Cleveland Browns 2012 NFL Draft Grade and Off-Season Review
The Cleveland Browns had an interesting off-season to say the least. They entered the draft with a wealth of picks thanks to the trade to the Atlanta Falcons who moved way up to select WR Julio Jones. The question surrounding the Browns all off-season has been do they like Colt McCoy or not? The draft finally gave us the answer we’ve been looking for–they do not wish to continue with Colt McCoy and instead will move forward with Seneca Wallace and first round draft pick Brandon Weeden.
Draft Recap:
- Trent Richardson, RB, Alabama
- Brandon Weeden, QB, Oklahoma State
- Mitchell Schwartz, OT, California
- John Hughes, DT, Cincinnati
- Travis Benjamin, WR, Miami (FL)
- James-Michael Johnson, LB, Nevada
- Ryan Miller, OL, Colorado
- Emmanuel Acho, LB, Texas
- Billy Winn, DL, Boise State
- Trevin Wade, CB, Arizona
- Brad Smelley, FB, Arizona
Undrafted FAs
James Madison CB Mike Allen; Akron OL Jake Anderson; Idaho OT Matt Cleveland; Oklahoma State WR Josh Cooper; East Carolina CB Emanuel Davis; Arizona State C Garth Gerhart; Wyoming S Tashaun Gipson; Florida DE William Green; Central Florida LB Josh Linum; Pittsburgh CB Antuawn Reed; Florida State WR Bert Reed; Missouri State WR Jermaine Saffold; Ohio State OT J.B. Shugarts; Ohio State LB Andrew Sweat
Best Undrafted Free Agents:
The Browns have a few guys who are intriguing as free agent players. The first is East Carolina Emanuel Davis is an intriguing player I thought would be drafted, but he ran slower than anticipated at his proday-4.59 and at 5’10 194 pounds might be a safety conversion project. He is a pretty good coverage guy though and hasa shot. Tashaun Gipston was terrific at Wyoming last year a leader on the field and a guy who is versatile. Again, he’s not huge 5’11 206 pounds and isn’t “cornerback fast” which is why he went un-drafted. He’s a guy who could thrive playing special teams and backing up at cornerback and safety. Florida State WR Bert Reed has an un-coachble skill set–he’s very fast. But he’s also small (5-10 and a 178 pounds) and isn’t DeSean Jackson fast. Reed was a wonderful return man. The Undrafted Free agents the Browns got for the most part look like potential special teams guys.
Grading the Draft:
In the first round the Browns did two things-they traded two later round picks to move one spot to grab Trent Richardson. A move I like, even with the trade up. Trent Richardson is really good and will instantly take pressure of whatever quarterback they were going to use next year (my thoughts at the time of the pick–not knowing who the QB would be). They then spent a first round pick on Brandon Weeden–a pick I don’t love. Brandon Weeden’s only problem is NOT his age. He’s coming from a spread offense, and he’ll have to improve under pressure. He’s already 28, how much more development does he already have? Plus this Cleveland Brown’s team is not a team that is as playoff ready as the Jets or Ravens were–they don’t need a guy to be good immediately to make a Superbowl run. They need a guy who can become really good and then they hope to add more pieces to make a Superbowl run.
Grade: Richardson-A; Weeden C-. I would not have picked Weeden in the first few rounds.
Mithcell Schwartz is a pick I like a lot more for the Browns than I do other teams. I do not believe Schwartz can play LT at a high level in the NFL, but he should be a pretty good offensive tackle, especially in an offense that wants to run quick routes (which a West Coast offense generally does) and run the football (which the addition of Trent Richardson tells us the Browns want to do), so that’s a pretty good pick there, even though my personal value board Schwartz isn’t that high–he would not have made it to their next pick. B/B+
John Hughes-DT Cincinnati. I watched the Bearcats play a few times and was always much more impressed with Derek Wolfe than I was Hughes. I wasn’t even sure Hughes would be drafted–I knew there was a good chance, but I did not think it was a lock he was drafted. I’m surprised he went this early. Hughes is mostly just a space eater–I don’t like this pick. C-/D+
Travis Benjamin, WR, Miami Hurricanes-Benjamin isn’t the most polished WR out there and I prefer his teammate Tommy Streeter in most instances, but Benjamin should be a better fit in the west coast offense. Benjamin can be a guy who is dangerous after the catch. The Browns desperately needed a WR, but they might have waited to long to get one. B-
I really liked what the Browns did from here on out and between their last pick in round four through round 7 I’d give the rest of the picks overall an A-.
James Michael Johnson I had as a fringe top 100 player and though he was one of the best options as a MLB in this class. I also think he could potentially play Strongside linebacker. I’m not a fan of the Cleveland Browns linebacker corps; Johnson could start this year. Ryan Miller in the fifth round is fine value. Too slow for a Tackle, really big for a guard, Miller has talent though and could be a force in the run game if he can keep his leverage right. Good value here. Emmanuel Acho was my least favorite of these picks (though I still don’t mind it). I just don’t love his game, but he does have a lot of ability and again will be a valuable special teams player and maybe he can develop into a dependable starter. Billy Winn might be the best pick the Browns made after the Richardson selection. Winn is very talented–the most talented Boise State defensive linemen in a class that had one go in the first round (McClellin) and one in the third round (Crawford) so getting him in the sixth round is great value. Winn fell far because of questions surrounding his work ethic–he also lacks tremendous length and is a bit squatty. Trevin Wade has enough talent to be relied on the field as a starter or number three cornerbacks (basically a starter now-a-days). Wade is inconsistent though. Good pick, Browns needed more depth at the cornerback position. Brad Smelley is shorter than ideal and lighter than ideal, but he’s tenacious with his blocking efforts and has soft hands-he could stick to a NFL roster.
