On Monday, Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer suggested the Cleveland Browns could still make a run at quarterbacks Marcus Mariota or Sam Bradford on draft day. Is this likely to happen?
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler doesn't think so.
"Anything is possible, but it still comes back to this with the Browns' quarterback situation: Giving Josh McCown $6.25 million guaranteed on a three-year deal would have been unlikely had the team felt the chances of trading for Bradford or Mariota were good," he writes.
As a result, he believes the top two QBs heading into training camp will be McCown and Johnny Manziel. Browns' owner Jimmy Haslam said earlier in the offseason that it was too early to give up on Manziel, who checked himself into rehab a couple of months ago for a possible dependency on alcohol. The rookie hasn't been given a legitimate shot to perform and his first season with the team was enshrouded with countless issues regarding himself, the team and the front office.
Since they haven't gotten rid of him yet it's obvious they'll give him another shot, unless they're exploring the potential trade market, which can't be too robust.
Additionally, the fact they signed McCown and failed to make a deal happen further suggests this is the cast they'll enter training camp with. Cleveland has two first-round picks (12th and 19th overall), so they could have made something happen earlier in the offseason if they really wanted to.
"They vetted the other options before closing on McCown," Fowler adds.
"Even if the Browns offered Eagles coach Chip Kelly the 19th overall pick for Sam Bradford -- like they reportedly did to the Rams when Bradford was still there -- Kelly would need much more than picks 19 and 20 to move into Mariota's range. Not sure why he would want to do that unless Cleveland would part with the 12th overall pick, which is too steep for the injured quarterback."
Speaking of Mariota, general manager Ray Farmer was said to have "shown a liking" for the prospect earlier in the offseason.
However, 'Mariota's range' is looking to be more and more unattainable. The Tennessee Titans hosted the Oregon QB for a workout this month and ESPN Insider Todd McShay now projects in his latest mock draft that they will select him with the No. 2 overall pick. If that's the case, it looks like the top two quarterbacks in the draft will be gone after the first two picks.
Anything can happen, as we all know draft day is one of the most unpredictable nights in sports. But the facts surrounding the Browns' scenario point to the team moving forward in 2015 with Manziel and McCown.
