Saturday, April 28, 2018

Browns draft Nick Chubb and Chad Thomas

The Cleveland Browns completed their day two picks with a second-rounder and a trade-down that added an extra third-day choice.

Two picks after the Browns selected Austin Corbett, Cleveland was on the clock again with the pick acquired from Houston last year on draft day in return for eating the cash on the contract of Brock Osweiler.
Entering the round, I noted earlier that the offensive lineman that I wanted was Connor Williams of Texas, but with the selection of Austin Corbett, I figured the need for an offensive lineman had disappeared.
I had hoped for Penn State tight end Mike Gesicki, but if the team tabbed a running back, my top choices were LSU's Derrius Guice and USC's Ronald Jones.

The Browns would take a runner and even one that I liked in Georgia's Nick Chubb.
Chubb was one of the best backs in the game, but despite rushing for over 1,000 yards in 2016 and 2017, Chubb still doesn't seem to be the same back since a devastating knee injury suffered in 2015 when he ranked with Penn State's Saquon Barkley as the best freshman running back.
Chubb has been healthy the last two years and that tells me either A) he is pretty much what he is or B) he still might have some room to gain back some of what he has lost.

Either way, the Browns have themselves a pretty solid back.
My issue with Chubb compared to Jones or Guice ( who fell drastically down the board after some off-the-field questions) is that he is pretty similar in style to Carlos Hyde.
Now to the Browns, that might be a good thing as they could rotate Hyde and Chubb and not have any variations in the type of back that they have in the lineup.
I would rather have gone in a different direction and rather had a back that did some different things to join a bruising runner in Hyde and the pass-catching multi-dimensional back in Duke Johnson to add another option to the offense.
None of that is meant to disparage Chubb's ability at all, he's an excellent back who runs very well between the tackles, doesn't go down at first contact, and runs with toughness.
Chubb isn't going to round the corner often and he doesn't have the agility that he did before the injury, but he still is going to be a solid back and likely a fan favorite with his hard-nosed manner of running.


The Browns had the final pick of the second round which was the final piece in the Carson Wentz trade from the Eagles to wrap the final tally for the Browns from that trade.
That will have to wait until today as the Browns traded the pick to the Colts (the Colts picked Ohio State defensive end Tyquan Lewis) for the Colts third-rounder and a sixth-rounder.
In layman's terms, the Browns added a sixth for dropping three spots.

I was hoping here that Cleveland would take another Buckeye in the high-motor defensive end Sam Hubbard (Hubbard would go later in the third round to the Bengals), who some had projected to possibly be a late first-round pick.

Yet again, the Browns addressed the position, but not the player as Cleveland selected Miami defensive end, Chad Thomas.
Thomas is 6'5 and 275 and has an impressive wingspan that you would think would be a pass rusher.
Instead, Thomas is a better run defender than a pass rusher and can occasionally be spotted against guards as a defensive tackle.
His versatility to move along the line is his major calling card and looks to be more of a jack of all trades and a rotational lineman than an eventual starter.
For the first time (even more than Baker Mayfield), I think the Browns dropped the ball here with the selection of Thomas over Hubbard.
Hubbard would have added a hustle pass rush, added more of the "attitude" that the Browns claim to want so badly and Hubbard wound up inside the division with the Bengals, which makes it even worse.
I think this was an overdraft and the first one that I really wondered about what they were thinking.
Baker Mayfield was an overdraft in my opinion too, but I understood their thinking even though I disagree with the evaluation, but Thomas over Hubbard is a head-scratcher to me.

I'll be back later with the day three recap.
Depending on if I am out of bed early, I may do a single post on the fourth-round selection (Packers) and another one with the remaining selections from the fifth round (Packers) and three sixth-rounders (Their own, Colts and Redskins).



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