Red Right 88

Browns select the man with the golden arm: Tim Couch

The Cleveland Browns hold two first-round draft picks in the upcoming NFL Draft.

While many expect the Browns to use one of those picks on a quarterback, history shows that drafting a quarterback – especially one in the first round – has been an exercise in futility for the Browns.

Since joining the NFL in 1950, the Browns have drafted six quarterbacks in the first round and none of them have worked out.

In Part One of our series on those six quarterbacks, we looked at Harry Agganis, the team’s first-round selection in 1952. Part Two featured Bobby Garrett, the first Stanford quarterback taken No. 1 overall in the draft. Part Three highlighted Mike Phipps, the All-American quarterback from Purdue taken in the first round in 1970.

Today we look at the first No. 1 draft pick of the Browns when they returned to the NFL in 1999: Tim Couch.

Read more…

“The greatest trade ever” brings Mike Phipps to the Browns

The Cleveland Browns hold two first-round draft picks in the upcoming NFL Draft.

While many expect the Browns to use one of those picks on a quarterback, history shows that drafting a quarterback – especially one in the first round – has been an exercise in futility for the Browns.

Since joining the NFL in 1950, the Browns have drafted six quarterbacks in the first round and none of them have worked out.

In Part One of our series on those six quarterbacks, we looked at Harry Agganis, the team’s first-round selection in 1952. Part Two featured Bobby Garrett, the first Stanford quarterback taken No. 1 overall in the draft.

Today we focus on Mike Phipps, the All-American quarterback from Purdue taken in the first round in 1970.

Read more…

The Browns, quarterbacks and the draft – a cautionary tale

The NFL Draft will open on May 8 in New York City with the Cleveland Browns holding two selections in the first round and 10 draft picks over all.

Over the course of the three-day draft, Browns general manager Ray Farmer will face a puzzle that has continually befuddled his predecessors ever since the Browns entered the National Football League in 1950.

How can the team find a quarterback to lead them to their first championship since 1964?

Anyone who has watched the Browns since they returned to the league in 1999 knows that quarterback has been the one position on the team that has been a continual nightmare. But the problem goes back even further than that.

Since the mid-1970s, when we first started spending our Sunday afternoons with those guys in the orange helmets, the Browns have had exactly two good quarterbacks – Brian Sipe and Bernie Kosar. You can throw in Vinnie Testaverde in 1994 and Derek Anderson in 2007, if you’d like, but they were both one-year wonders and neither was drafted by the Browns.

And therein resides the problem.

Read more…

Picking up the pieces of the latest Browns draft

So six Cleveland Browns fans walk into a bar and start talking about the aftermath of the Browns recent draft picks.

Did the Browns make the right moves? Are we doomed to another in a seemingly endless loop of 5-11 seasons? What happens when Browns fans stop being polite and start getting  real? (Except for the not polite part? And does that reference make us look old?)

Find out in the latest installment of Five Questions in Five Minutes at Cleveland Reboot where we join a virtual roundtable for Browns draft talk with Jim Kanicki, Jeff Rich, Mike Krupka, Barry McBride and Chris Pokorny.

And, no, seventh-round draft choice Armonty Bryant was not our designated driver. What, too soon?

Browns close out an interesting weekend at the NFL Draft

The Cleveland Browns had an “interesting” weekend during the three-day NFL Draft – and that may be understating things a bit.

Once all seven rounds were completed, the Browns turned their seven draft picks into outsider linebacker Barkevious Mingo, cornerback Leon McFadden, safety Jamoris Slaughter, defensive end Armonty Bryant, offensive tackle Garrett Gilkey and a bucket load of draft picks in the 2014 NFL Draft. And they added veteran wide receiver Davone Bess in a trade with Miami

It was quite the weekend, so let’s recap what happened over at The Cleveland Fan.

Cleveland Browns NFL Draft preview

Today is the day that Cleveland Browns fans have been waiting for.

After months of hearing about big boards, fluid hips, short arms, tight ankles, combines, Pro days, 40-yard dash times, game changers, sleepers, and more mock drafts from the likes of Mel Kiper, Todd McShay and Mike Mayock, it is finally time for the NFL Draft.

Heading into tonight’s action, the Browns hold the No. 6 pick in the first round, as well as pick Nos. 68, 104, 139, 164, 175 and 227.

This will be the first draft for the team under CEO Joe Banner, the first draft with general manager Mike Lombardi in the building since 1996, and the first draft in franchise history where the owner is facing a federal investigation for his business practices.

In other words, just another day in Cleveland sports.

So what will the Browns do when they finally get on the clock at approximately 9:30 p.m.?

Your 2013 NFL Draft preview starts … now at The Cleveland Fan.