With Pick Number 3, the Cleveland Browns take...

Post #1 » by **TheOUTLAW** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:42 pm

Joe Thomas

YES

Post #2 » by **B Mac** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:46 pm

Ugh... Now our 3 highest paid players are O-lineman. That was the ONLY guy I didnt want them to take. There is so much o-line depth in this draft too. I can only hope a trade is coming, but my hopes arent too high on that.

SugarRay34 · Post #3 » by **SugarRay34** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:46 pm

Congrats Browns fans. Got to watch him for 4 years and he was dominant. You guys will enjoy him and wont have to worry about that position for the next 10 years

LoveThemCavs · Post #4 » by **LoveThemCavs** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:47 pm

Hell yes! Build the trenches. Plus the big boy can still fish. We have a ton invested in the OL now. Charlie is doing cartwheels right now.

Post #5 » by **B Mac** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:51 pm

Frye has NO reason to suck this year. We better have something worked out for a QB and a backup plan for when Lewis gets injured.

Post #6 » by **TheOUTLAW** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:53 pm

I do not understand why fans care how much he makes (except in basketball). Who cares if the highest paid Browns are on the offensive line. The line was by far the worst area for the team. Yeah, it might be a problem eventually that we've spent so much money on the line but not for at least a year or 2. To be honest our offensive line was always disproportionately overpaid. That's because we were trying to build it in free agency. But at least we have good young players now.

L&H_05 · Post #7 » by **L&H_05** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:59 pm

Oh no, we took a must needed LT with our first round pick... It's not glamorous, it's not sexy, but it's a LT that you can have for 10 years...

Look at my disappointment ----> :clap:

Hopefully we can get that Stanford or BYU QB in round #2

Post #8 » by **TheOUTLAW** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:05 pm

Not only am I glad we took Thomas because he'll help our line, but it also made Mel Kiper wrong. It's a win win

Post #9 » by **B Mac** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:15 pm

I hope his short arms and low intensity get it done, I really do. He probably is the safest pick and will solidify the left side of our line for a while, hopefully. With the O-line depth in this draft I just dont get why we wouldnt wait until the 2nd round to draft one. Our O-line has no reason not to be one of the very best in the NFL next year, but will it matter if the guys we have behind it cant get the job done?

If you cant tell I disagree that o-line was our weakest position. With the addition of the two new lineman this offseason we werent in such a bad spot with our o-line and taking one of the true impact players would have been HUGE for this team. Oh well at least we'll be able to draft one of the top QB's next year. For now I will be cheering and rooting for Thomas.

Biggest needs left (in no particular order):
QB
RB
CB
D-line

Post #10 » by **ajaX82** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:19 pm

Congrats, you gotta build an O-line, and you are doing a good job.

Smooth32 · Post #11 » by **Smooth32** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:25 pm

I wanted Quinn really, really bad but Thomas is a good choice and I can't be too disappointed..

Smooth32 · Post #12 » by **Smooth32** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:27 pm

B Mac wrote:Ugh... Now our 3 highest paid players are O-lineman. That was the ONLY guy I didnt want them to take. There is so much o-line depth in this draft too. I can only hope a trade is coming, but my hopes arent too high on that.

Yea we have a high payed line, but our QB is practically getting nothing...

Post #13 » by **B Mac** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:31 pm

For good reason.

LoveThemCavs · Post #14 » by **LoveThemCavs** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:34 pm

Do you guys like the second tier QB's in this draft? I just have a bad feeling about them. I don't think they're any better than what we already have here. I would rather go DL or CB in the second round.

Post #15 » by **B Mac** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:39 pm

^Yep.

There is great depth at OL, DL, and CB in this draft but not so much with QB and RB. Thats why I was so against the Thomas pick. He'll be great and all, but it just didnt make sense to me.

Troy Smith in round 4 here we come.

Smooth32 · Post #16 » by **Smooth32** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:46 pm

We should NOT take another QB in this draft... I don't like any of them and would be absolutely pissed if we took one.. None of them are better or will be better than Frye...

Ayt · Post #17 » by **Ayt** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:26 pm

B Mac wrote:I hope his short arms and low intensity get it done, I really do. He probably is the safest pick and will solidify the left side of our line for a while, hopefully. With the O-line depth in this draft I just dont get why we wouldnt wait until the 2nd round to draft one. Our O-line has no reason not to be one of the very best in the NFL next year, but will it matter if the guys we have behind it cant get the job done?

I watched him play all four years and I can tell you intensity certainly isn't lacking. He likes to hit as many people as possible on every play. I've seen him pancake a DL, LB, and DB all in the same play multiple times.

I don't know about short arms.

L&H_05 · Post #18 » by **L&H_05** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:34 pm

Phil Savage goes pass rusher in 06

Phil Savage goes O-Line in 07

It's really not something we can compain too much about... Obviously the Browns are not the only ones passing on Quinn.. There's a reason why the most HYPED player going into this thing has not been selected yet...

The GM's certainly have not bought into it..

