Does Cleveland still have needs - and will the Draft fill them?

[JoeSixPat]

Interesting take by Mike Lombardi in a recent column with his theory that the best teams fill their needs through free agency, and then use the draft to pick the best player available, and NOT to fill needs.

 

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/2009/0...orning-news-21/

 

I always felt that you had to attempt to cover your team needs before the draft so that you could enter the draft with the intention of taking the best player. Having the ability to be flexible in the draft allows you to just pick players and not have to worry about waiting for a certain player. The best drafts normally come from having the best offseasons. You enter the draft room with a sense of peace and know that if the chips don’t fall your way, your team can still go out and compete.

 

Now, I know this sounds elementary and you’re probably asking, “Don’t all NFL teams try to do this?” The answer is a big NO. Many teams don’t want to sign a veteran player at a position of draft need because they fear the coaches will not play the rookie and will end up playing the rundown veteran. Unless the head coach dictates who will play and when they play, this problem will always be a part of many organizations.

 

So would everyone say that the Browns have already addressed their needs going into the draft? Or are you expecting more action in free agency before then?

[Timugen]

I generally don't hold Mike Lombardi's opinions/commentary/analysis too highly... but it's a somewhat interesting perspective, at least.

 

[Guest Aloysius]

I generally don't hold Mike Lombardi's opinions/commentary/analysis too highly... but it's a somewhat interesting perspective, at least.

I think he's better at gathering info from his sources around the league than he is at evaluating players. It's part of the reason why his take on Quinn is so hard to unpack: he claims that he's hearing people aren't high on Quinn, but he's approaching the topic with an already negative opinion of Quinn - hard to say where his opinion ends and his reporting begins.

 

As for his point here, I think there's a big difference between filling a need and completely eliminating it. Back in '06, Phil Savage wanted to re-sign Ben Taylor in order to fill a need at ILB. But even if he signed him, it wouldn't have necessarily meant that he would have passed on/not traded up for D'Qwell Jackson, a guy he compared to Ray Lewis soon after he drafted him. By contrast, Savage wanted to sign Kalimba Edwards to completely fill a need. Had we signed him, Edwards would have been expected to solidify one of the OLB spots, and we likely would have picked Ngata over Wimbley.

 

ManKok's signings this offseason were more of the Ben Taylor variety. They've put the team in a situation where we can afford to risk coming out of the draft without serious help at ILB, OG-OT, and DE.

 

The one area in which the new regime didn't do a good job of filling a need is strong safety. But it's not clear that they're to blame for that happening. They went after James Sanders, even upping their offer at the last moment, but Sanders decided to stay in NE. They may have had to grossly overpay Sanders, a decent but unspectacular safety, to get him in a Browns uni. James Butler, another guy they were seriously interested in, wouldn't even come in for a visit. Apparently, his plan the entire time was to follow his former DC to St. Louis. They didn't offer a lot of money to Abram Elam, but that may have been a reflection of how little they valued him as a starting option.

 

But considering how weak the safety class is this year, not filling this need in FA could end up weakening our draft. Hopefully, we sign a veteran like Lawyer Milloy to provide at least a tiny bit of insurance in case we want to devote our early round resources elsewhere, or, worse, we draft a guy & he turns out to be a complete bust.

[JoeSixPat]

I generally don't hold Mike Lombardi's opinions/commentary/analysis too highly... but it's a somewhat interesting perspective, at least.

 

Even though he's complimentary of the Patriots I'm not sure even I can agree with him.

 

I mean how realistic is it for ANY team to address all its needs through free agency.

 

In a perfect world, yes. And if you have very few needs - yes you can do it.

 

But the draft, in my eyes, is always about a combination of need and best player available. Some teams have more pressing needs than others but if the best player available to a team was an Offensive Lineman in each round of the draft, there's no way a team's going to come away from the draft with 7 O Linemen. So the whole "draft the best player available" theory is never really applied.

 

Now I do question Mangini addressing so few needs through free agency. There were starting caliber players available everywhere but it seems like Mangnini spent most of his time selecting quality backups.

 

Quality backups are great - but you're probably not going to go to the playoffs with a team full of backups either.

 

So looks like its a rebuilding year, with Browns fans hopefully having low expectations that might very well be exceeded.

There might well be some starters in their draft - though its wise to keep expectations low there too.

[Sez.EJ]

I am not sure there is enough money, roster spots, or free agents to fill all the holes on this team..