Talking to myself about the Browns' final roster . . . QUESTION: So what do you think about the 53 names on the Browns' roster? ANSWER: I think until there are more of their own draft picks on the roster, this team won't consistently win. Meaning what? The Browns drafted only 18 of the current 53, meaning 35 came...
Talking to myself about the Browns' final roster . . .
QUESTION: So what do you think about the 53 names on the Browns' roster?
ANSWER: I think until there are more of their own draft picks on the roster, this team won't consistently win.
Meaning what?
The Browns drafted only 18 of the current 53, meaning 35 came from elsewhere.
What's wrong with that?
The best way to find stars is to draft and develop them. The hardest way to do it is to sign veteran free agents. You often overpay for players who have reached their peak and now are more likely to be injured, or to find their production decreasing. Sometimes, a player is very good in one team's system, but struggles when a new team hands him a huge contract.
How does drafting players avoid that?
I'll answer a question with a question, who are the Browns' best players?
On the current roster: Joshua Cribbs, Joe Thomas, Ryan Pontbriand and Shaun Rogers have made Pro Bowls the past three years.
Thomas was a first-rounder in 2007. Pontbriand a fifth-rounder in 2003. Cribbs wasn't drafted in 2005, but has spent his entire pro career with the Browns. Only Rogers came from elsewhere, a trade with Detroit. Try the Scouts Inc. rating system.
Their top 10 on the Browns are in this order: Thomas, Rogers, Alex Mack, Eric Steinbach, Eric Wright, Cribbs, Phil Dawson, Sheldon Brown, Matt Roth and D'Qwell Jackson. Again, so what?
In the top 10 are Thomas, Mack, Wright, Jackson and Cribbs -- four draft picks and an undrafted free agent. The only veteran free agents signed from other teams are Steinbach, Dawson and Brown. Roth was claimed on waivers. I would have put Lawrence Vickers and Jerome Harrison on that list -- two more draft picks.
The point?
Despite how bad the Browns have been, most of their best players have come through the draft. And most of their free agents from other teams are filling holes until the Browns can find someone better to take their place.
But 18 isn't a fair number because there are Browns draft picks playing elsewhere, right?
Good point. Here's a list of former Browns first-rounders and their current teams: Gerard Warren (Patriots), Braylon Edwards (Jets), Kamerion Wimbley (Raiders), Kellen Winslow (Bucs) and Jeff Faine (Bucs). But that brings up another issue.
What?
The Browns have only 15 players from before Eric Mangini became coach. That means they have turned over 38 players over the past two seasons.
That's a lot, right?
Consider that only 10 draft picks are projected as starters Sunday in Tampa: Mack, Thomas, Harrison, Vickers, Wright, T.J. Ward, Brian Robiskie, Mohamed Massaquoi, Ahtyba Rubin and Shawn Lauvao.
What's the bottom line?
The Browns keep changing front-office people/coaches and they keep changing players. That also makes it hard to develop young players, because the tendency is to have less patience with another guy's draft picks -- and more with your own. Of the 53 players, 14 of them have been acquired this year by the Mike Holmgren/Tom Heckert front office.
Don't you like the Holmgren/Heckert/Mangini combination?
I really do. A lot of change was needed. But now, stability is critical. You can't turn over about 65 percent of your roster every two seasons.