I suppose it’s time to get my draft wish list on the record. But first, since this is the fourth draft since I started this blog, I took a quick look back at what I wrote previously.
2003: “I’m just not making any predictions, except that there’s sure to be a surprise or two.” Exceedingly tentative, I admit. But you gotta admit, PHD’s one-two punch of Jeff Faine and Chaun Thompson made me right in a hurry.
2004: Like so many Browns fans, I really wanted Iowa tackle Robert Gallery. We had the seventh pick and my draft board was “Gallery, Taylor, Eli Manning, Fitzgerald, Roethlisberger, Winslow.” That means we would’ve ended up with Big Ben. That holds up pretty well two years later.
2005: I brought in my uncle Old Dawg Trey Davis to voice a preference for trading down from #3, but if that couldn’t happen, then taking WR Mike Williams, with slack granted to Phil Savage if he took Braylon Edwards instead. I’m glad to say that Braylon had the better rookie year, but I think the jury’s still out on that one.
And so now?
First round:
Plan A: Trade up to as high as #8 in the very unlikely event that A.J. Hawk swoops down that low.
Plan B: Draft Haloti Ngata at #12.
Plan C: Draft Broderick Bunkley at #12.
Plan D: Trade down to later in the teens to select best remaining front-seven defender (Wimbley, Carpenter, Lawson, or Greenway).
First day objectives:
Draft two front-seven defenders, including one ILB (Abdul Hodge in the second round would be an ideal follow-up to Ngata).
Draft an offensive guard (my preferences: Jean-Gilles, Lutui, Joseph, and Spencer, in that order).
Things I don’t want to see:
Jeff Faine or Lee Suggs traded for anything less than a first-day pick or a significant first day move-up.
Concussion risk Ernie Sims or sketchy character Winston Justice drafted at #12.
