It'll be very interesting to see what the Browns do with their pick. If they stick with McCoy they may take either Trent Richardson or Justin Blackmon. McCoy's biggest problem has been a lack of good wide receivers. They have one in Evan Moore but I doubt he'll ever be used properly as either a receiving TE or a big WR. It's possible they may take Ryan Tannehill, as he's been "rocketing" up the mock drafts since the Combine.
After listening to team president Mike Holmgren and GM Tom Heckert on Thursday's conference call, the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mary Kay Cabot "gets the feeling" the Browns are prepared to turn back to Colt McCoy as the quarterback in 2012. "We think Colt has a big ceiling," said Heckert. "It's my job to get him better players." Despite their previous waffling on the subject, both officials now believe it's too early to write off McCoy. Holmgren will try to "discourage" Heckert from trading down at No. 4 overall. McCoy will have to be supported by a strong running game, lending credence to the belief that Alabama's Trent Richardson could be the Browns' top pick rather than Ryan Tannehill.
I will laugh if they pick Richardson. The guy isn't that explosive for a first round back, so the fact that he is considered top 10 is even more insane. He had massive holes to run through at Alabama, the same with Mark Ingram. Richardson's skillset is a little better than Ingram, and Ingram wasn't anything special his first year in the NFL, Pierre Thomas looked much better in the same offense. Not to mention Richardson missed the combine due to a "minor" knee surgery. Yes it was minor, they were removing scar tissue, but the fact that he has scar tissue in the first place shows that he has a decent amount of wear and tear. It has been speculated that he waited to schedule the surgery so he wouldn't have to run at the combine. However, the rehab isn't going as planned and he didn't run at his pro day either, so something isn't going right with his knee. His change of direction isn't the best, not what you would want in a top 10 pick, he has to gear down quite a bit, sometimes coming to a compete stop, he has been hit at the line or behind plenty of times and bounced off, but tackling in the AFC North will be much better than the overrated SEC. Hillis was able to do this but Richardson is much shorter and weighs less, but he isn't short enough to where he uses it to his advantage to hide behind his blockers. Combine all of these problems and put him in Cleveland's offense and it won't be pretty.
I personally think they should take Doug Martin from Boise St who has all the qualities of Richardson but a 3rd round grade. If Martin had played at Alabama I don't think he would look much different. Instead he played for Boise, and there is a misconception that it easier to run when you run multiple receiver sets like Boise. Maybe with the zone read but thats not what Boise ran. You have to be much quicker because of unblocked defenders and they won't get sucked cloe to the line so you only have one or two guys to beat once you get to the 2nd level. Receivers dont block as well as lineman and tight ends/fullbacks. Martin will probably wind up being the most consistent back of this class.
Blackmon, refused to run at the combine because he would have probably timed in the 4.6 range. Oklahoma St is notorius for having an extremely fast track and even dwfs agree that you should at at least a .01 to the time there, which I believe was a 4.44 or something. His speed on film surely doesn't look to be in that range. His route running isn't the best and will have to run a more complicated route tree coming from the spread they ran at Ok St, where most of his yards were after the catch where he used his physicalness to push defenders away. He has the potential to be a star receiver but will probably need time to adjust. I see him being like Crabtree, who has trouble with more physical corners rerouting him at the line of scrimmage and still hasn't put up 1k yet. I think Blackmon's skillsest is a little better but will take a few years to live up to.
If they pick Richardson and then pick Kendall Wright (the 2nd ranked receiver) it will be even funnier. Wright was supposed to be this smaller deep threat but ran a 4.6. Fans said no way he runs a 4.6 in pads. Its hard to tell with baylor's offense. Teams were so worried about the zone read with RGIII and the rb who had like 1500 yards rushing, they would often get sucked in really close to the line of scrimmage, often giving Wright 5 yards of seperation before dbs could react zone read play action. He is very quick and able to get yac but it might take a few years before he fully develops and is probably a Davone Bess type at best and will have to change his game and work really hard on it.
I dont think any of these guys will help out McCoy right away but hopefully something works so he isn't written off after just one more year. There isn't much they can do except utilize Moore more in the passing game. There simply isn't a large group of wide receivers/backs that are ready to come in and be game changers their rookie year, and that is what they need. Malcolm Floyd might be the best bet at receiver but he has a questionable work ethic and like I said, Doug Martin would be the best pick at rb. The smartest thing to do would be to trade down, maybe spend an early pick on a lineman and grab Floyd and then get Martin in the 2nd just in case he won't be there in the 3rd, but since its the Browns I don't care and would love to see them fail, I would just feel sorry for McCoy who will be written off after one more bad year.
