You ever started to date a woman and immediately regretted it, but because you put in the time, money and effort into the relationship you felt the need to stick around longer than you should have?
That was the Cleveland Browns 2012 NFL Draft.
They had two picks in the 1st round (#3 that was originally #4 but they traded with Vikings for no good reason and #22). When you have two picks that high in the draft those picks are supposed to be the foundation of your team for years to come. The Browns blew an opportunity to move up to #2 and take RG3, so I believe they panicked and made the first of their two mistakes.
1- Drafting Trent Richardson at #3
I have said this for years, no running back is worth at Top 15 pick anymore in the NFL and that includes Adrian Peterson (who was picked #7 by the way and will never flourish completely until the Vikings get a real QB). If you are a playoff team, then you can take a RB later in the 1st round if it feels a need, but if you are a bad team looking for quick turnaround you should stay away.
It is a passing, running back by committee league. A running back isn’t going to change your fortunes, no matter how good they are.
Trent Richardson is a good running back, but he isn’t a great running back and never should have been drafted that high to begin with. Nothing to do with him personally and I think he will be very good in Indianapolis, but the position isn’t worth the #3 pick in the draft. You can find RBs on the street, no need to reach for one when you didn’t have to.
2- Drafting Brandon Weeden at #22
It isn’t Weeden’s fault he is 49 years old, but when you are a bad franchise, you need to draft a quarterback you can grow with, not one who is close to AARP status.
The Browns aren’t the only team that passed on Russell Wilson or didn’t take a chance on a Kirk Cousins or Nick Foles, so I won’t kill them for that. But the facts are they made a horrible decision drafting what they thought would be a franchise quarterback who is almost older than everyone in the building. It was just a very bad decision.
All the people involved in these mistakes have been fired, a new regime is now charge and they are looking at their girlfriends and they aren’t happy.
So, you can do one or two things.
1- Stick it out and hope things get better with who you have.
2- Kick your girlfriend out, be miserable for a while and hope to find a better woman later.
The Browns chose the latter. Weeden has no value, so they took their most valuable piece in Richardson and kicked him out. You never get dollar for dollar in these type of trades when everyone know you made a mistake, but getting a mid to late 1st round pick for a Running Back in 2013 was the best they were going to do.
Weeden will be gone at the end of the year and the Browns will be back hitting the clubs looking for new girlfriends.
You know the expression the grass isn’t always greener on the other side? The Browns are gambling on the fact that the grass is greener. Personally, considering they have already paid Richardson the majority of his contract, I would have kept him and just drafted a new QB, but they wanted a completely fresh start.
With a high 1st rd pick (since they are tanking) and a mid-late 1st rd pick (from the Colts), they believe the two new players will be better than Weeden and Richardson. Basically, they hit the reset button on Madden when they were losing 42-0 in the 4th quarter.
In the end that will determine if the trade was a success or not for the Browns, until then the Browns are just sitting in an empty apartment with no pretty ladies.