An indictment of another bad draft-Terrence West Traded

The Cleveland Browns were ready to move on from second year running back Terrence West,apparently so ready that they were ready to release West,if they couldn't find a trading partner.

That wasn't needed as the Browns were able to get a conditional seventh round pick from the Tennessee Titans for the former third rounder.
As exciting of a return as that is,the Browns took the lowest thing that you could receive and had to have a condition slapped on it for a player that just one year ago was not only worth a third round pick,but was valued as being worth trading an additional fourth and sixth round selection for.

I wasn't a Terrence West fan-he danced behind the offensive line far too often for my tastes and he didn't exactly run hard between the tackles either.
West wasn't a pass catching threat and I liked Isaiah Crowell better last season anyway,so this isn't really about losing Terrence West,although with Duke Johnson dealing with concussion issues,one could argue mildly about the timing.

What this does do is raise even more questions about the current Browns regime.
Take away the silly ( and easier to laugh at) "Play like a Brown" stuff and take away the reported "maturity issues" with West alone and look at the 2014 draft.
Many have said that you cannot tag Ray Farmer with the draft because he wasn't on the job long enough to truly sink his teeth in the minutiae of knowing players background.
The Browns have now dealt with these issues with three players from that draft-two number ones and a number three and yet it isn't Ray Farmer's fault?
If Farmer is supposed to be given a pass for not knowing these things with Justin Gilbert,Johnny Manziel and Terrence West,answer me this-Why are you trading up for guys that you don't know everything about?
Why were these things not caught by scouts or crosscheckers,employees that total job was to catch those types of potential issues?
Joel Bitonio has been a standout in round two,Christian Kirksey will start and Pierre Desir looks like a surprise in the 4th,but not only missing on early,but trading assets to miss is simply a disaster.

The only saving grace has been the signings of undrafted free agents Isaiah Crowell and Ka'Waun Williams at two of those positions and some argue that those signings offset the Gilbert and West disaster by "look at Crowell and Williams as the high picks and Gilbert/West as the free agents".
Simply put,that is a cop-out.
If you thought that was the truth,why not take them high and not take the risk of losing them?
Or maybe take other players and make the team even stronger?

I'm not ready to say Ray Farmer needs to go,but the body of work shown thus far is not good.
Once again,the Browns have shown severe front office issues as once again,the team has placed higher priority on saving money and gambling on an unknown quantity rather than on a proven winner in the front office.
And no,I don't count Mike Holmgren as a proven winner in the front office as his general manager reign in Seattle was unsuccessful as only when he became a coach only did the Seahawks turn things around.

I'll have a Browns preview up later this week.
I don't think it will be pretty....

Cleveland Browns Day Two

The Cleveland Browns fans were on top of the world after round one.
That lasted 24 hours as word began to spread of a possible one-year suspension of star wide receiver Josh Gordon for smoking marijuana.

Before I get to the day two selections of the Browns, I might as well address the big dog in the room-Josh Gordon.
If this is true and his agent says it is not ( we all know agents never lie, right?),the Browns will be going into the season with their outside starters being the oft-injured Nate Burleson and the drop-prone Greg Little-more on why that is in a bit.
Frankly, I don't care if the passer is Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel, or anyone else you can name, if they have those guys catching the football, it's going to be tough to move the chains.
I'll be writing the good and bad next week in the draft review, but I feel pretty safe in saying that the Cleveland Browns are in trouble for 2014, if the Gordon suspension rumors turn out to be true and Gordon would lose a possible appeal.

Now, I'll never understand why a joint is worth tossing away millions of dollars for and I sure don't get why it is worth losing the ability to make money playing a game, but I'll say this-Marijuana is slowly becoming legal in our country in some states and the NFL is going to face the question sooner or later (and it may be on this case) on suspending players for something that is some times legal.
I'm for legalizing marijuana (and taxing heavily) and I hope the Browns keep Josh Gordon for this season, but the facts remain-its the NFL's league and whether or not, you agree with the rules, they are theirs to make and Josh Gordon may have violated them.
Tough to argue any other result.

The real point of this show-football and the Cleveland Browns on day two.
I really liked day one and I'm not as pleased with the second day.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Browns addressed a huge need in Nevada guard/tackle Joel Bitonio, who will step right in and either start a right guard or push Mitchell Schwartz there.
The Browns have had right offensive line side issues for years and Bitonio will help there, but I thought wide receiver was a bigger issue anyway before this Josh Gordon affair and the Browns could have landed either Marquis Lee (Jacksonville) or Jordan Matthews (Philadelphia).
Bitonio was the fastest-rising offensive lineman just before the draft and I think he will help, but considering the overall picture-I would have went wideout here.
Like the player, just not as much as another position...

The Browns hopefully filled another need at inside linebacker in round three in Iowa linebacker Christian Kirksey.
Kirksey can play either outside or inside linebacker, but in Cleveland, he almost certainly will be used inside.
I've seen a lot of Kirksey at Iowa and he is a high effort player that doesn't take plays off.
Kirksey might wind up in the best-case scenario to be a three-down linebacker and those are always in high demand.
I didn't like Kirksey as much as Wisconsin's Chris Borland, who went to the 49ers later in the third round, but I like this pick too.

The Browns then leaped back into the third round as they made a trade with San Francisco to land Towson running back Terrence West.
I have never seen West play, but Ourlads reports him to be a hard-nosed power back that looks to be a good compliment to Ben Tate.
You gotta like the highlights below (if not the music) from West and I don't mind the 1-AA tag either, but I do have a few problems.

One-AGAIN no wideout?
Two-the cost of the team's fourth and sixth-round picks seems to be an excessive cost, but I'm open to that.
The Browns entered this draft with loads of picks and on the final day of the draft, Cleveland has the Indianapolis Colts 4th rounder and their own seventh-rounder and that's it.
I know later rounders aren't slam dunks, but quantity increases your chances of finding a diamond.
The day was disappointing to me not for what was selected as much as what was not.
I'll be back later with a look at the Browns 4th rounder and time permitting their seventh-rounder...