Cleveland Browns Quarterback Position

CosmoKramer said:

Yes, because draft picks have the added bonus of being cost controlled for at least the first three years.

Acquiring a QB is always a gamble- acquiring Garoppolo has the added bonus of costing multiple picks and he'll immediately come at a much higher salary.

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The Browns have 109mill in cap space.

Huber. said:

The Browns have 109mill in cap space.

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That's great- let's make it rain on proven guys in free agency and save our draft picks.

I'm all for signing Kevin Zeitler, Eric Berry, Dontari Poe, AJ Bouye to massive contracts. I'd give Tyrod Taylor the exact contract Garoppolo gets from whatever unlucky team trades for him.

The big difference is it doesn't cost us the #33 pick in the draft.

CosmoKramer said:

That's great- let's make it rain on proven guys in free agency and save our draft picks.

I'm all for signing Kevin Zeitler, Eric Berry, Dontari Poe, AJ Bouye to massive contracts. I'd give Tyrod Taylor the exact contract Garoppolo gets from whatever unlucky team trades for him.

The big difference is it doesn't cost us the #33 pick in the draft.

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Because this:

2017/2/13/14593514/state-of-afc-north-browns-free-agency-lesson-steelers-ravens


I live in an area dominated by Browns fans, so the amount of theories I hear on what the Browns should do in free agency is just about endless. Most of them involve signing every single top free agent on the market. Cleveland certainly has the money to do that, but to see what a realistic Browns’ free agency could look like we just have to travel a few years back and look at what happened to the Raiders.

The Raiders entered the 2015 offseason after a 3-13 season and had plenty of cap space. They had their hopes set on being major free agency participants, going after top free agents like Ndamukong Suh, DeMarco Murray, and Randall Cobb. What they ended up being was a bargaining chip.

What the Raiders ended up with was a few key players to their future, most of whom weren’t signed to lucrative deals. The most underrated signing, after what was viewed as a tame offseason for the team with the most cap space was Michael Crabtree. He signed a one year deal with the Raiders, and after he had a fairly successful year with Derek Carr and the team improved, he re-signed with the team. He has become a core piece of that offense.

There are a few lessons to learn here. First, the best players in free agency don’t just chase the biggest contract. Most of them like to be in a good situation where they feel they will succeed. The best the Browns might be able to do is get a few talented players on short term prove-it deals, who may be in bad situations. Prove-it goes for the team as well. The Browns need to show they are able to be respectable for players to want to stay or come there. The last lesson, if you really want to improve, draft well. The amount of teams that improve through one free agency are few and far between. If you want to change the culture of your team, draft talented young players who will actually help your team. That seems like an obvious point, but look at the past regime’s draft history and you’ll see why it needs to be said.

CosmoKramer said:

That's great- let's make it rain on proven guys in free agency and save our draft picks.

I'm all for signing Kevin Zeitler, Eric Berry, Dontari Poe, AJ Bouye to massive contracts. I'd give Tyrod Taylor the exact contract Garoppolo gets from whatever unlucky team trades for him.

The big difference is it doesn't cost us the #33 pick in the draft.

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Yeah but then Tyrod Taylor would be the QB and nobody wants that.

CosmoKramer said:

And I don't agree Garoppolo's 2 starts and 94 passes make him a veteran, yet Kessler's 8 starts and 195 passes make him a project.

For every Matt Hasselback there's 2 Kevin Kolbs and a Matt Cassel. I'm not interested in sinking high picks on that gamble.

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Clearly there's no value to the extra years of practice time with NFL OC / QB Coaches?

Practice is where players find most of their improvement. Garoppolo's not a sure thing by any means but that time counts for a lot.

@Randolphkeys Completely agree with that article- it's unrealistic to sign all the top FAs, and the main way to build the team is through the draft. IMO that starts with holding onto the 33rd pick, and not dealing it for a hopefully league average QB.

@Huber I'll take Taylor and the #33 overall pick over Garoppolo alone all day everyday.

Ocelot said:

Clearly there's no value to the extra years of practice time with NFL OC / QB Coaches?

Practice is where players find most of their improvement. Garoppolo's not a sure thing by any means but that time counts for a lot.

