Dealing Wheelie

The first bombshell of the Mangini/Kokinis era has fallen, and Wheelie will be soldiering south.

It’s sad in a way, because he’s a premiere talent, the best skill position player the Browns have had since, say, Eric Metcalf. (The Detroit Diva is close but has one more year in Cleveland — maybe — to prove himself.) Besides his ultra-competitive streak, Winslow has a set of hands as fine as you could ever hope for a tight end. Right up there with Oz.

But there the comparisons end. Whereas Newsome never really missed a game, Wheelie played in just 55% of the Browns’ contests during his tenure. We all know about the broken leg, the devastating bike flop, the staph infections. But let’s take a step back to review a most remarkable five-year run.

He arrived as a brash big name, costing the Browns a high first and second round pick to secure in 2004. Butch had already overplayed his hand with the draft-day trade and was desperate for an immediate turnaround. Winslow held out for top dollar just as he was turning 21, eventually inking the biggest deal of any tight end ever.

Then… No, wait, wait. I’m don’t want to rehash all this again. Let’s just put it this way: when he got on the field, Winslow was a gamer, a go-to guy. But for all his talent, he was far from a complete player. His blocking was inadequate. While he caught everything in sight, he just couldn’t bust through tacklers even as well as Aaron Shea once did. And he committed way, way too many penalties.

The average stat line for Winslow’s 44 games: 5 catches for 56 yards, .25 TDs, .09 fumbles.

Lots of heart. But his head? If you followed last season’s dramatics at all, it’s clear that it was not aligned with the best interests of the Browns’ organization.

Trading Wheelie gives the new regime one less headache, $4 million or so more cap space, and a few draft picks to help recoup those spent on the heir apparent, Martin Rucker, among others.

Beyond the $16 million already banked, Wheelie wanted to get more bucks. Now the Bucs got him.

Before his body and/or his attitude totally breaks down, the Browns have cashed out on the risk that the uncanny Curse of 80 bites them even harder. While the loss of a gutsy playmaker, a face of the franchise, always goes down hard, this deal makes sense.

In keeping with the secretive streak of the new Browns brass, the exact picks were not disclosed. But the PD reports that it’s a second-rounder (#50 overall) this year plus next year’s fifth.

That’s about 421 points on the draft value chart often used to assess trade values, figuring the year’s delay on the lower pick is worth about one round less in today’s terms. Compare that to the 2,030 points it took to draft Winslow in the first place.

In more human terms, here are the last nine players drafted 50th overall:

A few good ones, no doubt. A few names who might be there this time: S Patrick Chung (Oregon); WR Brian Robiskie (Ohio State); CB Darius Butler (Connecticut). But there’s no sure thing in the NFL. Not even for a player more highly touted than his Hall of Famer father.
Instead, he ends his tour of duty here as a much beloved and reviled figure — all for good reasons — and as the third best tight end in Cleveland Browns history.