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...Dream a little dream, shall we?

'Cleveland Browns walk away with Sammy Watkins and Teddy Bridgewater? Love it - Terry Pluto'

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2014/04/cleveland_browns_walk_away_fro.html

By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer
on April 21, 2014 at 3:08 PM, updated April 21, 2014 at 5:18 PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A draft where the Browns end up with Sammy Watkins and Teddy Bridgewater?

I never would have guessed that was possible, and I'm not suggesting it will happen.

But respected NFL writer Pat Kirwan of CBSSports.com put out a mock draft with Watkins and Bridgewater wearing orange helmets.

A former NFL scout and executive, here is how Kirwan projects the top picks:

1. Jadeveon Clowney (DE) to Houston.

2. Greg Robinson (OT) to St. Louis.

3. Johnny Manziel (QB) to Jacksonville.

4. Sammy Watkins (WR) to the Browns.

5. Blake Bortles (QB) to Oakland.

He has Khalil Mack (a player that I believe the Browns really like) falling to Buffalo at No. 9.

Let's say that the first three picks go as Kirwan predicts -- what should the Browns do?

They would be in the excellent position of deciding between Watkins, Mack and two quarterbacks (Blake Bortles and Bridgewater).

And if they wanted to trade that pick, they'd have several quarterback-starved teams interested.

Kirwan's theory is that a well-known quarterback drops in the draft nearly every year.

He believes it could be Bridgewater.

I have doubts, because it's hard to believe so many teams would hold a bad pro day against him. It's also possible that the pro day problems have caused teams to study his tape more critically, and hold his slender (6-foot-2, 210-pound) build as a major negative.

Here's what Kirwan wrote: "Cleveland knew either Bridgewater or (Fresno's Derek) Carr would fall to this spot and they would have their QB. The Browns may feel Carr has a better arm for their winter woes on the lake, but Bridgewater is a bargain at this point to some. I might wait and take (LSU's Zach) Mettenberger in the second round."

So how would you feel if the Browns draft began with Watkins and Bridgewater?

I'd love it.

I'd also be willing to deal that No. 4 pick to drop down a few spots if it meant that I could take receiver Mike Evans.

A draft of Evans and Bridgewater also is exciting.

A word of caution.

I was fired up in 2012 when the Browns picked Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden in the first round. I was convinced Richardson would be a terrific pro. As for Weeden, I was hopeful -- mostly because he was billed as a big, strong guy with a powerful arm.

And that was true. Weeden looked physically like a quarterback. But he had major troubles with pressure and a poor touch on short passes.

That was a draft where the sizzle was much better than the double-cheeseburger.

And a Watkins/Bridgewater draft could be a repeat.

But I'd be willing to take that chance.



(end)

This isn't about Teddy, but since Terry Pluto mentioned him, I wouldn't mind receiver Mike Evans one bit either if Watkins is already history. I love tall receivers. Throw it high!

http://www.aggieathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=205239914

Almost all of Brown's nations are in love w/WRs.

Probably because we have so successful by drafting them high over and over and over and over.

After all, why fix what isn't broken?

How'd we figure it out but Matt Millen never did?

Pass on QB's for WR's, #2 WR's at that..............I just, I can't even begin to describe my dismay

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I was fired up in 2012 when the Browns picked Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden in the first round. I was convinced Richardson would be a terrific pro. As for Weeden, I was hopeful -- mostly because he was billed as a big, strong guy with a powerful arm.

And that was true. Weeden looked physically like a quarterback. But he had major troubles with pressure and a poor touch on short passes.

That was a draft where the sizzle was much better than the double-cheeseburger.

And a Watkins/Bridgewater draft could be a repeat.

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I was shocked when TRich turned out as bad as he is but this I will disagree with. I think Watkins, at the very least, is a really good WR.. whether or not he becomes great/elite is always an unknown but I think he has a very high floor.. and same for Bridgewater.. I can't think of any scenario where a couple years from now Bridgewater/Watkins aren't at least pretty good..

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difference is we only have one example of taking our first choice at QB since the return in 1999.

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No, we only have one example of us using our first pick on a QB... BQ might very well have been our first choice but we got him with our second pick.

Regardless, it's all semantics, to this point we haven't found the right QB at the right time...

don't you dare forget 2nd rounder Quincy Morgan

Nah...he's saying outside of FANTASY teams...nobody has built a championship team by investing heavily in WRs...and we have INVESTED in no other position so heavily than WR since 1999. I like Sammy a lot...but you all got to understand once and for all the term LUXURY Pick. We don't have the luxury...we are one poor team year after year after WR +++++++++ add another if you wish to include KW2. Bringing up Millen btw ain't no joke. Its the reality of it all.

jmho

I don't love Bridgewater but if the draft went down like this I'd be ecstatic. This team would have my undivided attention this fall.

