FanPost

No Sense of Value


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via dawgpounddaily.com

Tom Heckert is displaying a tendency to focus in on specific players and repeatedly shows a tendency to select players earlier in the draft than they are projected. As the Browns choose in the 3rd day of the draft, questions about the competency of the front office remain.

This year's draft is pivotal for the franchise. It's the third year for the Holmgren regime. Trading down from a very high position last year was done to build purchasing power for picks this year. So how have we done?

These numbers are from NFLdraftscout.com, from CBS's Rob Rang. He had fairly typically well-informed rankings. The first column represents what rank that player had at his position, then where we picked him. The overall big-board rank is next, then where we picked him.

pos. rank

picked

overall rank

overall

Richardson

1

1

4

3

Weeden

4

4

44

22

Schwartz

9

3

76

37

Hughes

38

9

534

87

Benjamin

64

15

523

100

Johnson

5

5

153

120

Miller

15

12

286

160

I know, it's one person's opinion-- but these rankings are very similar on other sites. I'm annoyed at having to take a QB at 22 when he was probably going to be there at 37, but OK, it's a QB. The tackle was OK in addressing a need, but he was probably going to be there later; he was only the 9th best at his position, we had him 3rd best in the whole draft. Was he really?

As for Hughes, I think this is indefensible. He was not even in the rankings on many sites. We had him 9th best vs. 38th? Same numbers on Benjamin, whatever his speed. I think we did much better with the LB and OG, but they are not value picks.

This shows a very dangerous tendency for Heckert to become enamored with certain prospects, and he loses track of where they are generally regarded in the draft (part of his job, actually), or, worse, starts to forget what the prospect's weaknesses might be.

He has done this in other years. We lost a 3rd round pick to get Phil Taylor, when he was widely felt to likely be there at our original spot. Who knows, maybe that 3rd pick would be our starting WLB right now. Hardesty was not projected as high as he was picked.

In other words, he tends to reach for picks, sometimes very badly. I know, we'll all figure out who's right in time-- years from now. But that's easy. Anyone can make picks after they know the results. The tough part is now-- the projection-- this is where he gets paid. Right now, I don't see us getting good value for where we were picking. I see the opposite.

Overall, I'd give Heckert a D+/C-. We'll be better, specifically because Richardson is likely to be very good. It was hard to really screw up that pick. Weeden is probably an upgrade. The rest? Couldn't we have done better?

I hope all of these guys pan out and play great. I really do. The long-suffering fans really do deserve better. I just think we should have done much better. To make matters worse, it looks like Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are having excellent drafts. Check out the grades and player ratings for yourself at any of a dozen good sites. I don't think you'll be happy at what you find.

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