Jimmy's handing off!
Not my opinion, but the flip side of the coin.
Since we have barely touched on this subject, insert eye roll here, I thought I would touch on the subject of why we should draft Jimmy Clausen.
- He is on the way up. He has gotten better every year he was at Notre Dame. His completion percentage went from 56.3 to 60.9 to 68.0. That is quite a jump every year. His YPA does the same from 5.12 to 7.21 to 8.76 in his final season. His yards and TD/INT ratio do the same. Not only is it possible, but you could argue that it is probable that we have yet to see the best of Jimmy Clausen.
- Don't count Brady Quinn against Jimmy Clausen. That was a Cleveland Brown problem, not a Jimmy Clausen problem. After all, we aren't holding the fact that Vince Young has been a question mark against Colt McCoy. The Browns, not Notre Dame or Jimmy Clausen, bungled the Brady Quinn-Browns marriage.
- What do John Elway, Dan Marino and Phillip Rivers all have in common? All are great quarterbacks and all are a-holes. I don't care if Jimmy Clausen is a good guy. I don't care if he pushes old ladies down getting on the bus. None of this stuff matters between the white lines. He has never been arrested or in major trouble. Getting sucker punched outside a bar could mean he is an a-hole who was running his mouth or he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Neither one of those scenarios matter on 3rd and 9.
- Clausen does everything well, but nothing amazing. His tools all rank somewhere around above average to very good. Easy to fall in like with, but hard to fall in love with. Why is this a good thing? Because he has already had the corners rounded out. Clausen has the minor nuances of quaterbacking down. He needs the extra bump to get into the star area. That is what Holmgren and company do best, make the good great. Sounds like Clausen to me.
- He has played on one of the biggest stages of college football and excelled. Every week Notre Dame is on national TV. They are rivals with about 8 different schools. Imagine the intensity of Ohio State vs. Penn State eight times a year (Don't say Ohio State - Michigan, nothing in sports matches that intensity). Every week ND gets the best shot from Navy, Michigan State, Boston College, etc. The bright lights of the NFL won't bother Clausen.
- When the chips were down, Clausen was at his best. The best passing defense he faced all season, Purdue, he went down the field in the last 2 minutes, converting a 3rd and 14 and a 4th and 2, going 6-9 for 69 yards and a TD on fourth down. He put up huge numbers against Pac10 runner-up Stanford. Same for Pro Football factory USC. You would be hard pressed to point at a single Notre Dame game last season and say "Jimmy Clausen was the reason we lost". Isn't that something that the Browns could use at QB today?
- Jimmy Clausen never had a great running attack. He never had a RB that he could hand the ball to and salt away a lead. It was on Jimmy's shoulders from kickoff to final gun. True, he had fantastic targets in which to pass to, but it was still up to him to get them the ball. This past season they had the 85th ranked rushing offense, with a QB who couldn't be stopped. How does that happen? The next time that Jimmy Clausen sees a 8 man front, it may be the first time he ever has.
- Clausen is going to be much easier to get than Sam Bradford. We have covered the possibility in trading up to number one, but what about staying at seven and drafting a QB? Yes, Clausen may not have the ceiling that Bradford has, but there is a decent chance that Clausen becomes a star himself. How great would it be if we get Clausen at seven, and then add a target in Arrelious Benn or Golden Tate in the second round. With the running attack of Harrison-Davis-Hillis and MoMass-Benn-Watson we have a real future on offense. Bradford will cost a ton, Clausen will cost a first rounder. Advantage Clausen.
So what do you say Browns fans, is Jimmy Clausen a good pick for the Browns?