Post Richardson

I thought I published my first post for week 1 on the Browns, but I guess not. So I just barely posted my reaction from week 1. I was going to do week 2 on here, but this week I think I'll discuss what's on every Browns fans' mind now: the Trent Richardson trade.

Even though I've lived in Utah for 7 years now, I know I'm still from Cleveland because the second I heard about this trade driving home from work, I was infuriated. After a day to vent, calm down, decide not to buy another browns jersey for a while, and along with some kicking and screaming, I am now in a good spot to write down some rational thoughts.

The initial reaction to the trade differs between Browns fans and non-Browns fans. As I look to more sports analysts for their opinions on the trade, I realize that not everyone thinks this is a disaster for Cleveland. Some believe that a first round RB was a bad choice anyway, especially at #3. Now the Browns I'm sure will lock up another top-5 pick this season, but the pick they traded Richardson for will probably be closer to #24. Right now, we would have the 21st pick. Plus they save $6.6 million in salary that could go elsewhere.

One argument is that championship teams aren't built on RB's. Minnesota does well with AP, even with a QB worse than Brandon Weeden. Washington has a dynamic young running back. Kansas City has Jamaal Charles and they do well. But none of these teams are championship contenders. The Giants, Patriots, Packers, Steelers, Broncos, and Falcons all have gone deep into the playoffs and/or won super bowls without great running backs. They had serviceable ones, sure, but not great. What they had was an elite QB and great O-lines and D-lines. The 49ers, Seahawks, Ravens, and Texans all have elite running backs but they have elite QB's as well. That's the difference.

Even though most Browns fans, understandably so, feel that their organization has made another classic Browns blunder, this one has a different feel to it. What this move says is (1) Richardson wasn't going to be the elite RB everyone thought he was going to be (although I think he'll do better in Indy than here) and (2) Brandon Weeden is gone. Despite being a 2nd-year player, he's old. He has the big arm, but not the accuracy.

Even though he showed promise, the Browns have some good coaches on their staff who have seen premier talent at RB. They wouldn't have traded T-Rich if they thought he was going to be AP-like. This year, he's only averaging 3.4 yards a carry behind a solid O-line. That's actually less than Brandon Weeden at 3.5 yards a carry. He's going to be good; just not with the Browns.

Speaking of Weeden, this move tells me that he's gone. The organization feels like he may be a serviceable backup, but he's not a starting quarterback in the NFL. They had high hopes for him, but the Browns organization doesn't want to wait around for him to develop. They're actually admitting, "hey, he's not our guy, so we're going to get some draft picks to package together to get our guy." If the Browns don't get the #1 pick, they'll get close enough to trade up to get their QB. And Norv Turner is one of the best at developing the guy he thinks can be a great QB. He took a decent Philip Rivers and made him elite. He'll do the same for whatever rookie the Browns draft, albeit AJ McCarron (my favorite choice), Aaron Murray (a notch below my favorite), Teddy Bridgewater, Tajh Boyd, or, dare I say it, Johnny Manziel. These are franchise QB's.

Does it suck? Of course. We don't exactly tank this year, but we tank. The offense has a lot of holes now, though one just got plugged with Josh Gordon coming back at WR and the right guard situation fixed up. The defense needs some time to gel, and this year will allow them to do that. Last year was an overhaul for the defense. This next off-season will be an offensive overhaul. We'll be getting a new QB, a new RB, probably another WR, and an offensive lineman or three. My guess is that they'll go out and upgrade at CB opposite Haden and also a FS to go along with Ward in the secondary. They'll add maybe another LB.

They can do all this through free agency or the draft. They are now loaded with draft picks for what most are saying is a very deep draft. Hopefully it goes 4 rounds, because the Browns have 7 picks to use up in that time. The Browns currently have two 1st round picks, one 2nd round pick, two 3rd round picks, two 4th round picks, one 5th round pick, one 6th round pick, one 7th round pick, and probably a compensatory pick or two in the final two rounds. Even with no compensatory picks, the Browns have 10 draft slots with 7 of them in the first four rounds. That's a QB (maybe giving up an additional pick or two in order to move up to that spot), RB, WR, G, CB, SS, and LB. QB, CB, RB, and G will be the first four picks I'm guessing. It also depends on who they get in free agency. Last season gave me hope because the Browns have never done ANYTHING well in free agency. Last year they picked up 2 quality additions in Paul Kruger and Desmond Bryant. David Nelson, Quentin Groves, and Chris Owens were also good pickups.

I guess the point of this post is that, yes, the Browns are making some moves that may leave some people scratching their heads, but it's different this time. We;re starting over at a lot of places that we should've done better with in the first place. We're getting our franchise QB this off-season, so watch a lot of college football. We're going to overhaul the offense just like we did the defense this year. With a solid front 7 on D and improvements in the secondary, when we finally can start moving the ball down the field, we're going to be a dangerous team. With the sliding of the Steelers and the Ravens losing a lot of big pieces last season, I think, this time, we really are a year or two away.