After years and years of 2nd round guys that haven't contributed much (Thompson, Pool, Veikune, Jones) it will be refreshing to see TWO guys come in and contribute if Hardesty and Ward can live up to this guy's expectations.
I'll admit that I wasn't exactly thrilled with these two picks at the time. I wanted Golden Tate when we grabbed Ward and I was surprised to see the Browns trade away 3 picks to get Hardesty.
But then I went to the videotape. And I read the articles. And I listened to the Trinity's words about these guys.
Folks, we have some football players on our hands with Ward and Hardesty. Ward will be a presence in the run game and will be a headhunter over the middle as well. We haven't had a run-stopping safety for a loooong time and the last headhunter we had was probably Brian Russell who certainly was no Ed Reed. And Hardesty, holy crap is his highlight reel impressive. I've been telling my buddies who are Browns and Buckeyes fans that Hardesty is Beanie Wells without the fumbling. The running style is eerily similar to that of Wells: Downhill, ability to make guys miss in the open field, gets stronger as the game wears on.
I said before the draft that the second day would make or break the future of this team and regime. There was no question we were going to get an impact player at #7 with our needs (Berry or Haden or Thomas), but where we went from there was extremely important. Well, on Day 2 we got a starter at safety, a big cold-weather RB, a versatile offensive lineman who'll eventually start, and a QB that won about 45 games and completed over 70% of his passes in college. Not bad. Not bad at all.