Last week, FS1’s Colin Cowherd sounded off on the New York Jets’ tanking strategy and how it could relate to the top two quarterbacks in the 2018 NFL Draft. He also decided to dump the Cleveland Browns into the mix, saying that if both clubs own the top two picks next year, then both Josh Rosen and Sam Darnold should stay in school another year:
Jets, go ahead and keep tanking. But if I'm Josh Rosen and I'm Sam Darnold, and the two worst teams in the league next years are the Jets and Cleveland, I'm staying in school.
Darnold and Rosen can come back to [UCLA] and USC. They'll each have half a dozen NFL players on their roster, and they'll constantly face NFL players on opposing rosters. Therefore, they can continue to improve in college. College quarterbacks -- you've got more leverage than you've ever had. Use it, don't reward tanking, and don't join lousy rosters.
That has to be the worst possible advice for Rosen and Darnold. If they have well enough seasons to be considered the top two picks of the NFL Draft, then I don’t care what teams are No. 1 and No. 2 — you don’t risk your stock falling or a serious injury killing your stock.
Also, there’s no saying that the Jets and Browns -- if they were the top two teams picking — would stay in those slots. The Titans and Browns were in the top 2 in 2016, but both teams opted to trade out of those spots. Cleveland had the No. 1 pick this year and did not take a quarterback. If the Browns have a top 10 pick in 2018, what would also stop them from trading up to take a quarterback? There are too many variables involved. You can listen to Cowherd’s reasoning below — do you agree with his assessment?
"If I'm Josh Rosen or Sam Darnold and the 2 worst teams in [the NFL] next year are the Jets & Browns, I'm staying in school."— @ColinCowherd pic.twitter.com/BfLFd9Shxb
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) June 7, 2017