What Is the Cleveland Browns 2010 Draft Strategy?

Going into the 2010 season, the Cleveland Browns need help at just about every position.

It isn’t a matter of addressing certain needs in the draft and then trying to fill the rest of the gaps through free agency because the team has too many needs. Plus, free agency isn’t the best rebuilding tool. It’s more of a finisher.

Now, with Mike Holmgren in charge, prognosticating who the Browns might target in the first round becomes slightly more complicated because nobody is sure yet whether Holmgren is going to stay the course with Brady Quinn, or cut the team’s losses and move on.

While trying to work out a mock draft, it became immediately apparent there were several different ways the Browns could go, depending on what they feel is the team’s biggest need.

I feel the team’s biggest need is on the defensive side of the ball, and of course Ndamukong Suh is the best looking defensive prospect to come out of the college ranks in a generation. With the Browns picking at No. 7, the chances of them getting Suh are virtually nil.

But that didn’t stop me from speculating on how Suh could fall to the seventh pick in the draft. You can read that here.

Back to a more realistic draft scenario, the Browns need impact players on their defense. The line got better toward the end of the year, but the Browns' secondary was atrocious all 16 games.

Safety Eric Berry out of Tennessee would be a good first round pick up, and he might still be available at the seventh pick. He could be the kind of impact player the Browns lacked on defense in 2009.

Shifting to the offense, it’s not like we have the best corps of wide receivers in the league, so the team might go after a wide receiver in the first round.

Personally, I don’t like drafting receivers in the first round. It is a risky proposition because too many of them seem to kill their own careers due to ego problems. (See Edwards, Braylon.)

Dez Bryant is the popular name at the WR position to go in the first, and with his year-long NCAA suspension for lying to investigators about his dealings with Deion Sanders, he probably has a nice chip on his shoulder, so he might be worth the risk.

Then there’s the offensive line. While the left side of our line is rock solid right now, the right side was downright awful the first half of the season. Bye week adjustments made the right side better, but it’s not what I’d want to go into the 2010 season with if I were running the draft.

With that in mind, protecting the quarterback is always a good draft strategy, and if you think about it, you can never have too many quality offensive linemen. This brings Russell Okung to the forefront.

There are other names to consider at just about every position, but until we know which way the wind is blowing in the Berea Complex, the Browns just may be thinking of drafting another quarterback.

It’s difficult to accept drafting another first-round quarterback so soon after Quinn, but his numbers, even in the limited sample we have, are what they are.

Let’s hope Holmgren sees something in Quinn he can develop so the team can use its first-round pick to add depth to another position.