Hindsight 20/20? We'll find out.

So we've got the media all down our backs for a "horrible" draft we had. Peter King had nothing good to say. Dave-Te Thomas had nothing good to say, as well as many others. So what do they think we could have done better?

Personally, while I lacked excitement about our draft, I can't be upset, as I felt we received some pretty solid players, including in our trades.

What exactly went down?

#5 Pick- Browns fans stood up watching Cleveland on the clock. Some of us wanted Orakpo, Raji, Crabtree, Sanchez, and most of us wanted to trade down. Most of us got what we wanted. We sent pick #5 overall to the New York Jets for safety Abram Elam, defensive end Kenyon Coleman, quarterback Brett Ratliff, along with picks 17 overall (First) and 52 overall (Second).

What would I change?
- The only thing differently I would have liked is a 6th or 7th rounder to add another camp body. New York Jets select Mark Sanchez, bust... I mean quarterback, USC. However, I loved this trade. We don't have to pay for a top 5-10 pick, and we add a quality starter at defensive end, a #2 quarterback, and a starting strong safety. Great move.

#17 Pick- The Cleveland Browns trade pick #17 overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for pick #19 overall (First), and pick #191 (Sixth). Tampa Bay selected Josh Freeman, quarterback, Kansas State.

What would I change?
- I think we could have received a 4th/5th rounder from Tampa Bay. They really wanted Freeman, and we just played the nice guys, and said, "sure, just give us a 6th or something, and you can have it".

#19 Pick- The Cleveland Browns trade pick #19 overall to the Philadelphia Eagles for pick #21 overall (First), and pick #195 (Sixth). Philadelphia selects wide receiver Jeremy Maclin.

What would I change?
- Absolutely nothing. We weren't ready to pick, and we added a late round pick. The Eagles knew that the Lions weren't going for Maclin, but wanted to grab him right away, just in case we were looking at him.

#21 Pick- The Cleveland Browns select center, Alex Mack, University of California. Mack is a versatile center. Mack is a hard working, intelligent player. He's got outstanding leverage, and finishes every play. Most importantly for offensive lineman, he's durable. He doesn't have many negatives about him, which is fantastic.

What would I change?
- First, let me say that we needed a center/guard badly. I'm not disappointed with this pick, however, Eric Wood, Antoine Caldwell, and even Max Unger were guys that we could have had in a later round or two. Chris Wells, Evander "Ziggy" Hood, Clay Matthews III, Vontae Davis and even Donald Brown (who I am not that high on), could have all been better picks at #21. However, we made our offensive line much stronger. I'm hoping that we will start Hadnot at center for a year (his natural position), and give Mack work at guard. I don't want to overwhelm him too much. His sophomore year he can take over at center.

Pick #36- The Cleveland Browns select wide receiver, Brian Robiskie, Ohio State. Robiskie is an excellent possession receiver, with great hands. He runs very crisp routes, and would have been a 1st round pick, had the Buckeyes had a true quarterback to throw to him.

What would I change?
- Wide receiver is a need for us. I wouldn't change it a bit. He compliments Braylon very well, and we need another option for Brady Quinn.

Pick #50- The Cleveland Browns select wide receiver, Mohammed Massoquoi, Georgia. Massaquoi is a wide receiver who does his best work in the middle of the field, underneath the secondary. However, he has a huge problem with dropped balls. Out of 81 balls thrown to him his senior season, he caught 41 of them. I believe only 13 or so were deflected. Now the difference isn't necessarily drops, but he's obviously not working as hard as he can to catch the football.

What would I change?
- We really need cornerback depth, an outside linebacker, a right tackle and a running back. Phil Loadholt, while not the best left tackle in college, fits the right tackle spot perfectly. He's an excellent run blocker, who has a great reach and will do well in pass blocking. Paul Kruger is a 6'4 265 pound monster edge rusher. Kruger absolutely ate up Alabama in his bowl game, and was very underrated the entire season for Utah. Kruger on the other side of Wimbely could make offenses cry. Sean Smith is a corner/safety from Utah who has a ton of upside. He's a large (6'4 215) guy who can make tackles and plays very well in man to man. He could have been used as a nickel back or compete for the starting safety position.

Pick #52- The Cleveland Browns select defensive end/outside linebacker, David Veikune, University of Hawaii. Veikune is a hard working power rusher who has good speed. He's a tough hitter, and plays contain very well.

What would I change?
- I like Veikune a lot. However, I question his ability to learn the playbook, drop back in coverage, and overpower NFL tackles. Loadholt, Kruger, Smith, and William Beatty were all available, and I think we could have gotten better value. Jarron Gilbert and Shonn Greene were also available.

The Browns had a late start to day two, lacking a third round pick. It wasn't until the 4th pick in the 4th round did we have a selection.

Pick #104- The Cleveland Browns select linebacker, Kaluka Maiava, USC. Maiava is a quick hitting linebacker who was a special teams guy for 3 years in USC. He got a lot of playing time and was USC's 4th best linebacker (which isn't necessarily a bad thing as they were talented).

