The NFL Draft… I’m about drafted out. In the Cleveland area, local talk radio has been so Browns focused that I’m not even sure if we have a professional baseball team. Check that, we do… we just don’t have a closer, but I digress. Holding the draft three weeks later than last year just added to the amount of BS we had to sift through trying to figure out who was going where. As much as I would love to give you yet another recap of what happened, and it actually turned out to be a fairly exciting night, I’m moving forward.
Watching the NFL Draft is kind of like watching a R-rated movie when you were a teenager. Remember waiting with baited breath for some girl to rip her top off for no reason? That’s the draft. You watch a few lineman taken, a defensive back, where’s the QB??? This year we got our money shot early with Blake Bortles being drafted third. What we really want to know is: How will he and some other guy from Texas A&M do this year? I’m going to tell you about these two QBs this week, and a couple more next week.
Obviously Bortles has the best chance to play of any of the QBs taken this year, and there were quite a few. I know the Jags recently signed Chad Henne to a two-year deal, but they knew they were going to try to get Bortles when they made that deal. Henne is the perfect man for the job. He’s been a career backup and it won’t bother him to take a back seat to Bortles when the time is right. The question is: When will the time be right? Don’t be surprised if Bortles wins the job in training camp. At the very least, he will be starting by week 4. Is he a realistic fantasy option at QB? Only if you play in a 16 team league that requires 3 starting QBs from each team.
Johnny Manziel… Northeast Ohio has begun its love affair with Manziel and they won’t be happy until the relationship is consummated. Cleveland fans will be screaming Johnny’s name at the top of their lungs as soon as Brian Hoyer throws his first incomplete pass during mini-camp. This has the potential of being a real mess for the Browns. Fortunately, the Browns are terrible, so there are no real expectations, except from the front office who have told Mike Pettine that he needs to win now. And oh by the way, your best receiver, Josh Gordon, will probably be gone this year. What does all this mean for Manziel? It means he is going to see playing time this year, unless the Browns get hot early, which isn’t likely since they have the Steelers, Saints, and Ravens right off the bat. The problem is, without Gordon, I can’t see his numbers being very good. Is he a realistic fantasy option? If you run into a homeless man on the street and he tells you to draft Johnny Football, take him on your first  pick and don’t look back. Short of a revelation from a vagrant, understand that someone in your league is going to draft him. Might as well be you.
Next week I will tell you what to expect from Teddy Bridgewater and Derek Carr.
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