The NFL Draft process brings up many flavors of the week for fans to chew ingest.
The thirst for Wyoming Quarterback Josh Allen’s AFC North Body & Upside begat Oklahoma Quarterback Baker Mayfield taste for overachieving and crotch grabbing. This eventually begat Penn State Running Back Saquon Barkley’s zest for explosive plays and now our palate has taken a shine to USC’s Sam Darnold.
We’ve debated his worthiness against all the old familiar faces as well as UCLA’s Josh Rosen. We’ve quibbled over the turnovers, whether he should play at all in his first season and then there is his untamable gingerness.
One growing question seems to be a new spice to this conversation; Is he the surefire number one pick?
The intonation a question of Darnold’s worthiness to be the first pick.
At the risk of offending every English teacher I’ve ever had, again, I’ll answer this question with a question of my own; Does it really matter if Sam Darnold ISN’T the surefire number one pick?
Is there even such a thing?
NFL teams with the first pick put up a united front once the person entrusted with this decision finalizes their plans.
Everyone is comfortable with this guy, everyone loves him. The GM, the coaches, hell even the hot dog vendors.
So you know its totally insincere when they say it.
The NFL is a smorgasbord of egos and backstabbing. The 1st pick is a phenomenal opportunity to improve your teams fate but it’s just as likely you may choke and your career negatively impacted.
It doesn’t matter if Darnold is the surefire anything because the idea itself is total garbage.
Even when a “surefire” option presents itself, it doesn’t mean its foolproof.
The two “surefire” elite quarterback prospects in the last 2 decades are Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.
While Manning is a certain future Hall-of-Famer, Luck’s career itself is an interesting piece of work.
He’s performed at a high level when healthy, but the injuries have piled up including a career threatening shoulder injury he’s currently battling.
Even when healthy, Luck has been sabotaged by the lack of talent & organizational chaos around him in Indianapolis. He’s also showcased an interception streak at times.
It’s asinine to act like debate internally in Berea or around the NFL on the 1st pick is a bad thing.
This draft is a high-quality draft. Darnold, Rosen, Barkley, Mayfield and even NC State’s Bradley Chubb all belong in the conversation to start.
That quality is a double-edged sword for the Browns. The reward is a franchise changing player while the risk is that change is not always a positive one. Think Johnny Manziel.
The bottom line on Sam Darnold’s first pick candidacy hasn’t much to do with him at all.
It all gets back to weather you can compartmentalize the Browns egregious track record over the last 20 years and trust GM & Known football guy John Dorsey on which player is the best fit for the Cleveland Browns.
I have a modicum of trust in Dorsey after his early attempts to reshape this organization.
Besides, his singular mission tasked to him when hired by Owner Jimmy Haslam was to fix the quarterback conundrum in Cleveland.
A seasoned executive, John Dorsey knows better than anyone else his ass is on the line with this decision.
With surefire out the window, the question of a fit for Dorsey’s vision is more appropriate.
That million-dollar question can’t be answered until the Cleveland Browns are on the clock come April 26th.
I’m just praying the flavor of that moment doesn’t leave us all with indigestion come December.
