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The 2018 NFL Draft is among the most top heavy at quarterback in recent league history. It also just so happens that the always hapless Cleveland Browns are picking No. 1 and No. 4 overall in the draft itself.
There’s absolutely no way Cleveland can screw this up, right?
Wrong.
If the Cleveland Browns select Josh Allen, it would be yet another fatal mistake. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
While most experts around the football world view Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen to be the consensus top quarterbacks in the draft, it seems that Cleveland has a man crush on former Wyoming signal caller Josh Allen.
According to first-year general manager John Dorsey said crush includes Allen’s hand size. No really, he’s worried about other quarterbacks being able to preform well during the height of Cleveland’s winter because they have smaller hands than Allen.
Sure hand size is important (there’s a joke here somewhere). But to point that out as an overriding view of a prospect is absolutely absurd.
Here’s what we do know about Josh Allen. He completed less than 57 percent of his passes during a two-year stint as the Cowboys’ starting quarterback. Folks, this came against what has to be described as juggernaut Mountain West competition.
Certainly, a 12-of-27 passing game with one touchdown compared to two interceptions against Boise State made Allen a favorite among NFL teams the world over.
There’s this whole thing called accuracy. Might want to look it up. It’s kinda sorta important for a quarterback. Allen lacks said accuracy. In fact, he couldn’t hit the backside of a barn from five yards out.
“Likely be the biggest boom-or-bust quarterback prospect in the draft. Allen’s size and arm talent are prototypical for early first-round picks, but it’s rare to find a quarterback with such a low college completion rate become a successful pro,” NFL Media’s Lance Zierlein wrote in his scouting report of the quarterback. “Allen’s receivers struggled to separate, but there were plenty of times where his lack of anticipation and post-snap plan did him in.”
Like with most divisive quarterback prospects, opinions are not always the same.
“I’d take Josh Allen,” an NFC general manager told ESPN. “You just don’t see that kind of talent come along very often.”
That’s the issue. Elite franchise quarterbacks don’t necessarily see a split from scouts at the level that Allen has become accustomed to. It’s similar to the 2016 NFL Draft, when everyone was seemingly split on then California quarterback Jared Goff. While that did work out in the Los Angeles Rams’ favor, it’s an exception to the rule.
As to where both UCLA’s Josh Rosen and USC’s Sam Darnold are seen as can’t-miss franchise quarterbacks on the field, Allen has to be coupled in with the group of EJ Manuel and Geno Smith, the first two quarterbacks selected in the 2013 NFL Draft. Experts were split on the two, with Manuel being the only signal caller selected in the first round of that year’s draft.
More recently, a comparison could be made to Blake Bortles (2014) and Mitch Trubisky (2017). Both were divisive prospects, and neither has proven himself to be a franchise quarterback of yet.
Is this a gamble Cleveland should be willing to make with surer bets in Darnold and Rosen staring the team directly in the face? The short-form answer to this question is a resounding no.
For the first time in a while, fans in Cleveland are feeling a bit optimistic about the direction of the franchise. Dorsey has done some really good things since taking over the player personnel department from Sashi Brown. But there is a reputation here. No matter who has headed the ship in Cleveland since it entered the league again back in 1999, failure to add that franchise-type quarterback has been the name of the game.
Whether it was Dwight Clark selecting Tim Couch No. 1 overall in 1999 or Phil Savage going with Brady Quinn in the first round almost a decade later, not a single quarterback the Browns have selected during this span has worked out. More recently, Cleveland legitimately handed Carson Wentz and Deshuan Watson to other teams in trades that will ultimately come back to haunt the Browns’ organization moving forward.
New people may be in charge this season. That doesn’t hide the fact that Cleveland’s Factory of Sadness remains alive and well. Adding a project like Allen with the first pick would be yet another example of this. Someone please talk Dorsey off the ledge. Make the right pick. Draft Sam Darnold and call it a day.
Because, if that doesn’t happen, fans with paper bags near the mistake by the lake will become more prevalent moving forward.
