All-Day Credit: Athlonsports.com
Life is hard for Browns fans. We have seemingly no hope in the near future and this has been our tempo now for 8 years and running. Hey, our owner has even put himself on notice by inserting himself on his very own “hot seat” this season! In fact, it is now Cleveland tradition in the new era for fans to schedule their draft day parties early thanks to the team drafting in the top-10 every year. This year is no different as the team will be selecting 3rd overall (barring any trade). Every Tuesday until the draft, we’ll give you a player profile of a potential future star (or bust for that matter) of one of the five guys the team will most likely be considering with that 3rd pick. Enjoy!
Adrian Peterson - RB - Oklahoma
Most fans and scouts agree that Georgia Tech WR Calvin Johnson is the best overall prospect in the draft. A lot of those same people also believe that Oklahoma’s Adrian Peterson may very well be next in line as far as pure talent is concerned. It shouldn’t be any surprise then that when the draft commences this Saturday the Browns are rumored to have narrowed their likely choice down to either Peterson or Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn.
Peterson’s strengths speak for themselves. He has been an impact performer ever since he stepped foot on the college gridiron for the Sooners. He’s big (nearly 6′2″ and 217 lbs.), fast (runs a 4.4 in the 40 yd dash), and is a very tough runner who isn’t afraid of pain.
Drafting Peterson would help the Browns in many aspects. Right away, he would bring some instant explosiveness to the offense as well as bringing a much needed home run threat to the Browns offensive backfield. Also, he would be a terrific compliment to former Raven Jamal Lewis in the backfield. It is safe to say that for these reasons “All-Day”, as he’s been nicknamed, is the fans’ most popular choice to wear the Orange and Brown this opening day. Hell, he has even taken the vote in a landslide in the inaugural Kid Cleveland Browns draft poll!
Madden-licious: One can't doubt what's AD would bring to the Browns in the game of all games.However, for as much talent Peterson brings to the table, there is another HUGE factor that may work against him in the eyes of not only the Browns, but to several other teams that may be considering him this weekend. By now, everyone knows about Peterson’s injury history throughout college. Now there is another injury that’s surfaced. According to SI.com’s Don Banks, Peterson
re-aggravated his collarbone injury in the Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise St this past January. In fact, some executives believe that the injury is substantial enough to warrant another surgery which will sideline him for 2 or 3 months.
Now if you are a GM of any NFL team, I’m sure you’d still consider him with or without the surgery. If you are a Browns fan or let alone GM Phil Savage, do you really want to go down this road all over again with this team’s injury track record over the past several years?
Other reasons to reconsider Peterson is the fact that the Browns have arguably needs just as big at Quarterback, offensive tackle, and cornerback to address this weekend. Will the Browns address these needs on a round by round value basis? Or will they suck it up and draft Peterson anyway out of guilt since this franchise once passed up LaDainian Tomlinson 6 years ago for Gerard “Big Money!” Warren.
At least we can blame Butch Davis for that last cheap shot and not current GM Phil Savage. One thing is for sure, a comedy of injuries aside, this is still a franchise without a true identity. At least after saturday this team should likely have one with either Adrian Peterson or Brady Quinn.
Read the complete post at http://kidcleveland.blogspot.com/2007/04/browns-first-round-preview-5-of-5.html