Devils Advocate: Why we should draft CJ Spiller

A Thunder and Lightning reunion? Hmmmmm…

those were some sick moves he put on GT

If the first six off the board (in no particular order) are Bradford, Suh, Berry, Okung, Haden, and McCoy and there is absolutely no value in trading down, is taking Spiller the worst thing we can do? Is the risk/reward on reaching for Morgan or Thomas better than reaching on Spiller? I could talk myself into this fairly easily.

I was hoping for a poll option that covered this feeling: “I [kind of] like Spiller, but I don’t think we should draft him because we already have Harrison and Peyton.” I really don’t think any of those above can fit in that scenario.

So wait a minute…what made writing this worse than writing about drafting Clausen? I r confuze….

I knew this was going to be the next one.

As a Clemson fan, I want to say “YEAH DRAFT HIM!” But as a Browns fan, I’m going to say no. I wouldn’t be totally pissed about it, and I’d only be for it if Berry was gone and no one else was available at 7 who we really wanted.

I’d rather take him than Clausen honestly.

Voted for “trade down” choice. Although I think we’re going to stay at 7, pick someone, and trade into the late 1st to get Colt.

I don’t want Spiller at all, take a bigger back to bang in the trenches during snow storms

for the 5 that have voted this so far, I hope the last phrase was not your reasoning; Chris Johnson does fine in cold weather, and leveraging that one game a season where the snow may be too much to run and make cuts against the other 15 games is not a winning formula, and really just something for people with no logical thought process to talk about in December.

I thought this article would be a whole lot worse. You got my hopes up for basically nothing BK. I was hoping for a 1st round draft pick trade for Big Ben!

this one probably convinced me more than any of the others. that electric of a playmaker would be awesome; that and a trade back for colt would be outstanding.

Where is Spiller expected to get drafted anyway?

I’d totally be down for Spiller actually. I think all of the reasons you listed are legit. Is this someone we could trade down for though? Maybe with someone who REALLY wants Jimmy Clausen?

Spiller-Harrison-Davis-Hillis-Vickers would be a hell of a backfield.

Not to mention Cribbs ocassionally.

This is probably the least convincing Devil’s Advocate. You made some interesting points in the first two, but frankly I just waved off each bullet point here like a grumpy old man.

Bah! Humbug!

I think one of the few times a 40 time is a really really meaningful number is when

a. The player in question is a RB, WR, LB, DB, or TE.

c. The 40 time makes you question if it is the fastest ever run at the given position.

Spiller is fast, but I don’t see what puts him into the “Chris Johnson fast” category and not the “Reggie Bush fast” category. Maybe I am missing something.

Not sure where to put this, but we are all aware of the Eric Wright situation right? Also didn’t Elam have some problems as well?

If you want the most heated DA segment ever, you should make one on the possibility of the Browns trading their pick for Big Ben.

I love the kid, spiller. But I’m not a big fan of a running back early for this team. We already have a pretty good “slash” guy in josh cribbs and frankly an elite RB is more of a “luxury pick” these days. In my opinion we would be better off solidifying the defense and offensive line this year and hopefully finding a quarterback. Then if we get most of that right we would be in better position to make a “luxury pick” next year.

However if the front office trades down (no berry) and thinks spiller is the BPA, I suppose it isn’t too bad. One thing I do know is that I feel that our RB situation really isn’t pretty bad. Between Harrison and James Davis I think we might be better off than some think. Add in the versatile Peyton Hillis (love the possibilities with this kid) and the upstart Chris Jennings I think we can afford to see what we’ve got.

I still consider our backfield to be Harrison-Hillis-Jennings.

We know Jennings is replacable. Davis hasn’t proved anything whatsoever. If Spiller is BPA Jennings are Davis could be cut anytime.

I’d rather have Gerhart.

Once again nice positives, even if you think you need the devil´s advocate angle to do it.
I lauded James Davis as the most fundamentally sound tail-back in a long time, albeit much too slow for the NFL. C.J. Spiller does have an extra gear in comparison to James Davis, and in the fundamentals category not a slouch either coming from the same coaching and enablement background. I´m sorry to say though that he is not a freak, he´s not even fast either. The fact that the draft isn´t very deep at runningback should not be allowed to serve to fluffer him up.
Besides, they aren´t even dedicated to a two back system, yet. There is no immediate appeal to getting a decent tailback, without that tip of the hat.
Now, you may say: Dude, we have Lawrence Vickers and Peyton Hillis to choose from at fullback, and that´s a great premise to get a decent tailback. The draft is tonight, the FO and coaches are lagging without this tip of the hat.