably with St. Louis) if the guy hadn’t been there. An admission that surely surprised some since many expected them to do just that. But they didn’t. Mingo was their guy and they took him with little hesitation, as the pick “was in” almost as soon as the Browns were put on the clock. And again, I couldn’t have been happier.
Initially, as the first round continued to unfold, there was some thought that the Browns would still attempt to acquire a second round pick by trading Jabaal Sheard now that Mingo was on board. I never bought it. Just as I didn’t buy the rumors people were trying to start when the team signed Desmond Bryant in free agency. “Surely, this means someone will be traded!”, I heard. Why?
Realistically, if anyone was to be moved during the draft it would have been Ahtyba Rubin due to the $8. 1 million dollars he’s scheduled to make in 2014. But there are two sides to every trade. And the reason the Browns would like to trade him is why another team wouldn’t give up a pick worth receiving; his contract. So count that out. But as for Sheard, he’s still in his rookie contract and he fits everything the current regime wants in a player. He is young, productive and cheap. There is no reason in the world for the Browns to trade him, and they said as much in the press conference Thursday night. And in that press conference, Joe Banner said he was going to bed. He may have been joking but I followed suit.