BEREA: Coach Hue Jackson pounded the podium with his fist Thursday as he argued the Browns didn’t necessarily forgo an opportunity to take one of the two best quarterbacks in the April 28-30 NFL Draft.
“We will get this right,” Jackson said after the third and final practice of voluntary minicamp. “I promise you. ... Everybody keeps talking about two of the best quarterbacks in the draft. No one knows that, right?
“We’ll see how it all unfolds here in two or three years and see if we were right or wrong. But I feel very good about where we are and what we’re doing.”
In a draft headlined by California’s Jared Goff and North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz, both of whom many analysts deem franchise quarterbacks, the Browns executed a blockbuster trade with the Philadelphia Eagles on Wednesday, moving down from the No. 2 overall pick to No. 8.
The Los Angeles Rams will draft Goff or Wentz after leapfrogging the Browns last week by moving from No. 15 overall to No. 1 in a historic trade with the Tennessee Titans. The Eagles will select the other at No. 2 after giving the Browns picks in the first (No. 8), third (No. 77) and fourth (No. 100) rounds this year, a first-round selection next year and a second-round choice in 2018. In addition to No. 2, the Browns surrendered a fourth-round pick in 2017.
“We understand that risk in moving back that we may have passed on a quarterback that is going to go on to certainly have a great career in this league,” Browns head of football operations Sashi Brown said. “But we felt like for the other additional picks that we were able to acquire that we were in a much better position to build our roster moving forward.
“Even if you take one at No. 1 or 2, it is not like you have solved it. We have taken first-round quarterbacks previously. Those haven’t panned out. ... We know that quarterbacks come from different spots in the draft. ... There are no guarantees.”
The Browns have started 24 quarterbacks since 1999, and they won’t win consistently until they find a legitimate, long-term solution at the game’s most important position.
But Jackson said he’s “not like everybody else” and “we go about doing our evaluation the way we do our evaluation” while explaining his preferred quarterback might not be Goff or Wentz.
“We’ll see if there are any of these other great quarterbacks out there as we venture through this draft,” he said. “If we see an opportunity to get better at that position, then we will.”
Memphis’ Paxton Lynch and Michigan State’s Connor Cook are ranked third and fourth, respectively, by the vast majority of analysts. Lynch could be among the candidates at No. 8 or in a trade-down scenario.
Brown said he has “not at all” ruled out trading down from No. 8 — the Miami Dolphins (No. 13 overall) and Titans (No. 15) would be logical partners — and moving up from the slot is “possible, not likely.”
A Walsh Jesuit High School graduate, Cook might last until No. 32, the first choice of the second round owned by the Browns. Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg, Ohio State’s Cardale Jones, Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott and Stanford’s Kevin Hogan form the next perceived echelon.
“If you think of it as a ‘second tier,’ we do anticipate that there will be good quarterbacks potentially coming out of that group,” Brown said, adding the team has spent sufficient time with quarterbacks in the pre-draft process and doesn’t feel the need for additional meetings. “But the supply of franchise quarterbacks is very, very slim, no matter where you are picking.”
Which is exactly why some observers believe it should have been a no-brainer for the Browns to stay put at No. 2 and take a shot at whichever quarterback the Rams don’t select.
This is the time of year when smokescreens permeate the NFL, so Brown could have set one when he said he wouldn’t call drafting a quarterback “a priority.” In February at the NFL Scouting Combine, Jackson guaranteed the Browns would pick one.
“We may,” Brown said. “We may not. We haven’t decided.”
Regardless, the Browns were resolute in their decision to move down.
Brown said the organization reached a “consensus” on the decision after “weeks of discussions” between the coaching staff, player personnel department, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta and owner Jimmy Haslam. Brown claimed he opted to pull the trigger before the draft to give the franchise time to plan and ensure the Eagles wouldn’t trade with another team.
Brown insisted the Rams’ rise to No. 1 overall didn’t spark the deal, either. He’d been talking to the Eagles and other suitors before the Rams and Titans agreed to swap places April 13.
Now the Browns are tied for the league lead with 12 draft picks, including six of the top 100. Brown hopes those yield three or four immediate starters.
But previous regimes have sacrificed quality for quantity by trading down, as evidenced by their failures to capitalize on the picks acquired. Brown isn’t fazed by the daunting history.
“We feel really good about the fact that we have what could have been a bet on one player now becomes a bet on four understanding that the player that you get at No. 8 may not be the same choice that you had at No. 2 — maybe for us, in our case, actually [it will be],” Brown said. “We feel really good about our opportunity to move forward and select players, and that’s without comparison or disparagement on the past groups.”
The organization never considered trading up to No. 1 overall, Brown said, and it’s not true the team adopted a Goff-or-no-quarterback stance at No. 2. There are conflicting reports about which quarterback the Rams will pick, but there are more rumblings about them going with Goff than Wentz. Brown declined to reveal how the Browns ranked the two.
Brown said the team considered it might not have an opportunity to pick a top-rated quarterback for a while. “Not an easy decision,” he admitted.
He conceded the Browns didn’t spend much time studying upcoming quarterback classes.
“It is dangerous to try to forecast where position groups will be,” Brown said.
It’s also dangerous to pass on a quarterback other teams covet at the top of the draft.
“Obviously, we felt that was the best thing for our organization,” Jackson said, “and I truly believe that wholeheartedly.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns.