2010 NFL Draft: Montario Hardesty Pick Makes Zero Sense for Cleveland Browns

The second round of the 2010 NFL draft is looking suspiciously like the second round of the 2009 NFL Draft—the Cleveland Browns are reaching for picks that weren’t going anywhere.

It is understandable the Browns want to fill needs and shouldn’t be held slave to mock draft boards. The difference in where T.J. Ward and Montario Hardesty were projected to go and where the Browns took them is so out of whack, it invites harsh criticism.

Colt McCoy is still on the board, the Browns need a quarterback, and they traded up ahead of the Seattle Seahawks to make this second pick.

ESPN is reporting that Team President Mike Holmgren is letting Head Coach Eric Mangini get the guys he’s interested in.

We’ve been down this road before, and Mangini reaches too far for too little in the second round.

Plus, the Browns gave up the 71st pick in the draft, their first pick in the third round, and two fifth-round picks for this guy.

That's too much.

Hardesty is six feet tall, 231 pounds, and runs the 40 in 4.49 seconds.

That’s not shabby, but once again, this is a guy the Browns reached for, while leaving better talent in positions of need on the board.

The fans gave it to Mangini last year when his perceived botching of the draft came back to haunt the team during the season, and Mike Holmgren should not be immune to the same criticism.

The first reach was baffling, but not unforgivable.

This trade-up for Hardesty is a bone-headed move, period.

Moves this baffling need to be justified to the fans other than just with “we like the guy.”

To quote Mel Kiper, the Browns front office “clearly doesn’t understand what the draft is all about.”