What would I change?
- Maiava is undersized to play in this 3-4 defense, in my opinion. He's going to be a great special teams player, but won't see much playing time unless we switch to a Tampa 2 defense and he becomes a weak side OLB. Vaughn Martin, defensive tackle, Western Ontario, Shawn Nelson, tight end, Southern Miss, or Lawrence Sidbury Jr., outside linebacker, Richmond would have all been better choices. Vaughn Martin is one of the most underrated players in the draft. He's a big guy who would be a great nose tackle in a 3-4. He absolutely over powers people. He's going to have a great career in San Diego. Sidbury Jr. is a project edge rusher with good upside. Shawn Nelson is an athletic tight end with very good hands. We don't know who we really have at tight end with Rucker, and an aging Steve Heiden.

Pick #177- The Cleveland Browns select cornerback, Don Carey, Norfolk State. Carey is a speedy guy with good cover skills. He's not well known because of his smaller school play, but he's a sixth round project.

What would I change?
- I would have looked at Bear Pascoe, tight end, Fresno State. But you can't go wrong with a project guy who has a history of hard work. He's a perfect Mangini guy.

Pick #191- The Cleveland Browns select cornerback, Coye Francis, San Jose State. Francis is a taller, more athletic guy who did well in zone coverage and returning kicks.

What would I change?
- Mangini took a bit of a chance here as Francis has had a small character issue. He's not a bad person at all, and he's another great project pick.

Pick #195- The Cleveland Browns select running back, James Davis, Clemson. Davis is a hard runner, very hard. He's a tank to take down, and is great right up the middle.

What would I change?
- Not a thing. I don't think he's an every down back. Most 6th round running backs aren't. However, with an impressive training camp, he could find his way past the practice squad and onto the 53 man roster with his ability to split the middle of the defense. He's a tough guy to bring down, however is extremely poor in pass protection. He's a 2nd-3rd round talent who slipped due to a poor 40 yard dash time, and because his production declined thanks to Clemson's switch to a zone blocking scheme which they just could not excecute at all in 2008. I think Davis was a steal. But don't be surprised if he doesn't fare well as a Brown. He's a 6th rounder, but he's also a hard working kid who's a Mangini guy.


Overall, I think we got solid value in our draft, but we got a lot more projects than I think we needed. Veikune is a guy who the Browns want to make into an OLB/ILB. Maiva is a special teams guy who should not have been draft so high, and Massoquoi is a huge risk with his poor hands.

If I were George Kokinis, my draft would have played out like this:

#21- Chris "Beanie" Wells, RB, Ohio State- This is not my Ohio State bias. He's just not as injury prone as people make him out to be. He missed 3 starts in 3 seasons. Those 3 starts were all in his junior season as Ohio State. He missed the 2nd half of the Texas game with, what I believe was a concussion. 3.5 games I guess you could say. However, he's a perfect north/south runner that the Browns need in the AFC North. Clay Matthews Jr. is the other player I'd have considered along with Beanie.


#36- Brian Robiskie, WR, Ohio State- After Braylon, there's no telling who our wide receivers could be. David Patten is injury prone and is a better slot receiver, Josh Cribbs isn't a full time receiver, Syndric Steptoe is afraid to catch the ball in the middle of the field, and we traded Kellen Winslow who was our most efficient pass catcher.

#50- Paul Kruger, DE/OLB, Utah- Kruger is a tough, physical pass rusher who makes offensive tackles pee themselves. He comes at you hard, and is a very hard worker that fits the mold of a 3-4 outside linebacker better than most in the draft.

#52- Sean Smith, CB/S, Utah- Smith is a versatile guy, which is important in our secondary. If we have an injury at safety, he can step in and we probably wouldn't miss a beat. However, he's a tough corner who jams receivers at the line and can take a hit from a runner coming at him.

#104- Vaughn Martin, DT, Western Ontario- I'm not confident that Shaun Smith will be on this team much longer, and I don't know if Rubin is a guy that can play nose tackle consistently if Rogers needs a breather. Martin is a guy who could probably step in right away and contribute, and maybe let us experiment with Shaun Rogers at defensive end. He's a power guy who controls centers which forces the running back to look elsewhere for a hole.

#177- Bear Pascoe, TE, Fresno St.- Pascoe is a physical tight end who is in the Steve Heiden mold. He's an efficient run blocker, and he's not too shabby with the hands. He's a tall guy who'd be a great red zone talent.

#191- Don Carey, CB, Norfolk State- I loved the Carey pick. I think he slips a few more spots from #177.

#195- A.Q. Shipley, C, Penn St.- Shipley is a smaller, more athletic center, but most importantly very smart. He'd be a guy who could come in and start in a season or two.


I know I didn't address the offensive line until the last pick, but I think with our free agent signings we could wait another season before drafting a more quality center, right guard, or even right tackle. I think people undersestimate St. Clair at the right tackle spot, and I truly think Tucker will stay healthy all season. If he doesn't we still have Womack to play right guard and Hadnot to play center. Regardless, there's a reason why I'm not the Cleveland Browns general manager, and hopefully we'll prove all the members of the media wrong who doubt us. We've got a lot of talent to play with and we'll see how Mangini and Co. handle these athletes. Perhaps the Browns can become a playoff team in 2 years or less, however, it's quite possible that we end up back at the bottom of the AFC North.

I'm sometimes an optimist, so I'm thinking the former.