Some of the most important issues the Browns are facing should come into focus when they attend the NFL Scouting Combine this week in Indianapolis.
The hunt for their next starting quarterback, the No. 1 overall pick in April’s draft and wide receiver Terrelle Pryor’s contract situation headline the list.
Head of football operations Sashi Brown is scheduled to address the media at noon Wednesday. Coach Hue Jackson is set to do the same at 9 a.m. Thursday.
Those decision makers, though, will do their heavy lifting behind the scenes by evaluating players and talking to agents and other teams at the combine, which runs Tuesday through March 6.
Coming off a 1-15 season, the Browns have needs at most positions and hope to use the combine as a tool to help them bolster their roster through the draft.
Still, there should be three top priorities.
1. Quest for QB
The groundwork for blockbuster trades has been laid several times at the combine, and the Browns are expected to pursue a deal this offseason for New England Patriots backup Jimmy Garoppolo. Trades can’t become official until 4 p.m. March 9, but negotiations can take place any time.
There’s a widespread belief that Patriots coach Bill Belichick won’t be willing to trade Garoppolo unless he’s blown away by an offer.
If any team has the ammunition to knock Belichick’s socks off, it’s the Browns. They’re armed with 11 picks, including two in the first round (Nos. 1 and 12 overall), two in the second (Nos. 33 and 52) and one in the third (No. 65).
NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said Monday during a conference call he would trade the 12th pick for Garoppolo.
“Especially looking at the quarterbacks this year [in the draft], if they gave up 12 and could get Garoppolo, I’d be all over that,” Mayock said.
Although Mayock said he thinks Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer, Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky and Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes have first-round talent, he doesn’t think any of those quarterbacks are worthy of a top-10 pick. Kizer, Watson and Trubisky have long been considered the top three, but Mayock said Mahomes “is picking up steam in NFL circles.”
“I don’t have any quarterbacks anywhere near the top 10,” Mayock said. “ ... All four of them have holes in their game. I don’t think any of them are ready to start Week 1.”
Mayock said he ranks Kizer first among those four quarterbacks because “he’s got the highest ceiling.”
However, trading for Garoppolo, even if it takes the 12th pick, would be preferable in the eyes of Mayock and several other analysts.
“I would be stoked,” Mayock said.
A likely contingency plan for the Browns should a deal for Garoppolo fail to materialize would be to sign Buffalo Bills starter Tyrod Taylor if he’s released with a massive payday due March 12. They could also explore a trade for Cincinnati Bengals backup AJ McCarron, who played for Jackson for two seasons.
2. Finding the one
Although the Browns drafting a quarterback at No. 1 can’t be entirely ruled out, picking an elite defender would be the more logical approach.
Almost all of the big-name draft gurus have labeled Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett the favorite to become the No. 1 choice, but Mayock maintains the Browns must consider Alabama defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, too.
“They’re both difference-makers,” Mayock said. “I think there’s a higher ceiling for the Texas A&M kid. But I think that Alabama kid will be a great defensive player for the next 10 years, and I think he’s just a little bit safer than Garrett because he stays healthy and he just seems like he plays every single week. But I love them both.”
There will be pro days, private workouts and meetings at team headquarters in the coming months, but the Browns will have a chance to interview Garrett, Allen and many others at the combine as well. Those encounters can help the Browns determine who they love more.
Garrett has said he doesn’t want to play in a cold-weather city, and in a video shot by ESPN, the Arlington, Texas, native begged the Dallas Cowboys to trade with the Browns so he could play for his hometown team. Watson also joked during an awards ceremony that the Cowboys should trade with the Browns for him and poked fun at their quarterback situation by declaring “they need two.”
Mayock detected immaturity in Garrett and Watson during those moments but not disrespect toward the Browns.
“I don’t think the fans or the people in the building in Cleveland should worry about it at all,” Mayock said. “Work the kids out, interview them. Trust me, if Cleveland drafts either of those kids, they’re going to come in ready to play.”
Trading the No. 1 pick shouldn’t be dismissed as a possibility for the Browns, either. If that’s the route their analytics-driven front office wants to pursue, feelers can be put out at the combine.
3. Deal not done
The deadline for the Browns to place a franchise tag on Pryor is 4 p.m. Wednesday, but they don’t plan to use the tag.
On Jan. 2, Brown said the organization wanted to bring back Pryor without tagging him. A person familiar with the situation said Monday morning Brown had yet to change his stance.
The projected cost to tag Pryor is about $15.8 million. A tag would keep him off the open market by locking him into a one-year contract. The Browns are projected to enter free agency with a league-high $108 million in salary-cap space, so even though the tag is expensive, they could afford it.
Pryor is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at 4 p.m. March 9, but absent a new deal, his agents Drew and Jason Rosenhaus can begin negotiating with other teams on March 7.
Pryor led the Browns with 77 catches for 1,007 yards and four touchdowns in his first full season after switching from quarterback to receiver.
The Browns needed help in their receiving corps even before they cut Andrew Hawkins on Monday.
In other words, they would be wise to re-sign Pryor. Plenty of deals have been hammered out at the combine in the past, and this is one the Browns want to get done.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.