Hi Browns fans, on Thursday the 2025 NFL draft will kickoff in Green Bay Wisconsin. The draft will start at 7:00 CT and the ChicagoLand Browns Backers/Northside Dawg Pound will be gathering at Burke’s Public House 5401 N. Broadway to watch the first 2 rounds of the draft. Before getting into the players I like in the draft (that will be a separate later post) I want to spend a little time discussing some thoughts on the Browns overall draft strategy. Looking back at last season there are 2 inescapable realities about the Browns that most of the media draft experts and pundits seem to ignore. In 2024 the Browns had collectively the worst quarterback room in the NFL. The Browns were last in points per game, scoring an average of only 1 TD pass per game, last in team QB rating, last in yards per pass attempt, last in 3rd down conversion rate and 31st in completion percentage (note; the last place team was the Colts where Joe Flacco started 6 games). Currently the Browns QB room consists of a 40 year old Joe Flacco. In 2023 Flacco had a magical 5 game run with Browns going 4-1 with 13 TD’s and 8 interceptions while averaging 323 passing yards per game. In 2024 Flacco regressed to the mean going 2-4 in six starts for the Colts with 12 TD’s and 7 interceptions averaging 220 yards per game. Flacco hasn’t started a full 16 game season since 2017, since then the most games he’s played in a season has been 9 games in 2018. The other healthy QB in the room is Steelers reject Kenny Pickett who was a back-up with the Eagles last season. In his 2 seasons in Pittsburgh Pickett started 24 games going 14-10. In his 25 NFL games he’s thrown 15 TD’s and 14 interceptions averaging 159 passing yards per game (he averaged 179 yards per game with the Steelers) for a career QB rating of 79.3. The third QB on the roster is Deshaun Watson and you already know about him. If the Browns are to escape a repeat of last season’s disappointing 3-14 record the team has to address it’s dismal QB situation in this year’s draft with a young QB who has a legitimate chance to challenge for a starting position by the end of the season if not sooner. Joe Flacco, the current presumed starter, is a 40 year old pocket passer who hasn’t played a full season since 2017. Can we realistically expect him to play an entire 17 game season. And if he goes down do we want to have Keeny Pickett as our only option to start at QB. This is just my own opinion, I don’t care how many great playmakers you have at receiver if you don’t have a QB who can reliably get them the ball and avoid throwing it to the other team what good are they. Footballs don’t throw themselves. You have to have a decent starting QB to win in the NFL. A great defense is a wonderful thing but if your offense can’t score more than 1 TD per game through the air a 14-7 loss is still a loss. My point is that the Browns have to come out of this draft with a close to NFL ready QB prospect, not a long term QB project who may develop into a reliable passer in 2 or 3 seasons. Pushing the selection of a future young starting QB to next season’s draft could easily result a repeat of last season with no guarantee that the team’s next franchise QB being available when the Browns draft. Currently the Browns have a 1,000 yard receiver in Jerry Jeudy, the NFL’s best edge rusher In Myles Garrett and a 4 time Pro Bowl corner back in Denzel Ward. While help in these three roster areas would be great they are not the team’s most pressing needs, help at quarterback is.
The second team reality that appears to be ignored is GM Andrew Berry’s 4 season neglect of the QB position in the draft and his difficulties in discovering “diamonds in the rough” in the draft. Since becoming team GM in 2020 Berry has had 37 draft picks including 2 1st round selections, 3 2nd round picks and 8 3rd round picks. During his 4 seasons Berry has drafted only 1 quarterback, Dorian Thompson-Robinson who is no longer on the team. Of the 37 players Berry has drafted only 1 player, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, has been selected to the Pro Bowl. Given that track record can we really trust that Berry will discover the Browns next young starting QB after day one of the draft on Thursday. I have a lot of doubt about that. In a later post I’ll talk about some of the players I’d like the Browns try to draft this week. See you Thursday for the first day of the draft. GO BROWN……GO CAVS……GO GUARDIANS