Cleveland Browns: Colin Kaepernick or The Draft?
By Erik Lambert
The Cleveland Browns franchise is at a crossroads yet again. It seems there are two paths open to them regarding the quarterback position. Either they can use their 2nd overall pick in the NFL draft to get one, or they can make a trade with the San Francisco 49ers for 28-year old veteran Colin Kaepernick. The question becomes which avenue is the wiser one for this team?
It was posed to the rest of the Mocks crew in their latest roundtable to see where they stood on the subject. Needless to say the opinions varied.
Matthew Holowiak:
At the right price either take Kaepernick or sign Fitzpatrick and draft a QB later in the draft. Let someone else start for a year or two while you build the rest of the team and develop a QB. They can get Hackenberg potentially even in the 3rd round as a developmental guy for a year or two.
Rodney Stokes:
The Browns have had too many free agent QBs come in and fail. With Carson Wentz sitting there at #2, there’s absolutely no reason for them to wait on a QB in the later rounds. While the polish on these prospects is still missing, Wentz is clearly the top choice with the most upside. Cardale Jones, Christian Hackenberg and Kevin Hogan are the kind of selections that Cleveland has made mistakes on for the better part of 17 years. It’s time they take the best QB available and end this constant routine of project QBs and free agent saviors.
Jeffrey Thomas:
If they believe one of the quarterbacks in this class is the answer for them then they should go after him. Keep in mind that Colin Kaepernick was benched last year for Blaine Gabbert. I’m not completely sold on any of the QBs in this class, but I am convinced that Kaepernick isn’t going to solve their problems.
Erik Lambert:
This has to come down to the state of the franchise. If the Browns were a team that is poised to start competing for the NFL playoffs, it would make perfect sense for them to trade for somebody like Kaepernick, who has extensive experience with four postseason victories and a Super Bowl appearance under his belt.
However, Cleveland is nowhere close to that. This is a team that is starting over and they need a quarterback that will just be entering his prime when they should be getting back into the fray three to four seasons down the road. That means taking the absolute best prospect at #2 overall, whether it’s Jared Goff or Carson Wentz.