Much was made of the Falcons decision to up to No. 6 overall and select WR Julio Jones during last year’s draft, which wound up sending four picks to Browns. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com takes a look at what Cleveland was able to do with these selections.
Last year the Browns came away with FB Owen Marecic, WR Greg Little and NT Phil Taylor and added QB Brandon Weeden with the 22nd overall pick this year’s draft. The other selection that they received from the trade, No. 118 in 2012, was part of the deal that allowed them to trade up for Alabama running back Trent Richardson.
Taylor and Little are still young and have a shot to become quality players, but their 2011 seasons weren’t exactly great. Pro Football Focus had Taylor rated as the No. 77 defensive tackle out of 88, while Little was rated as the No. 114 receiver out of 115. Marecic ranked slightly below average last season.
Weeden will ultimately be the determining factor in this trade as a successful season could turn things around for Little and possibly even Marecic. Their passing attack has been terrible in recent year’s, so at least they have a wildcard that could payoff big in the long run.
Jones is clearly the best player involved in this trade, even though it’s been only one calender year since it was completed, but the Falcons gave up the opportunity to draft an extra four players, so that too should be factored into the deal.
Based on what we know right now,
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taylor is big,mean,and nasty on the front of our d-line,he is better then what you have or people have him ranked by light years. he swallows up blocks allowing the line backers to take on the ball carriers ball hawking and attacking the ball. taylor caves in the o-line and disrupts plays,while having 5 sacks as well his roookie season. the dianamic duel of our twin monsters of taylor and rubin are the two best young d-tackles in the game today,also allowing sheard to come off the edge and to rush the qb. little right now as a rookie is a solid number three or four reciever as a rookie and has the room to grow on being young and new to the position. mariceic had a rough rookie season but sometimes it takes a player a couple years to adjust to the league and becoming a better student of the game develope better as a player and adjust to the game as he sees things clearer and the game slows down for him and build more strength as well with the nfl strenght and conditioning programs and training they do but he is a tough football player and him and smelley at fb we are in good shape there,weeden is a qb kurt warrner clone with pin point passes with a cannon for an arm,yes we used 4rth pick too get rb trent richardson and as well gave us enough picks to trade down and pick up another player out of the deal with still two fourth rounders and picked up another quilty player who is young and has a chance to develope……..wr jones is a great and special number two reciever but i don’t think he is in the, wr larry fitzgerald,wr andre johnson,and wr calvin johnson catergory so for the browns its an A+ on the trade and might turn into a bigger grade filling up the report card with A+ everywhere as a roster bolsters. a homerun for prez mike,gm hecks,and coaches!!!!!!
Great point about Taylor’s sacks. He actually had four sacks last season and a forced fumble, but it’s certainly not easy for someone of his size to get to the QB when he’s typically fighting off double teams and such. I really do think Weeden can be successful, but have to question whether or not he has the receivers to be successful. Little has to get better. His rookie season was very disappointing, but that could be because he was asked to step in an be the guy for them. They love their TE’s so you’d have to think that they’ll end up being used even more next season.
I like the potential that the Browns have acquired, and by no means am I trying to discourage a Browns fan that’s actually optimistic, but these guys will have to show some serious improvement to make it an A+.
yes your right he had 59 tackles ,forced fumble,4 sacks(i think i was thinking of rubins sack numbers and mix them up) ,qb hurries,clapsing the pocket so others could make plays,sacks,and hurries. are secondary was solid and so where are linebackers and there is talent there but it did start up front with all the pressure,hurries,and colapsing the pocket. you will see he is only going to get better. it starts up front in the trenches on your o-lne and d-line. im sorry but we won the trade with just phil taylor!!! anything else is a bonus. we have the best young pair of d-tackles in the game period. they will be in brown and orange for a long time. to be honest you wouldn’t be able to trade with you back just even up for jones for taylor. and if taylor didn’t get in trouble and have to leave pen state i know he would of went in top ten or higher. the guts of your team is o-line,d-line,secondary,left tackle,and qb. and you need depth…..if nothing else we have depth. im fine at pick four a once a life time franchise type rb in trent richardson and at 22 a solid qb that will play tough for some years until your franchise qb a young joe montanta is ready to play and come in to lead our browns. barkley has that high arcing deep ball placing it in stride right in the small window into the wr’s hands. he has a great touch,great pin point passing, can fire it in there as well and can make all the throws. he went toe to toe with qb luck only to lose in a multi overtime game with a rb fumbling on the half yard line with stanford to recover in the enzone to win,and qb barkley had a much younger team qb weeden beat luck,tannehill,and griffin and qb kurt warner didn’t get his first start until he was 28 and weeden has all the tools and perfect throws and touch on the ball leading the wr’s perfect setting them up for easy scores and can make all the throws with a cannon for a arm.sign mcnabb to be a player coach for the west coast offence for them. aaron rodgers and steve young sat behind brett farve and montana respectively for years while they learned and watched and had the game slow down for them until there time came and they where ready and there names where called.thats the best way to bring a young qb along. and when weeden retires one day barkley will be more then ready and then we draft the next great qb to follow qb barkley and so on and so on…….wr’s great ones or even good ones come along every year we have to build our football team first………….i understand there picks and like them they do have some depth and tough football players……once wr kendall wright came off the board and decastro was there i would of drafted him ,then at pick 37 would of traded up a few slots to grab de/olb courtney upshaw. but i believe in our guys they have a plan and we are improving. we had a top ten defence,number one against the pass,against the run we improved later in the year and they will build on that. you see ward coming back and everyone that was out hurt. safety ward and young are good,cb hadden is good we got good nickles on the roster with peterson,brown and our young kids buster and gang,our ilb d’qwell jackson was a top tackler in the league,olb gocong is solid good,our dt’s are the best young pair dt’s in the league period. de sheard was the best de rookie in the game last year period. we got the dangerous cribbs scowering the field,the best left tackle in the game,one of the top centers in the game,a once in a life time frachise brut of a rb in trent richardson,solid qb’s in mccoy and weeden but not great yet or anything but competion brings the best out of people and the creame rises to the top so we will see. and hope we can add to this and our guts. our weakness—other starting cb,other olb(fujita isn’t the awnser) and a de to cap off a young fearsome foursome., need 3 wr’s at least,2 og’s,rt. wait and see-…..tight end and with smelley at fb we got young guys who can develope.