I suppose it's time
to get my draft wish list on the record. But first, since this is the fourth
draft since I started this blog, I took a quick look back at what I wrote
previously.
2003: "I’m just not making any predictions, except that
there’s sure to be a surprise or two." Exceedingly tentative, I admit. But you
gotta admit, PHD's one-two punch of Jeff Faine and Chaun Thompson made me right
in a hurry.
2004: Like so many
Browns fans, I really wanted Iowa tackle Robert Gallery. We had the seventh pick
and my draft board was "Gallery,
Taylor, Eli Manning, Fitzgerald, Roethlisberger, Winslow." That means we
would've ended up with Big Ben. That holds up pretty well two years
later.
2005: I brought in
my uncle Old Dawg Trey Davis to voice a preference for trading down from #3, but
if that couldn't happen, then taking WR Mike Williams, with slack granted to
Phil Savage if he took Braylon Edwards instead. I'm glad to say that Braylon had
the better rookie year, but I think the jury's still out on that
one.
And so
now?
First
round:
Plan A: Trade up to
as high as #8 in the very unlikely event that A.J. Hawk swoops down that
low.
Plan B: Draft Haloti
Ngata at #12.
Plan C: Draft
Broderick Bunkley at #12.
Plan D: Trade down
to later in the teens to select best remaining front-seven defender (Wimbley,
Carpenter, Lawson, or Greenway).
First day
objectives:
Draft two
front-seven defenders, including one ILB (Abdul Hodge in the second round would
be an ideal follow-up to Ngata).
Draft an offensive
guard (my preferences: Jean-Gilles, Lutui, Joseph, and Spencer, in that
order).
Things I don't want
to see:
Jeff Faine or Lee
Suggs traded for anything less than a first-day pick or a significant first day
move-up.
Concussion risk
Ernie Sims or sketchy character Winston Justice drafted at #12.