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difference is we only have one example of taking our first choice at QB since the return in 1999.

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True enough, but our luck with drafting QB's overall has been pretty dismal. Doesn't matter where we got them.

We've drafted 3 QB's in the first round. All have failed. (couch being the only one that had any kind of success)

Anyway, we aren't very good at drafting QB's period.. Or at least we haven't been..

New Regime, new thinking, we'll see how it goes.

You don't really think "If" is the logical equivalent of "If and only if," do you?

"If" is an awful big word for only two letters. But "if" the Browns were to come out of the first round with Watkins and Bridgewater it would be the steal of the century.

With another eight picks they could come out of this draft with a really good team. "If" the Browns make good solid picks and the players become contributors.

This draft the Browns either make a quantum leap forward or remain in obscurity.

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But "if" the Browns were to come out of the first round with Watkins and Bridgewater it would be the steal of the century.

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And "IF" Teddy turns out to be another Rogers instead of a clone of Weeden or Quinn, then Yahoo... we have a winner

Mike Mayock: I wouldn’t use a first-round pick on Teddy Bridgewater
Posted by Michael David Smith on April 26, 2014, 8:30 AM EDT
Bridgewater AP

Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was once viewed as a potential first overall pick of the Texans in this year’s NFL draft. Now he may not even be a Top 32 pick.

NFL Network’s Mike Mayock is the latest to say that Bridgewater looked so bad in his Pro Day that it’s a reason to re-evaluate everything he put on tape.

“If I was a GM in the NFL, I would not take him in the first round of the draft,” Mayock said of Bridgewater on the Petros and Money Show, via NFL.com.

Mayock said he liked what he saw on tape from Bridgewater, but he had no choice to change his mind after seeing Bridgewater throw in person at Louisville.

“I would say in general, tape is worth about 85 percent of an overall grade, and the rest of the process is set up for red flags, and to go back and watch more tape to try to confirm what you saw or didn’t see,” Mayock said. “I saw about four of his tapes prior to the combine, and I really liked him. I thought he had a chance to be a franchise quarterback from what I saw on the tape. . . . Except you’ve got to see the quarterbacks throw the ball live. I’ve never seen a top-level quarterback in the last 10 years have a bad pro day, until Teddy Bridgewater. He had no accuracy, the ball came out funny, the arm strength wasn’t there, and it made me question everything I saw on tape because this was live.”

So maybe the Texans will take Bridgewater. With the 33rd pick.
web page

Is Mayock working the negative tune helping Lombardi and Belichick? I can see it now teams pass early on Teddy allowing Bill to get Bridewater around 20th with a trade!!!! I call it the conspiracy theorist in me!

85% of the grade on QB comes from film study, but on 15% he is ready to downgrade the QB to second round. Huh?

I understand a poor pro-day is an alarm. I was hoping Mayock would give some insight what might have been overlooked on film. In the end from what I think Mayock is saying, tape did not show any issues, so he must have done something hurt, tried alternating his throw attempting to improve, or simply ill.

I think you can take your tin foil hat off. Something tells me that draft rooms aren't relying on Mike Mayock's advice on choosing their 1st rounders. Something tells me they have made up their own choices using their own people. Thats just me though...

Mayock for the most part is a guy I respect. He has seen a lot of college players play in games that he announces. He does his homework. He has contacts in the league.

However, to some degree he has a tendency to like certain types of prospects and not others. He doesn't think Clowney is worthy of the first pick. He questions his work ethic and that is why he down grades Clowney.

Let me say this: There is not one football coach who does not believe they can get the best out of a player. That is their job. That is why they coach. You see the talent that Clowney has. You would kill to coach that.

For Mayock to drop Bridgewater and rise up with Manziel based upon a pro day is ridiculous. Three years of game tape with continuous improvement in all aspects of the game. He then sours on Bridgewater because of his pro day? Please. That is like watching a hitter in the batting cage after 20 cuts and saying "he didn't look good".
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Mayock: " [I’ve never seen a top-level quarterback in the last 10 years have a bad pro day, until Teddy Bridgewater. He had no accuracy, the ball came out funny, the arm strength wasn’t there, and it made me question everything I saw on tape because this was live.”
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Guess what? Go back and look at the tape. Then ask why just this one day?

