@clevfan4life said:

because people want to, again, forego immediate production in favor of projects.

... plus we all want to make the picks we hit upon known to others...

And Shelton will be fine... I know... I wanted to pick him...

@gftchris said:

Mack was far from a sure thing. He'd been playing in very mediocre competition and there was doubt over whether he'd be able to step up to the NFL.

There were doubters to be sure, but he was closer to "surefire" that almost any other player in his draft... at least that's what I remember.

OBJ had an injury question circling him going into the draft.

@bbedward said:

... so lets continue to get drunk and falsely get excited about next year...and the next year...and the next year.

Finally a plan near and dear to a Browns' fans' heart... and liver...

@the-gipper said:

because people want to, again, forego immediate production in favor of projects.

Too much is made out of the 3-4/4-3 thing. It comes down more to utilization of the talent you have.

@gftchris said:

He's been in there with Meder at DT when we run 4-3 looks. I don't think it would affect him at all. If anything I would think it would make him even more effective as he'll see less doubles. As a 3-4 NT you are double teamed every single down pretty much, unless you suck. Two effective two gapping DT's makes for a nasty 4-3 if you pair them with competent DE's. ie cincy's 4-3.

@clevfan4life said:

Yeah it was that OSU game that elevated him really. A good career against meh competition would have been fine and dandy, but the OSU game gave teams faith.

@gftchris said:

i'm gonna disagree with you there. He tore up OSU and his combine was outstanding. If not for that OSU game and one other I believe, yeah you would be right. But on the big stage he utterly tore shit up. Rookie year, one of the best run stoppers at OLB'er. 2nd year...now he's one of the best pass rushers. Holy fuck.

@londonbrown said:

I think part of the requirements will be to get the best out of the talent we have. Any coach that comes here and tries to fit players to a system won't do well, that's for sure. We have players who have certain talents, we need to put them in a position to demonstrate those talents.

@gftchris said:

Trouble. And/or a crash diet where he loses about 50 lbs.

So we've drafted a guy in the first round to play in a 3-4 then sacked the coach. What if the next coach doesn't want to run it, ffs

@londonbrown said:

Trouble. And/or a crash diet where he loses about 50 lbs.

@andeftw said:

Sure but Donald has no fit in a 3-4 and OBJ has gone far beyond what anyone could have expected.

On a related note I was hoping we go back to a 4-3, what would that mean for Shelton ?

We need to forget the coulda, woulda, shoulda stuff.

Yea we could have hired Bruce Arians and had aaron rodgers and all the damn studs.

But we don't, so lets continue to get drunk and falsely get excited about next year...and the next year...and the next year.

@andeftw said:

Mack was far from a sure thing. He'd been playing in very mediocre competition and there was doubt over whether he'd be able to step up to the NFL.

@londonbrown said:

Sure but Donald has no fit in a 3-4 and OBJ has gone far beyond what anyone could have expected.

Gilbert lol

@tour2ma said:

Not using Watt in my argument exactly because nobody expected him to be as good as he is now. But Jones, Kuechly and Mack were all regarded as studs and look where they are now, top 3 at their respective positions.

I'm still remembering a lot of questions about Watt as he came out early after only two years at Wisconsin at DE and was a TE in the MAC the year before those. His resume was thin.

And it wasn't like his Wisconsin numbers were insanely good either. Honors wise he won the Lott and was 2nd team all-American... both in 2010.

He did, however, raise eyebrows at the Combine.

@tour2ma said:

That's true and all, but Jones, Kuechly and Watkins/Mack were pretty much sure things when they were coming out. I'm not referring to Day 2/3 players who proved to be good players. All of the players I mentioned were basically top 15 picks.

@andeftw said:

The general point is that when you have a top 6 pick from 2011 to 2014 you could have come away with any of these players: ...

General point is hindsight is 20/20... In its light there were Day Two players we'd be better off with had we taken them Day One, but they went where they were projected to go.

2011 - Julio Jones, Tyron Smith, JJ Watt, Robert Quinn

2012 - Luke Kuechly, Dontari Poe, Fletcher Cox

2013 - bad draft in general, give this one a pass

2014 - Sammy Watkins, Khalil Mack, OBJ, Aaron Donald, Zack Martin, CJ Mosley

The only player who had a minimal impact for the Browns this season in Mingo. Blame it on Pettine (or previous coaches) all you want, but it starts with front office.

Granted there were many mocks that had us taking Sammie at #4, but there were precious few projections I remember having Mack falling to 4. I remember more scenarios where teams traded up to #1 with HOU to take Mack there. But HOU got stuck at 1 and couldn't resist Clowney. Then StL bought the Robinson hype. Then JAX really shook things up taking Bortles at #3.

I remember precious little chatter about Watt coming to us back in 2011, but TBH I wasn't paying too much attention back then.