With big-armed Weeden, age is not a problem

By Vic Carucci, Senior Editor

NEW YORK – Forget about the age thing.

Brandon Weeden might be “old” for an NFL rookie, but he is far from ancient.

At 28 (he’ll be 29 in October) he is plenty young to be viewed as a player with the proverbial upside.

And let’s face it: The goal is to have a quarterback who can make a major impact in the next three to five years. In the grand scheme of things, worrying about what he will do 10 years from now is fairly irrelevant.

The Browns needed a passer with a big arm that allows him to handle the inclement conditions with which they often have to cope at home as well as at the three other stadiums they visit each year in the AFC North. Weeden gives them that.

They needed a quarterback with a strong pocket presence – a strong, fearless leader who won’t back down from the challenges prevented by the stout defenses of the Steelers, Ravens, and Bengals. Those can both be checked off with Weeden.

Getting that kind of player at the most important position on the team was critical enough for the Browns not to take a chance on waiting beyond the No. 22 pick to do so.

Don’t fret. The Browns still have the ability to find the help they need at wide receiver and on the offensive line on Friday night, and can hit their defensive needs through the balance of the draft as well.

Weeden is a poised professional. The time he spent as a professional baseball player, which caused him to put his football career on hold, allowed him to grow and develop as a man. It hardened him – gave him more of an edge than can be found from the typical rookie.

The fact Weeden is older than Colt McCoy, as well as many other players on the Browns, is no small consideration. He won’t feel any sense of intimidation or trepidation about stepping into an NFL locker room.

You want your quarterback feeling that he is not merely leasing the spot behind center. You want him to feel that he owns it. That is the sort of feeling Weeden will have.

With a dynamic running back in Trent Richardson and a big-armed passer in Brandon Weeden, the Browns have every reason to feel good about the way they have begun one of the most critical drafts in team history.

>>Be sure to tune in Monday through Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET, for “Cleveland Browns Daily, Driven by Liberty Ford” on ESPN 850 WKNR or catch the live stream right here on ClevelandBrowns.com.

>>Have a question for “Cleveland Browns Daily, Driven by Liberty Ford”? Ask me at Twitter.com/viccarucci

Browns did what was necessary to land Richardson

By Vic Carucci, Senior Editor

NEW YORK – In the end, this was the move that made the most sense.

The Browns desperately needed to land a difference-making player in the 2012 draft. They could not take the risk of sitting at No. 4 and hoping that Trent Richardson – the most dynamic force in this year’s college crop outside of Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III – would be available for them to take.

Hope is not a strategy.

Making a trade with the Minnesota Vikings to move up one spot to assure themselves of getting Richardson was. And the Browns did the somewhat bold and extremely smart thing by pulling off that deal.

Now, the team has someone it can count on to make an enormous impact right away … and for years to come.

Yes, Richardson is a running back, and, yes, the NFL is a pass-first league. However, his presence in the Browns’ backfield should go a long way toward enhancing their passing game. He will force opposing defenses to put a safety in the box and, therefore, leave an extra hole to be exploited through the air.

Richardson also is a superb receiver out of the backfield and can also be split wide. In addition, he can help in pass protection.

Most of all, though, he is a highly effective ball-carrier. He can pound out the tough yards between the tackles. He can explode for long gains up the middle and outside. He is the multi-dimensional running back talent that the Browns haven’t had in a long time. As strong a season as Peyton Hillis had in 2010, he still wasn’t what you could call highly versatile. He did a nice job of catching the ball, but the bulk of his damage on the ground came through straight-ahead, power running. And he wasn’t able to sustain that high level of performance in 2011.

The majority of draft evaluators with whom I’ve spoken say Richardson has the talent to consistently produce at an elite level. And with Richardson running well, the Browns should be able to get much more from the passing game that Pat Shurmur installed last year and will have a full offseason, training camp, and preseason to enhance.

I have no problem whatsoever with the fact the Browns parted with fourth-, fifth-, and seventh-round choices to acquire the pick to land Richardson.

In the long run, those players are unlikely to make the individual or even collective impact that Richardson will make. When you have a conviction on a player, as the Browns did with Richardson, you have to do what you can (within reason) to get him. This transaction fell in the parameters of being “within reason.”

The Browns can do something they haven’t been able to do for much of this offseason, and that’s give their fans a reason to feel excited and hopeful.

That’s what dynamic players such as Trent Richardson do.

>>Be sure to tune in Monday through Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET, for “Cleveland Browns Daily, Driven by Liberty Ford” on ESPN 850 WKNR or catch the live stream right here on ClevelandBrowns.com.

>>Have a question for “Cleveland Browns Daily, Driven by Liberty Ford”? Ask me at Twitter.com/viccarucci