Browns WR Brian Robiskie Needs To Thwart Recent Draft History in Year Two

Back in the 2009 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns picked wide receiver Brian Robiskie out of Ohio State, who was touted as the most NFL-ready receiver in that entire draft class.

One year and one horrific rookie season later, Robiskie needs to do everything in his power to take draft history and cast it aside.

You may be wondering why he needs to cast draft history aside and that is due to the fact second round wide receiver selections come to fruition only 51-percent (17 of 33) of the time (from 2000 to 2007) and actually make a significant impact in the pros.

In the 2009 draft, the Browns selected not one but two receivers in Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi.

Massaquoi had a solid rookie year for the Browns, after being thrust into the starter role after the Braylon Edwards trade, with over 600 yards and three touchdowns. Not bad for an offensive passing game that was terrible for the most part of the season.

If the success rate of second round receivers is only 51-percent and the Browns picked two of them, then do the math and in theory one would succeed and the other will fail.

Robiskie needs to take his opportunity in his second year to start all over again and forget the past year and all the talk of him being too skinny, not going 100-percent in practices, and not being able to run routes smoothly to name a few of the 2009 issues.

So far during Browns OTAs, it is being reported that Robiskie looks very smooth and quick in running his routes and even though his hands were never questioned--he caught nearly everything that came his way.

It has also been reported that Robiskie made a spectacular diving catch in the endzone during Red Zone drills.

"[Jake Delhomme] made a similar throw intentionally low to the ground to Robiskie with Sheldon Brown all over the second-year receiver," as reported by The News Herald. "Robiskie caught the ball for a touchdown."

Granted he is not going up against defenders who can really push him at the line of scrimmage and there are no pads and contact, but Robiskie appears to be showing signs of improvement over his rookie season--since he has a full year under his belt in head coach Eric Mangini's system.

With such a young receiver group, the Browns have only one certainty and that is Massaquoi is one starter, but the other starter spot is really an open competition between Robiskie, Josh Cribbs, Chansi Stuckey and Carlton Mitchell.

The most notable second round receivers of the past who had a terrible rookie campaign and came back to have a much more productive second year include: Chad Ochocinco (Bengals), Vincent Jackson (Chargers), and Steve Smith (Giants).

Both Robiskie and Massaquoi need to step up their game in their sophomore years in order to help the Browns offense and quarterback Jake Delhomme move the chains effectively.

Robiskie especially needs to get his game back to form being that he should be well prepared since he is the son of a wide receivers coach and should be more NFL-ready in year two.

(Article also posted on Dawg Scooper: THE Cleveland Browns Blog.)