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No, I value game experience and starts- not practice reps. QBs see a lot more improvement when they're playing, not sitting on the bench holding a clipboard.

CosmoKramer said:

@Randolphkeys Completely agree with that article- it's unrealistic to sign all the top FAs, and the main way to build the team is through the draft. IMO that starts with holding onto the 33rd pick, and not dealing it for a hopefully league average QB.

@Huber I'll take Taylor and the #33 overall pick over Garoppolo alone all day everyday.

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So you're saying Jimmy is "hopefully" a league average QB - yet you're advocating for an already league average QB in Taylor.

Not buying it. Jimmy is our Aarron Rodgers, buddy.

CosmoKramer said:

No, I value game experience and starts- not practice reps. QBs see a lot more improvement when they're playing, not sitting on the bench holding a clipboard.

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Worked for Rodgers.

CosmoKramer said:

@Randolphkeys Completely agree with that article- it's unrealistic to sign all the top FAs, and the main way to build the team is through the draft. IMO that starts with holding onto the 33rd pick, and not dealing it for a hopefully league average QB.

@Huber I'll take Taylor and the #33 overall pick over Garoppolo alone all day everyday.

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That is a big IMO, because there are a lot of NFL experts saying that Garoppolo can indeed be a top 15 quarterback and that it's worth it for the Browns to pursue.

Funny that you like Taylor so much, who was in the middle of a switch to wide receiver after four years of spotty QB development when Buffalo changed his mechanics and gave him a shot to beat out Manuel. Time in NFL practices DO matter.

We will find out soon enough, but I'm firmly in the position of saying Taylor isn't a franchise QB, and Buffalo is renegotiating his salary because they are comfortable moving on from him.

Randolphkeys said:

That is a big IMO, because there are a lot of NFL experts saying that Garoppolo can indeed be a top 15 quarterback and that it's worth it for the Browns to pursue.

Funny that you like Taylor so much, who was in the middle of a switch to wide receiver after four years of spotty QB development when Buffalo changed his mechanics and gave him a shot to beat out Manuel. Time in NFL practices DO matter.

We will find out soon enough, but I'm firmly in the position of saying Taylor isn't a franchise QB, and Buffalo is renegotiating his salary because they are comfortable moving on from him.

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I'm now predicting Buffalo will actually wind up keeping Taylor, because after their evaluation the new regime will determine that the problem in BUf was not Taylor but the piss-poor job Ryan did with a talented and expensive defense.

Randolphkeys said:

That is a big IMO, because there are a lot of NFL experts saying that Garoppolo can indeed be a top 15 quarterback and that it's worth it for the Browns to pursue.

Funny that you like Taylor so much, who was in the middle of a switch to wide receiver after four years of spotty QB development when Buffalo changed his mechanics and gave him a shot to beat out Manuel. Time in NFL practices DO matter.

We will find out soon enough, but I'm firmly in the position of saying Taylor isn't a franchise QB, and Buffalo is renegotiating his salary because they are comfortable moving on from him.

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I don't think Tyrod Taylor is a FQB, I just like that we don't have to fork over a high pick to acquire him. That's my biggest contention with Garoppolo- I think the cost is too high for a guy that's still a project.

CosmoKramer said:

I don't think Tyrod Taylor is a FQB, I just like that we don't have to fork over a high pick to acquire him. That's my biggest contention with Garoppolo- I think the cost is too high for a guy that's still a project.

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The Taylor offseason is very much like the Fitzpatrick and New York Jets last offseason. Both sides are using the media. Looks like Taylor's tweets say he wants to stay with Buffalo but is open to starting elsewhere. Buffalo is leaking dissatisfaction with his ability to see the whole field while still renegotiating behind the scenes. All I can speak to is what I've seen of his play, which is a more durable RG3. I'm interested in something better, but my name isn't Sachi Brown.

Randolphkeys said:

I'm interested in something better, but my name isn't Sachi Brown.

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Neither is Sashi Brown's.

CosmoKramer said:

IMO that starts with holding onto the 33rd pick, and not dealing it for a hopefully league average QB.

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IMO, if you can get a league average QB for the 33rd pick in the draft, you grab it and count yourself lucky. Don't know whether Garappolo reasonable projects as that or not, but if he does, that's a great deal.