Cleveland Browns Rumors: No Price Should Be Too High for Robert Griffin III

As if it wasn't already high enough, Robert Griffin III's NFL draft stock went way up at the NFL Scouting Combine. It was clear to everyone in attendance that RG3 is something special.

Not quite as special as Andrew Luck, mind you, but special enough to warrant a monster draft-day trade.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported this week that the St. Louis Rams have decided to trade the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, which for all intents and purposes means they've decided to hold an auction for the rights to RG3. There are plenty of interested teams.

The Cleveland Browns are one of the teams interested in Griffin, but exactly how interested they are in him varies depending on who you ask.

Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer, for example, says the Browns are "very interested" in Griffin. Numerous other writers from numerous other publications have said the same thing, or at least something very similar.

John Czarnecki of FoxSports.com, however, says the Rams have been "getting weird, uninterested signals from the Browns."

From the sound of things, the Browns just aren't that impressed with Griffin:

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One of the problems is that Mike “Big Show” Holmgren has never really done a trade of this magnitude and, two, his coaching staff remains confused on what to do with RG3. Their talk of him being Michael Vick-like doesn’t create confidence with Holmgren. Nor does it help him that GM Tom Heckert has been out of commission because of a serious illness.

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Clearly, the Browns need to put their heads together and come to some sort of a conclusion.

That conclusion should be that they really want to draft RG3.

It would definitely cost the Browns a lot to get RG3. Pluto speculates that it would cost the Browns both of their first-round picks in this year's draft, as well as a second- or even a first-rounder in next year's draft as well. 

If the Browns were to give up that much only to see Griffin flop, they will have made one of the worst trades in NFL history.

But if ever there was a franchise that needed to roll the dice, it's the Browns. They've been largely irrelevant ever since they reentered the league in 1999, and few teams need a franchise quarterback more than they do. They tried and failed with Brady Quinn. It's time to try again.

Holmgren apparently isn't impressed with the Michael Vick comparisons, but the truth is that those comparisons don't do RG3 justice. He and Vick are both great athletes, yes, but RG3 is a much more polished passer than Vick was when he broke into the league. He's not an athlete with a good arm. He's a quarterback with good athleticism.

The part that's almost scary is the reality that there are very few, if any, red flags hanging over Griffin. He's not too short, he's not mechanically flawed, he's not inexperienced, he's not afraid of the spotlight and he's sure as heck not dumb. He's not Luck, but he's an elite quarterback prospect all the same.

And make no mistake, RG3's ceiling is much, much higher than Colt McCoy's.

The fact that the Browns have a pair of first-round picks to offer the Rams will give them a significant leg up on the competition should they choose to enter the mix for RG3. Making this deal will require courage, but in the end they'll have to realize one thing.

Franchise quarterbacks don't come cheap.

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