Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Browns trade Cameron Erving to Kansas City

The Cleveland Browns finally gave up on arguably their worst first round pick in years (that covers a lot of ground right there) and amazingly found someone willing to give up something for him as Cleveland sent offensive lineman Cameron Erving to the Kansas City Chiefs.

I was shocked to hear the Browns didn't release Erving and that anyone.let alone a playoff team like the Chiefs were willing to trade anything for Erving.
The 2015 first rounder (obtained from Buffalo in the worst trade ever for the Browns who in 2014 passed on the best wide receiver draft ever at the 4th pick to trade down to nine to take Justin Gilbert and a 2015 number one used to take Erving) was a massive disappointment as he failed in opportunities at tackle,guard and center).

Erving was simply not strong enough to be successful at the interior line or quick enough to play tackle and deal with pass rushers off the end and his missed blocks often made highlight reels across the nation-not just Cleveland.
I admit as Erving came out of Florida State,I liked him as a player,although not as much as then-GM Ray Farmer did.
I liked his athleticism,but thought he needed to get much stronger and it never seemed to happen.
Erving was touted as a lineman that could play all three line positions,but center was thought to be his best position and the need with Alex Mack soon to opt out of his contract made me think that Erving would be an acceptable replacement at pick 19.
It never seemed to happen as from day one at all positions,Erving was blown by from pass rushers,bullied over from power rushers and generally pushed all over-even on special teams where it was Erving that was pushed aside on a field goal attempt against the Ravens that would have won the game,but instead was blocked and returned for the winning score.

Considering the clips that I've seen from Erving's preseason play,I'm just astonished that someone thought he was worth trading a fifth round pick for.
Now to be fair,the Chiefs may have looked at Erving's athletic ability and thought that entering his third year,the chances of rehabilitating Erving's career are roughly equal to that of finding a productive player in round five.
There must be someone in the Kansas City organization that liked Erving entering the 2015 draft and thought that he was worth the attempt to salvage his career,it would be interesting to see if anyone with the Chiefs in their personnel department are a former Browns employee.
Maybe that played a role in the trade?

In any event,this closes the book on the Ray Farmer era as only Danny Shelton remains from Farmer's first round failures and Shelton is a good player that improved a lot last season.
What a disaster and if you are a Browns fan criticizing the Browns for getting nothing for Joe Haden earlier today,just pretend you grabbed a five for Joe Haden instead of Cameron Erving...

Still have more later!!!

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