If its true that the Browns were willing to go Ditka and give them most of their picks for the #1 slot, then yes it was a bad move. If that were true, they could have fallen back to Cleveland's spot, still gotten Clausen (or whatever QB they wanted), and had a shitload of other picks to rebuild with. Or they could have taken an elite player at another position and still gotten a good QB in the second round. They must've had a much higher opinion of Bradford than any other QB.
In hindsight, yes, they blew it. Getting Suh and Clausen without losing any picks would've been incredible. It would've changed the face of the franchise. As it turns out, Bradford/Kindle isn't terrible either, if they keep the pick.
They needed to take a QB, even though Claussen is the better prospect any idea of taking a DT with the first overall pick is a madness
I hate to steal a cliché from that douche bag Bill Simmons, but anytime you can hand $50 million to a QB coming off major shoulder injuries, you have to do it.
Of course, the sample size of teams NEEDING a QB who could use their 1st round pick to weigh in on that is rather small. You're talking about Cleveland, Buffalo, and Jacksonville. Perhaps those 3 teams don't feel he's a franchise QB, or just felt they needed to get better value. Since I'm guessing Holmgren LOVES McCoy for his West Coast Offense, that leaves Buffalo (who by most accounts loved Tebow) and Jacksonville. Jacksonville's choice of Alualu has their FO's ability to draft very much in question. IMO, an unfair inference based on limited data. There very well could be some teams out there who feel Clausen's a franchise QB...but they didn't need one.
Chan Gailey doesn't like Clausen. He much prefers an athletic QB. At this point, I think he winds up reaching for Jarrett Brown in the third. The Steelers might try to grab him in the second, I don't see Roethlisberger returning to the Steelers after this season, unless the Steelers somehow pull off a SB run again. As for the Rams, I'm predicting Price at the top of the second. Suh > Price Bradford >?< Clausen
How about the fact that these guys have handled the majority of the snaps since their last decent NFL Steve Buerlein grduated in 1986? Tony Rice, Rick Mirer, Kevin McDougal, Ron Powlus, Matt LoVecchio, Jarrious Jackson, Arnaz Battle, Carlyle Holliday, and Brady Quinn.