Before this draft process began Bridgewater was the consensus number one quarterback and most felt it would be him or Clowney going number one.

Bridgewater has not played another game since he dominated Miami in the bowl game when he threw for over 400 yards and was the game MVP.

So what has happened since? His pro day? Really? So his pro day discounts all he did in the games he played in college?

Here is a little advice for Mr. Mayock trust what you see when you watch live games./color]

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Is Mayock working the negative tune helping Lombardi and Belichick? I can see it now teams pass early on Teddy allowing Bill to get Bridewater around 20th with a trade!!!! I call it the conspiracy theorist in me!

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I have serious doubts that any team pays enough attention to Mayock or any Media Minds to change whatever opinion of a player they've already arrived at..

But, just in case, I bought a boat load of tin foil to make hats

However, when you are a GM, you prefer a really, really good player who goes 100% all the time to a supremely talented guy who might, or might not mentally show up for games.

What do coaches always say they want? Guy who love the game, and to whom the game is the most important thing in their lives. They want guys who want to devote their time to improving, and who will spend their own time studying, and working to improve. There is kind of a disconnect there. Coaches may believe that they can get the best out of players, but it makes it difficult when you have to babysit a star all the way through the process.

I do not think that Clowney is a guy who loves the game, and to whom it is important. I think that he is a guy who loves the trappings of fame, and who wants to be a "huge star", not necessarily an All Pro. Personally, I don't want to take the chance on him.

I also look at his final year of college. 3 sacks. Really? 3? What impact plays did he make as a senior? How did he change games?

Also, when we start seeing reports like these,there has to be cause for concern. Further, when a guy like Warren Sapp, who loves DL, says that he wouldn't draft Clowney ...... that says something.

NFL draft's most precarious pick: Jadeveon Clowney - Yahoo Sports
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl-draft-s-most-precarious-pick--jadeveon-clowney-223940557-nfl.html

The chase for Jadeveon Clowney is on.

The pass rusher out of South Carolina is one of the most exciting defensive players to enter the NFL draft in recent memory. The latest buzz involving Clowney was a report that said the Atlanta Falcons might trade up to get the chance to take him.

It makes perfect sense: there's little belief that a once-in-a-generation quarterback, offensive lineman, running back or receiver is available this year. Clowney, however, is thought to be a once-in-a-generation pass-disruptor. He has mauled quarterbacks since his first year of high school, and praise that would normally draw chuckles at this time of year – comparisons to Lawrence Taylor and Bruce Smith for instance – has been met with surprisingly little skepticism.

And while that means Clowney looms as the most obvious pick of the upcoming draft, he's also the most precarious. Because all that stunning talent has provided him with a shield against a normally discouraging worry.

For evidence, consider the man who coached Clowney most recently.

Recently, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier was asked about Clowney's work ethic. He called it "OK." Spurrier said other recent Gamecocks, like Marcus Lattimore, were harder workers. That kind of lukewarm answer, coming from a college coach, is alarming.

When pressed, Spurrier backtracked: "I said [Lattimore] was exceptional," Spurrier told the Houston Chronicle in a later interview. "I maybe should not have compared [Clowney]. I should have said, 'Jadeveon, with the rest of the team, he was right there doing what they did.' Maybe that would've helped out. I compared him to a guy who went above and beyond what was asked."

But that's what the best players are supposed to do: go above and beyond what is asked. Isn't your best player supposed to be your hardest worker? It's strange that Spurrier, one of the most successful coaches of his era, is sorry for putting such a burden on his most talented player. That has been a pattern with Clowney. Concerns that would wreck many elite draft prospects haven't seemed to hurt his value at all.

Almost all rookies are asked to improve something. One scout told Yahoo Sports last fall that it was remarkable how good Clowney is considering "he hasn't been coached." In other words: just wait until he gets some fundamental training at the next level. Auburn's Dee Ford put it more bluntly when he said Clowney was "like a blind dog in a meat market"

.So what happens when the "blind dog" is given NFL coaching? And why hasn't any prior coaching showed up in an obvious way?

Because talent is so clear in Clowney's case, and work ethic is so subjective, the blame for his inconsistent play tends to bounce off of him. This stands in direct contrast to someone like Teddy Bridgewater, who has been superb in every single college season but is dropping through the first round in mock drafts because of his fundamentals. Clowney's problems don't get absorbed by Clowney; so far they haven't really been considered problems at all. If they were, his drop-off in production in 2013 would have caused a drop-off in draft status.

