2010 NFL Draft: Could Tim Tebow Become Cleveland's Pick?

In the middle of trying to figure out what 32 different general managers of 32 different NFL teams are building on their respective draft boards to cobble together a mock draft, some pretty wild situations float to the surface.

Take for instance the strange case of Tim Tebow.

Tebow is one of the best quarterbacks the NCAA has ever seen. He has a career 176.0 passer rating through 55 games played at the college level, throwing for 9,286 yards and 88 touchdowns. He’s also rushed for 2,947 yards and 57 touchdowns.

The catch on Tebow is that he thrived in a spread offense not very popular at the pro level. As a result, several draft analysts have dropped his draft value and the popular knock on the guy is he won’t be able to make the transition to the pros.

The NFL is full of first round draft busts, especially at quarterback. The Cleveland Browns look like they’re experiencing one right now as Brady Quinn has not lived up to the expectations he had as a first round pick in 2007.

Granted, Quinn has had barely a season’s worth of games to make his mark, but his performance has been uneven at best and he’s now technically through his third year as a pro. Blame some of that on poor coaching, but at some point, the player has to play.

So if you’re going to sit down and figure out what GM is going to do what to who and with what draft pick, you can see why a headache can turn into the Browns drafting Tebow.

Mike Holmgren, president of football operations, will have to make a decision before the draft on whether he’s going to give Quinn another chance, or if he’s going to just move in another direction, be it with a trade for a veteran, or taking someone in the draft.

Looking at the current draft rankings and the tendency of the early mock drafts to have Jimmy Clausen going to St. Louis and Sam Bradford to Washington, Tebow becomes the best quarterback available at the seventh pick.

If Tebow impresses the scouts at the Senior Bowl, or really blows them out of the water at the Combine, Tebow could become a more attractive draft pick come April. It’s happened before, so it’s not a leap of faith to say Tebow’s draft stock could rise.

So could Tebow become a Cleveland Brown?

Maybe.

But we haven’t talked about Jacksonville yet.

Imagine this scenario; Clausen and Bradford are gone, as are Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy, Eric Berry, Russell Okung and Dez Bryant. Everyone the outsiders like us think the Browns are interested in with the seventh pick are gone, so what now?

Like last year when Aaron Curry went off the board, the Browns trade down. In this case, Jacksonville becomes our trade partner.

If Jacksonville decides they want Tebow to be the face of their franchise, partly due to talent and partly to jump ticket sales (let’s not kid ourselves here), then Jacksonville might ask for a trade at this point.

If Cleveland makes waves for a quarterback during free agency and comes up empty, Jacksonville is going to know Tebow will be on the Browns’ draft board at this point. So they ask for a trade, swapping first round picks and throwing the Browns David Garrard and their 2009 second round pick.

(The Browns may not be able to get the second round pick and have to settle for the Jaguar’s third round pick, but this is my crazy scenario, so I’m sticking to “best case.”)

This would be an offer the Browns couldn’t refuse.

Whoever they get with the tenth pick probably wasn’t going anywhere anyway, and will save the club money on the signing bonus by moving down another three spots. Plus, it adds a veteran quarterback to the roster and one more draft pick on a team that has needs at almost every position.

Garrard will be 32 when the season starts and will have four years remaining on a six-year, $60 million contract. Garrard had his best year in 2007, when he led the Jaguars to the playoffs before losing to the New England Patriots in the Divisional Game.

Garrard finished the 2009 season with a 83.5 passer rating, practically a Hall of Fame quarterback compared to Derek Anderson’s 42.1 rating, or Quinn’s 67.2. An 80.0 rating is considered average.

So the Browns would end up with a slightly above average veteran quarterback who has playoff experience and an additional high round draft pick for Tebow.

I’ll take that deal.

Check out my first attempt at a 2010 mock draft here , and the one scenario that could bring Suh to Cleveland here .