Analyzing Browns' First Round:

Last night the Browns traded out of the #6 overall pick with Julio Jones' bow tie staring them in the face.  Atlanta offered the Browns their 27th overall pick, this year's 2nd round pick (#59 overall), this year's 4th round pick (#124 overall) and next year's first and fourth round picks.  Ultimately, the four extra picks were just too much for the Browns to pass up and it was a wise move - initially. 

Obviously, the Browns' brain trust of Heckert, Holmgren, and Shurmur felt that one play-making wide receiver wasn't going to change their fortunes this year - and they are probably right.  As much as we would've loved to have seen an exciting playmaker added to help Colt McCoy this year - we can't argue with adding more picks, even if Atlanta's picks are at the end of each round this year and likely next year as well. Perhaps the Browns will add a playmaking receiver in the 2nd or 3rd rounds tonight.

The Browns were then sitting at #27 last night waiting.  Earlier in the day, Holmgren had said this about trading down:

"We are talking to people about trading," Holmgren said. "I am not going into any more detail than that. The only thing I challenged Tom to do, I want to know names [if we trade down]. I would like some strategy to shoot for and have some reasonable idea of who we can get. I don't think you just trade down to trade.

"[A trade] has to make absolute sense to us, otherwise we take the player. I know we need other things, [but we'd] just take the player."

So, presumably, the Browns had some late first round targets in mind when they pulled the trigger on moving to #27.  Our best guess is that they were betting one of the 12 first round rated defensive linemen were going to be there for them. 

If Phil Taylor was their target all along, many fans are wondering today, "Wouldn't he have been there at #27? - Why did we trade up for him?"  The answer is probably that at least two teams right behind the Browns - either the Jets, Steelers, or Patriots (all 3-4 defenses) were also trying to jump up and get Taylor. The Jets released Kris Jenkins, their starting NT. The Steelers will have to replace Casey Hampton someday soon, and the Patriots were also in need of a young 330+ pound nose tackle.  So the Browns used their 3rd rounder, now having two 2nd round picks, to jump up from 27 to 21 and get Taylor. We're going to give Heckert more credit than Butch Davis, Phil Savage, or Eric Mangini and guess that they weren't just bidding against themselves when they decided to move up for Taylor.

Ultimately, there were a couple of nice players who ended up being available at #27 that we would have been a little happier with, had Taylor not made it to the Browns at 27. In particular, OT Gabe Carimi lasted until #29 and would have been a stud ORT to plug in from day one - to the joy of Peyton Hillis and Colt McCoy. Imagine Joe Thomas (1st round pick), Alex Mack (first round pick), Shaun Lauvao (3rd rounder) and Carimi (1st rounder) on your offensive line.  The Steelers also scooped up DE Cam Heyward at #31 - a guy who could've played any position in the Browns' 4-3.  DE Cam Jordan also lasted until #24 and we would have been pleased with trading up for him, as he is also versatile enough to play any spot in the 4-3 front.

Instead, the Browns get a 2 down only run-stuffer.  In theory, the pick is safe and should instantly improve the run defense. However, Taylor is more of a gamble than a sure thing.  Check out our collection of scouting reports and game videos to see what we mean.  Not only is his work ethic questionable, but he also battled injuries and has character red flags from college.  In this morning's light, he doesn't seem much safer than Da'Quan Bowers who is still on the board.  To Taylor's credit, he generally bounced back from injuries or played through them in college. But game tape of Taylor shows that he only flashes dominance. Too often, he gets stood up by one blocker. He plays a little high and in 3 games worth of plays, we did not see him stuff a goal line run once. Teams had success by moving him laterally and sealing him off.  Once Taylor gets stood up, he rarely recovers or restarts his push.  We can only hope that he keeps his weight and conditioning in check and benefits from some good coaching. 

We're almost afraid to mention this next item - out of the painful memory of "Big Money," but - Taylor's Twitter Bio reads, "On the hunt to get that $$$, ya dig?"  Let's hope that once he gets that $$$, he doesn't spend it all on deep fried twinkies. 

We're very surprised by the Browns' selection of Taylor, but can only surmise that they intend to build a Williams Wall 2.0 in the middle of their new defense with Rubin and Taylor doing their best impressions. We know what we have in Rubin, and Taylor has been compared to Pat Williams and Kris Jenkins.  If the Browns' run defense does not finish in the top 15 this season (assuming there is one), you can grade this pick pretty fast as an F.

And here's guessing Julio Jones and Gabe Carimi go ahead and have pro-bowl type seasons since the Browns passed on them - just our luck.