Red Right 88

The Browns should just give up now

With nothing better to do while waiting for the opening of training camps across the NFL, Pro Football Talk decided to release preseason power rankings for the league’s 32 teams.

And, of course, they put the Browns at No. 32.

That’s right, the Browns are supposedly worse than the Colts, who have rookie quarterback Andrew Luck throwing to 33-year-old wide receiver Reggie Wayne and not much else; worse than Jacksonville with Blaine Gabbert and tarps covering thousands of unsold seats; worse than a Miami team that is considering starting David Gerrard at quarterback; worse than the Vikings, Rams and every other crappy team in the league.

It’s so bad, the Browns may as well give up on the season and start focusing on who they will pick with the No. 1 overall selection in the 2013 draft.

OK, now that we got that out of the way, it may not be that bad, and we understand the concept of struggling to find something to write about, but some of the reasons behind the ranking are pretty absurd. Like this one:

Can second-round rookie Mitchell Schwartz step right in and take over for Tony Pashos at right tackle?

We may be overly optimistic, but we’re pretty confident Schwartz is better than Pashos.

Or this one:

The biggest concern comes behind rookie tailback Trent Richardson. With the Browns investing so much in Cleveland’s most-hyped running back since Jim Brown, the Browns had better hope Richardson doesn’t get Ki-Jana Cartered in the preseason.

Because, of course, Richardson is going to blow out his knee.

And let’s not forget the quarterback “controversy:”

Though there’s promise at the quarterback position, where 28-year-old rookie Brandon Weeden arrived via the first round of the draft, the depth chart remains an across-the-board liability unless and until Weeden shows he can perform at the NFL level. The ongoing presence of Colt McCoy serves only to exacerbate the situation; if McCoy is hovering over Weeden’s shoulder as he struggles or if McCoy ends up playing (and, with everyone including McCoy assuming he’ll eventually be benched for Weeden, thriving), the Browns could have another Derek Anderson/Brady Quinn mess.

Because everything is exactly like Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn.

Oh well, only two more months until the season starts.

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The Browns will be one of the teams in attendance on Tuesday at a workout by former Baylor wide receiver Josh Gordon.

Gordon, who is eligible for the NFL supplemental draft on Thursday, will work out in Houston for interested teams, according to The Beacon Journal.

Gordon, who is 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, caught 42 passes for 714 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore in 2010. He was suspended by Baylor following a drug arrest, however, and transferred to Utah, where he sat out last season. He would have been eligible to play this fall, but is entering the draft for financial reasons.

According to Gregg Rosenthal at NFL.com, Gordon “could be the most talented supplemental pick since linebacker Ahmad Brooks, who went to the Cincinnati Bengals in the third round in 2006 and later made noise as a member of the San Francisco 49ers.

It sounds like Gordon has talent, and the Browns certainly need help at wide receiver, but we have to wonder if he has been able to put his problems behind him. Of course, the Browns did draft Greg Little last year even though he had problems at North Carolina that led to him being suspended for a year.

If the Browns like what they see, it may not be the worst thing for them to take a chance on Gordon with a fourth- or fifth-round pick. Whether or not that will be enough, remains to be seen.

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Nice read from Charles Pierce at Grantland about the ridiculousness of baseball’s All-Star game.

The thing that bugs us the most every year is when people whine about how the winner of the game should not determine home-field advantage in the World Series. They’re right, of course, but the complainers always fall to mention how the old system was even worse: the leagues took turns having home-field advantage like kindergartners on the playground.

That’s why a 100-win Indians team did not have home-field advantage in 1995.

Somehow the NBA and the NHL can figure out that the best team deserves home field in their championship series, but the logistics of that are just too complicated for Major League Baseball.

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Could Clint Dempsey be wearing Liverpool red by Wednesday?

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Finally, the Cavs may be involved in a three (or is it four?) team trade that will help Dwight Howard land in Brooklyn with the Nets. Unless they are not.

It’s all very fluid.

(Photo by ClevelandBrowns.com)