The point is not that Clowney is lazy. The point is that it's very hard to tell if he is or not. And if he is lazy, or (more fairly) unable to live up to his potential, it's more than possible the blame will fall on his coaching staff for not fully unlocking his immense talent. If the Houston Texans pick him, the coaching staff will include Bill O'Brien and Mike Vrabel. They will get the burden of proof, because look at how talented Clowney is. How could someone so gifted not be dominant?

The situation is not dissimilar to the case of Nick Fairley, who was incredible at the college level and is now inconsistent as a pro. Fairly disrupts sometimes, and sometimes with highlight-worthy effects, but we can now see why he fell to the Lions. Clowney is not falling at all.

It's very hard to find a superstar in sports who does not have a superior work ethic. Pick a name from the best in sports history: Peyton Manning, Jerry Rice, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Sidney Crosby, Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter – all with an astounding work ethic. It's possible that Clowney is so good that he can possess an "OK" work ethic and still be one of the best of his generation.

But it's unlikely.

It's also unlikely that Clowney's work ethic – whatever it is – will improve at the NFL level. There aren't many top athletes who suddenly became practice demons at the pro level. In fact, there aren't many top performers in any field that ramped up their effort when the dollars came flooding in.

That means it might be on Clowney's new coaches to keep him motivated. And it will likely be on his new coaches if they can't.

The other source of pressure for Clowney's team will be the expectation that he will excel right away. His position (whether he's at defensive end or linebacker) is unfairly considered instinctual. Clowney's speed and strength will be clear immediately – in Week 1 when he (if a Texan) is charged with chasing down Robert Griffin III. So if Clowney's not immediately a force, the questions will start. Is he out of position? Is he in shape? Or is he not being properly taught?

Those questions will land at the feet of the coaching staff. If the Texans remain at No. 1 and take a quarterback, like Blake Bortles, there will be more patience. It's widely believed Bortles needs time to develop, like all quarterbacks. Clowney? He's ready-made.

Up until now, the Clowney questions have been batted away. When two anonymous personnel executives questioned Clowney's character in separate stories (one to Yahoo Sports), they were chastised for having "an agenda." When ESPN analyst Merril Hoge called Clowney "atrocious" as a football player, Hoge was attacked on social media.

Clowney's supposed lethargy is difficult to pinpoint. How is anyone supposed to know how badly he wants to be brilliant? Isn't it unfair for anyone to assume he doesn't care as much as the next player?

Well, yes and no. It's unfair to call him lazy when it's impossible to know what drives him. But if he is indeed light on work ethic, and that keeps him from being truly great, then the staff who gets him will be punished far more than Clowney is.

Clowney will be drafted first or second in this draft.

When the dust settles and this next season is over any number of players in this draft could be considered the best player.

In my mind any out these top five could be the best and who knows the shocker could come out of the first round.

Clowney
Watkins
Bridgewater
Donald
Mack

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I don't think it is not as much the GM but owners. You know the big splash guys.

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Then the Owners that do that or look at it that way are idiots. If they go out and hire a GM and Scouting staff and a Coach and staff and then listens to Mayock instead of his own people or in spite of his own people is a total idiot.

Should he hear what they have to say, sure. Should he ask his GM and HC about it, Absolutely. But react based on a talking heads view, fergetaboutit!

Oh,, No garlic....LOL

The league is littered with the remains of very high draft choices of superbly talented players that failed because of lack of effort or lack of mental aptitude and toughness.

J'Marcus Russell anyone?

No thanks.

If there a choice between the potential to be all world and a solid dedicated player, you take the player everytime. Although it is not as bad now because of the CBA, you still can't miss when you have a top 10 pick, it will set your team back years.

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They may not pay attention to him, but he knows his stuff for the most part, and probably thinks like many GMs in regard to player talent.

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I guess you aren't remembering the article that was posted showing that the Beat Writers and Network Analysts didn't have access to all the information like teams get.

Can't remember who posted it and I can't find it right now, seems it was buried in another thread.

Anyway, the Jest of it was that the media guys don't see all the medical stuff that teams have access too..

Knowing that, would you put much faith anything any of them say?

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I’ve never seen a top-level quarterback in the last 10 years have a bad pro day, until Teddy Bridgewater. He had no accuracy, the ball came out funny, the arm strength wasn’t there, and it made me question everything I saw on tape because this was live.”

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LMAO..................so, because Mayock didn't see the games "live," they actually never happened?

Are these guys serious? And are you guys really taking them serious?