There I was, draft day 2008. I had a nice list of prospects that I thought would be ideal where we were picking in the second day. I had them prioritized by my own draft grade and also by how I thought they would fall in the draft. Hours of researching guys, watching Tivo’d games, scrutinizing senior bowl practices. I thought I would be able to read Phil’s mind and predict at least a couple of our picks. Then like everyone else who watched I was utterly surprised by every move we made.

For those who are a little behind the times, here’s what we did with the draft picks:

1st round: Traded pick last year
2nd round: Traded pick
3rd round: Traded pick
4th round: Traded pick
5th round: Traded pick
6th round: Traded pick
7th round: Actually used the pick on a guy no one had ever heard of.

If Jim runs the ‘Predict the draft pick’ contest next year, I will simply predict that with his new 3 year contract Savage will be even more aggressive and not use one single pick in the spot it was given. Seriously Phil, you drive draftniks crazy.

Now that I’ve had time to vent I’ve tried to take a few steps back and really understand what Phil was thinking with each surprising pick. The two picks that make sense to everyone are Beau Bell and Ahtyba Rubin. Bell is the run stuffing blue collar LB we all love, and Rubin is yet another guy who can potentially play NT for us. NFL.com listed our offseason needs as RB, LB, and CB. Only one of the five picks we actually used this year addressed a position of need. So what about the rest?

I’ll go chronologically starting with Martin Rucker. When I saw us trade up for him I thought maybe I had had too much beer. After all, that’s a big price to pay for just a little insurance against a contract holdout by K2. But now that I’ve sobered up I realize Rucker has a lot more to offer than leverage in contract negotiations.
Rucker is the same type of tight end as Winslow, although not nearly as refined. He’s a pass catching specialist who will rarely be used to block. Why do we need two of these? For many reasons Winslow’s knee made this pick essential. The most obvious is that if Winslow goes down mid-season our entire offense changes unless we have a similar player to fill in. Heiden is not Winslow. He’s a much better blocker but not a guy that you would split wide. Winslow keeps opposing teams out of their base defense and in nickel coverage. Heiden would not. However a guy like Rucker can be split out wide just like Winslow so the offense would essentially run exactly the same. Sure, Rucker won’t be as effective as Winslow but he will still burn teams that try to cover him with a linebacker. Rucker most likely won’t be the next Winslow, but he can fill in. That leads me to another big part of us drafting him…. Practice. In the preseason last year, we watched Winslow run along the sideline while the rest of the team practiced. His knee is so painful that he is severely restricted in practice. Rucker will likely get most of the practice reps that Winslow can’t take with the first team. The offense will not have to imagine where Winslow would be on a play because Rucker will be there. My final thought on Rucker; He’s 6-5 248, and can be split out and make the big grabs over the middle. Joe Jurevicius is 6-5 232 and makes the big grabs over the middle, and he’s probably retiring at the end of the year. Coincidence?

It only gets harder from there. Now we look at Paul Hubbard, WR out of Wisconsin. No doubt Joe Thomas had some nice things to say about this guy. He’s got all the physical tools, but he’s a project at the NFL level. He’s a track star who had 17.7 yards per catch. The man has 11-inch hands (those are baseball mitts). Yet the major knocks against him are his catching. According to scouts, it is all mental. He needs better coaching to meet his potential. He is certainly willing to put the time in to improve himself, and that is likely what intrigued Savage who has confidence in his coaching staff. He sees an uncut diamond that no one else was willing to take a chance on. Do we need a receiver? Like we need oxygen. Phil is shooting the moon like he did with Steptoe last year. Eventually one of these guys he takes late is going to surprise the NFL world and become a starter, while other guys chosen around then are still fighting to make a special team roster. We don’t need guys who can maybe fill in on special teams, we need guys who can make a difference. If we have to burn a few 6th or 7th round picks to get that guy, it’s all right by me.

WHO IS ALEX HALL? That was probably the biggest question Browns fans had after the draft. It is impossible to find useful information on him and he was not on ANY mock draft boards. He came from nowhere. If you’ve ever been to St. Augustine you know there’s an old castle, lots of shopping, and now you know that since 2002 there’s also a football team. To his credit, Alex Hall dominated his competition. He had 13 sacks and 19 tackles for loss last year. In other words, he spent most of his time in opposing teams’ backfields. He was extremely disruptive. Can he do it at the next level? If he was a sure thing he wouldn’t have been a 7th round pick. Here’s what Mayock had to say about him: "Has 38 career sacks. Only weighs 240, but has the frame to go up to 270 to 275. He's a smart, tough kid who could either be a defensive end if you want to put the weight on him, but is also athletic enough to stand up and play outside linebacker.'' Most of the descriptions of his 6-5 238 pound body include the word ‘lanky’ and say wonderful things about his long arms. This lanky guy with long arms is surprisingly strong though and can break out of the grasp of offensive linemen. In the NFL, he can gain 20 pounds of muscle without sacrificing his speed. He really got scouts attention at the Cactus bowl, where he logged 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. That is serious production, and it was enough to put him on the radar of a few teams. That’s why we used a 7th rounder on him instead of signing him as a free agent. He’s another player like Hubbard who can gain a lot through great coaching, something he didn’t get a lot of in college.

When Savage was asked why he didn’t address the cornerback position through the draft, his answer was that he didn’t have the firepower to get the guys he wanted, and he didn’t like the guys that were available when he was drafting. In other words, he won’t reach to fill a position of need. I can’t fault him for that. Chances are that a guy we draft wouldn’t make the slightest dent in our roster at the CB position anyway. I can’t think of a cornerback outside of the first couple rounds that could even hope to compete for the nickel spot. If he was there, I don’t doubt that Phil would have made an aggressive move to get him. Phil also confirmed that he would rather take a chance on a boom or bust player than a guy whose ceiling is being a solid special teamer with those late round picks. It’s a strategy that leads to a lot of criticism…. Until he hits on a player.

So Phil, I think I’m on to you. I’ll be ready for you come draft day 2009. I’ll expect the unexpected and try to look at the big picture instead of the immediate needs. And I’m sure that despite my best efforts and countless hours of scouting I’ll still be surprised by every move you make.

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