Thursday, September 17, 2009

Why Argue?



A) What's wrong with selecting an All-Pro Left Tackle who could easily be a rock for the next dozen years?

B)
Because Thomas is so good, why even go "there"? Browns management is sweet!

C)
AP is ridiculous, but he was often hurt at Oklahoma. Finished his college career getting shut down by Boise State and breaking his collarbone.
From the spectacular NationalFootballPost.com:

Joe Thomas or Adrian Peterson?

That was the deciding facing the Cleveland Browns during the 2007 NFL draft.

Ultimately, the Browns went with Thomas, who has developed into a Pro Bowl offensive tackle, over Peterson, the electrifying Minnesota Vikings running back who has emerged as one of the NFL's biggest stars.

A former Browns personnel department employee argued that the Browns screwed up.

"In my mind, it was a no-brainer," the anonymous personnel man told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Adrian Peterson was the best running back in high school football, the best running back in college football and now he's the best running back in the NFL. He was Rookie of the Year and led the NFL in rushing last season. We had a chance to draft the best player in the NFL outside of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, and we blew it."

"What we should've done that season was move Eric Steinbach out to left tackle and draft Peterson, because we were paying Steinbach left tackle money and he's a better tackle than guard anyway. Joe Thomas was like hitting a double and Adrian Peterson would've been a home run. There was definitely some debate, and there was a faction in the organization that wanted to draft Peterson."

The source described the internal debate.

"Phil [former GM Phil Savage] wanted to try to get quarterback JaMarcus Russell, and there was a faction that wanted to draft Brady Quinn with the third pick," the source said. "In the end, because we were so fragmented, I think Phil went with the safe pick, which was Joe Thomas."

Browns coach Eric Mangini naturally expressed no regrets at the decision made years prior to his arrival.

"I'm really happy Joe Thomas is here," said Mangini. "You go into drafts and you look for needs and you make a decision on where you think you need to go organizationally. Not knowing what all those conversations were, I think they've both become really outstanding players. That's what you're always looking for, too, is the third draft pick to really play well."

2 comments:

  1. Wow, great job Cleveland player personnel man, coming out 2 seasons after the draft and saying who you should have picked. If Peterson was such a home run, why did 5 other teams pass on him? Yah, he was all world at Oklahoma when healthy, but that is the key, when healthy. Outside of the Browns, here are the other teams that passed on Peterson: Raiders, Lions, Bucs, Cardinals and Redskins.I would say that all of those teams could use AD right now, but they are not coming out and crying about it.

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  2. AP had collarbone (can any one say Charles Rogers?) and ankle issues that rightly scared some teams away. Would it be nice for those teams who passed on him to have him now? Sure, but at the time it was hardly a no-brainer to pass on him. What pointless comments from an ex-Cleveland Front Office stooge.

    Now the Raiders passing on Megatron Johnson for JaMarcus Russell, that was glaring...

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