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The 2018 NFL Draft is among the most top heavy at quarterback in recent league history. It also just so happens that the always hapless Cleveland Browns are picking No. 1 and No. 4 overall in the draft itself.
There’s absolutely no way Cleveland can screw this up, right?
Wrong.
If the Cleveland Browns select Josh Allen, it would be yet another fatal mistake. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
While most experts around the football world view Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen to be the consensus top quarterbacks in the draft, it seems that Cleveland has a man crush on former Wyoming signal caller Josh Allen.
According to first-year general manager John Dorsey said crush includes Allen’s hand size. No really, he’s worried about other quarterbacks being able to preform well during the height of Cleveland’s winter because they have smaller hands than Allen.
Sure hand size is important (there’s a joke here somewhere). But to point that out as an overriding view of a prospect is absolutely absurd.
Here’s what we do know about Josh Allen. He completed less than 57 percent of his passes during a two-year stint as the Cowboys’ starting quarterback. Folks, this came against what has to be described as juggernaut Mountain West competition.
Certainly, a 12-of-27 passing game with one touchdown compared to two interceptions against Boise State made Allen a favorite among NFL teams the world over.
There’s this whole thing called accuracy. Might want to look it up. It’s kinda sorta important for a quarterback. Allen lacks said accuracy. In fact, he couldn’t hit the backside of a barn from five yards out.
“Likely be the biggest boom-or-bust quarterback prospect in the draft. Allen’s size and arm talent are prototypical for early first-round picks, but it’s rare to find a quarterback with such a low college completion rate become a successful pro,” NFL Media’s Lance Zierlein wrote in his scouting report of the quarterback. “Allen’s receivers struggled to separate, but there were plenty of times where his lack of anticipation and post-snap plan did him in.”
Like with most divisive quarterback prospects, opinions are not always the same.
“I’d take Josh Allen,” an NFC general manager told ESPN. “You just don’t see that kind of talent come along very often.”
That’s the issue. Elite franchise quarterbacks don’t necessarily see a split from scouts at the level that Allen has become accustomed to. It’s similar to the 2016 NFL Draft, when everyone was seemingly split on then California quarterback Jared Goff. While that did work out in the Los Angeles Rams’ favor, it’s an exception to the rule.
As to where both UCLA’s Josh Rosen and USC’s Sam Darnold are seen as can’t-miss franchise quarterbacks on the field, Allen has to be coupled in with the group of EJ Manuel and Geno Smith, the first two quarterbacks selected in the 2013 NFL Draft. Experts were split on the two, with Manuel being the only signal caller selected in the first round of that year’s draft.
More recently, a comparison could be made to Blake Bortles (2014) and Mitch Trubisky (2017). Both were divisive prospects, and neither has proven himself to be a franchise quarterback of yet.
Is this a gamble Cleveland should be willing to make with surer bets in Darnold and Rosen staring the team directly in the face? The short-form answer to this question is a resounding no.
For the first time in a while, fans in Cleveland are feeling a bit optimistic about the direction of the franchise. Dorsey has done some really good things since taking over the player personnel department from Sashi Brown. But there is a reputation here. No matter who has headed the ship in Cleveland since it entered the league again back in 1999, failure to add that franchise-type quarterback has been the name of the game.
Whether it was Dwight Clark selecting Tim Couch No. 1 overall in 1999 or Phil Savage going with Brady Quinn in the first round almost a decade later, not a single quarterback the Browns have selected during this span has worked out. More recently, Cleveland legitimately handed Carson Wentz and Deshuan Watson to other teams in trades that will ultimately come back to haunt the Browns’ organization moving forward.
New people may be in charge this season. That doesn’t hide the fact that Cleveland’s Factory of Sadness remains alive and well. Adding a project like Allen with the first pick would be yet another example of this. Someone please talk Dorsey off the ledge. Make the right pick. Draft Sam Darnold and call it a day.
Because, if that doesn’t happen, fans with paper bags near the mistake by the lake will become more prevalent moving forward.