Smooth32 · Post #19 » by **Smooth32** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:35 pm

If you take a look at passing on Peterson, you see a guy who has an injury history that hasn't been a worry to me, but it certainly worried Phil and Savage...

I think that if say Romeo or Savage had there jobs secure, Peterson would of been more in the consideration, but with their jobs not being such sure things they probably got scared with the big risk of him being injured and scouts giving different opinions on him...

If you take Quinn, who's to protect him? He's a great QB in all but we wouldn't have a QB in a good situation just like Carr and Couch were which puts him in a bad position to succeed...

Without a good offensive line we cannot succeed... The Bengals, Steelers and Ravens all have solid offensive lines and if we want to be successful in this division we are going to have to have a good offensive line and he gives us that... Thomas will be our left tackle for years, Steinbach will be our LG for years and Shaffer will be our RT for years... That's a good threesome... And to think if Bentley comes back??:cool: That's quite a line...

Another good way to look at this is that Thomas fills two holes...

Shaffer was scheduled to be our left tackle correct? Well with drafting Thomas, he fills the left tackle spot where Shaffer was considered to be iffy and a better fit on the right side... Well on the right side we had a right tackle coming back from a mental illness and a right tackle in Butler who is better as a top backup...

Now with drafting Thomas we can fill the hole at left tackle AND fill the hole at right tackle by sliding Shaffer over there... That could even lead to another chain-and-reaction effect of Tucker sliding to RG...

Regardless this creates competition between McKinney, Tucker, and Sowells for the right guard spot which should bring out the best...

And when's the last time we had depth on our offensive line?

LT - Thomas / Butler
LG - Steinbach / Sowells / Matua
C - Fraley / Smith / Friedman / Bentley
RG - McKinney / Tucker / Andruzzi
RT - Shaffer / Dorsey / Sowells

For next year without 1 year contracts and with Bentley:

LT - Thomas
LG - Steinbach / Sowells
C - Bentley
RG - Fraley
RT - Shaffer

Damn!

I can see why this was our pick but trading down could of been a better route... Trading down would of been best but we wouldn't of gotten a tackle the caliber of Thomas.. It probably also wouldn't of had as much of a chain-and-reaction like it would of been drafting Thomas..

I think overall our line now is in great shape and some drafting in the mid rounds to solidify the inside should solidify the offensive line for a while and for now the Browns can't blame the offensive line...

Another positive is that we really get to see is if Frye/Anderson are the definite answer at the QB spot... We know have a solid running game and a good offensive line... They have no more excuses, Frye is in his third year and now is his time to shine... It'll be interesting to see how this pans out...

And last but not least, with the NFL and Roger Goodell clamping down on character guys, we get a GREAT character player... He'd rather go fishing them be in the green room, what a character... We get a guy who we will have no worries about...

The more I think about it and the more I am excited about the pick and the effect he has on the team.. While I am still disappointed we didn't get Quinn we got a guy who was a consensus top 3 guy on NFL/Scout draft boards and someone who is compared to the Pace's, Boselli's and Ogden's of the world by some of the best talent evaluators...

Smooth32 · Post #20 » by **Smooth32** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:45 pm

Quotes from Thomas:

"I'm looking forward to getting to the beautiful city of Cleveland and starting my life there," he said during a conference call with the Cleveland media while fishing on Lake Michigan near Port Washington, Wis., just "a little bit north of Milwaukee." He added, "When I visited the Browns, I felt right at home, just like back home in Milwaukee. I'm ready to fall in love with the fans and help the Browns get back to the glory days."

"I thought Cleveland would pick me," he said. "They had shown a lot of interest all along. In fact, I had an inkling this morning that Cleveland was going to draft me. It was hard for me to hide my excitement."

"History has shown that taking a tackle in the top part of the draft is the safest pick there is," he said. "You've got a better chance to be a Pro Bowl player if you're drafted in the top five."

But in 2004, in the last Browns draft conducted by former head coach Butch Davis, the club tried desperately to trade up to get another Big Ten tackle, Iowa's Robert Gallery, who has struggled mightily with the Raiders. Will Thomas follow suit?

"There have been some guys who have not panned out, but I'm determined not to fail," he said. "I'm much more polished than Robert Gallery."

Thomas said several different times that it was his goal and "important to me" to be a starter on opening day Sept. 9 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. If it's at left tackle, where Kevin Shaffer played last year for the Browns, then great, he said, but he admitted that he's also set to go to right tackle if needed.

"I've been preparing the whole offseason to make a position switch if I had to," he said.

According to Thomas, it's crucial for him to sign a contract and report to training camp on time so he doesn't fall behind, which is great news for Browns head coach Romeo Crennel, who is a stickler for such with rookies.

"I owe it to the Cleveland Browns to come there later today and do the media thing," said Thomas, the only member of the top five draft prospects who was not at NFL Draft headquarters at Radio City Music Hall in New York for the festivities. "But I owed it to my family to be with them this morning."

http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/article.php?id=6740

How do you like the pick