Overall Draft Grade: C/C-
I liked what the Browns did on day three-but you win in the National Football League based largely on what you do in rounds 1-3. Rounds 4-7 and UDFA’s supplement a roster, but major contributors are much, much less prevalent than everyone makes them out to be; Brady, Cruz, James Harrison these types are the exceptions to the rule.
Offseason Moves:
Browns cut DE Jayme MitchellDolphins sign OT Artis Hicks- Broncos sign S Mike Adams
- Browns sign DE Juqua Thomas-Parker
- Browns re-sign OT Oniel Cousins
- Browns re-sign CB Dimitri Patterson
- Browns re-sign DT Brian Schaefering
Chiefs sign RB Peyton Hillis- Browns sign DE Frostee Rucker
Browns cut G Eric Steinbach- Browns re-sign TE Alex Smith
- Browns re-sign G John Greco
Browns cut OT Tony Pashos- Browns franchise K Phil Dawson
- Browns re-sign ILB D’Qwell Jackson
Current Roster (ourlads.com for all teams)
Quarterback: Brandon Weeden, Seneca Wallace, Colt McCoy, Thaddeus Lewis
Running back: Trent Richardson, Montario Hardesty, Chris Ogbonnaya, Brandon Jackson, Armond Smith
Full Back: Owen Maceric, Eddie Williams, Brad Smelley
Wide Receiver: Greg Little, Mohamed Massaquoi, Joshua Cribbs, Jordan Norwood, Travis Benjamin, Carlton Mitchell, Owen Spencer, Rod Windsor, Bert Reed, Jermaine Saffold
Tight End: Ben Watson, Evan Moore, Alex Smith, Jordan Cameron, Dan Gronkowski
Left Tackle: Joe Thomas, Jake Anderson
Left Guard: Jason Pinkston, Ryan Miller, Stanley Daniels, Matt Cleveland
Center: Alex Mack, Garth Gerhart
Right Guard: Shawn Lauvao, John Greco, Jerad Shaw
DEFENSE
Defensive End: Jabaal Sheard, Frostee Rucker, Juqua Parker, Marcus Bernard, Emmanuel Stephens, Brian Schaefering, William Green
Defensive Tackle: Phil Taylor, Athyba Rubin, John Hughes, Scott Paxson, Brian Sanford, Billy Winn
Middle Linebacker: D’qwell Jackson, James Michael Johnson, Brian Smith
OLB: Chris Gocong, Scott Fujita, Kaluka Maiva, Quinton Spears, Ben Jacobs, Craig Robertson, Emmanuel Acho, Andrew Sweat
Cornerback: Joe Haden, Sheldon Brown, Buster Skrine, Dimitri Patterson, James Dockery, Trevin Wade, Tashuan Gipson, Antuwan Reed, Emanuel Davis
Free Safety: Usama Young, Ray Ventrone, David Sims
Strong Safety: T.J. Ward, Eric Haag
Kicker: Phil Dawson
Punter: Reggie Hodges
Positions of strength:
Running back--with the addition or Trent Richardson, the Browns have a very intriguing running back stable–including one guy who has Hall of Fame Potential (that’s not a prediction, but if you’re a running back drafted in the top 5 it’s because of that kind of potential).
Defensive Tackle: Phil Taylor was impressive in his rookie season and Athyba Rubin is one of the more under-rated players in the league by the media. The addition of John Hughes (which I didn’t love) theoretically bolsters the unit–he was a third round pick after all.
The depth at WR-the Teams lacks a true number one WR, but there is talent in this group. If Tom Brady had this group we might be talking about how the Browns had a pretty good group of WR. There are some intriguing talents and a few high round picks at the position. The team does lack a true #1 WR though–unless Greg Little can be that player.
Positions of Needs-
Depth and talent everywhere-the Browns need depth and talent everywhere. There needs to be more competition at all the roster spots. Successful teams stockpile good positions with even more talent, and poor positions they completely over-haul. The Browns are not at that point yet.
Outside linebacker–in my opinion the combination of Scott Fujita and Chris Gocong might be the worst outside linebacker duo in the league. Neither player is an impact player. Dq’well Jackson is a nice player, but these two need to be upgraded.
#1 WR-Greg Little has the potential, will he reach it?
Franchise QB-The Browns think they have one with Weeden. Do they?
Another pass rushing DE-Jabaal Sheard is a nice young player, Frostee Rucker and Juquan Parker are not going to win a team any division titles.
Safety and cornerback talent–I like T.J. Ward. I’m not sold on Usama Young as the answer. Joe Haden is a stud, but Sheldon Brown is no spring chicken. Buster Skrine has talent, will he capitalize on it. The Browns need more talent here.
Final Conclusion:
The Browns, to me, don’t seem any closer to competing for a division title in 2012. In fact, I’d argue that they may even be further away. The Steelers, Ravens, and Bengals seem to be improving faster than the Browns do–who are perpetually in a sate of rebuilding. Hopefully for them, and football-the Browns have the right answer with Brandon Weeden. Hopefully Trent Richardson can have a tremendous impact, hopefully the defense is more talented than I think. I don’t like to see teams in a perpetual sense of losing.