Browns Disregard $100,000 Study That Says Bridgewater Is Draft's Best QB

[FISHINGURU]

The Cleveland Browns have been unusually unsuccessful when it comes to finding the right quarterback.

Most teams have stumbled upon a passable quarterback, even if they didn't think he was a long-term option. Not Cleveland, which has used 20 starting quarterbacks since 1999, the most of any team in the NFL.

So with two first-round picks in this year's draft, as well as a poor history of selecting quarterbacks in the first round (Tim Couch, Brady Quinn and Brandon Weeden are all gone), the Browns understandably wanted to put a lot of effort into getting this year's pick right.

According to both ESPN and CBS, the team spent $100,000 on a study to determine which of this year's quarterback prospects is the most likely to succeed in the NFL. According to ESPN's Sal Paolantonio, Cleveland used analytics to examine every quarterback who has played in the NFL the past 20 years. The results of the study determined that former Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has the best chance of anyone in this year's class.

Bridgewater had a stellar career at Louisville, completing 70 percent of his passes as as senior while throwing 31 touchdowns and four interceptions. He has good size for a quarterback (6-foot-3, 205 pounds), but his stock slipped significantly following a poor pro day.

So when the Browns had the choice to pick between Bridgewater and Johnny Manziel with the 22nd overall selection they went with ... Manziel.

Curious move by Cleveland, and there certainly seems to be some trickery at play here. If the Browns really determined Bridgewater was the best quarterback in the draft, why didn't they select him when they had the chance? And why would they broadcast the results of their study to the world? Seems like if they spent that much on the study, they would have been better served to keep the results secret.

The last crack is a reference to an ESPN report in which owner Jimmy Haslam said a homeless person told him to draft Manziel.

While we may never know the true story about the team's decision to pass on Bridgewater, several clues have leaked in the hours after the draft. The first is that the study was commissioned by Joe Banner, the team's former CEO who was fired in February. Maybe the team disregarded the study because it was tied to Banner's regime.

Or, perhaps Cleveland GM Ray Farmer did not have the final say in the pick. While Farmer was "enamored" with Bridgewater (and had been for some time), the final decision may not have been his. Farmer insisted that owner Jimmy Haslam didn't "push, shove or dictate" his decision, but Cleveland Plain-Dealer columnist Bud Shaw writes that Manziel "was a Jimmy Haslam pick." ESPN's Kevin Seifert provides support for that idea, writing, "it's naïve to believe Haslam didn't play a role in the final outcome. Owners usually get what they want -- one way or the other."

While Farmer may have been looking at the decision from a pure football perspective, Haslam has the team's business figures and overall image in mind, and in that regard Manziel has already proven why he was the better selection with his box-office impact.

Bridgewater, meanwhile, was selected by the Minnesota Vikings with the final pick of the first round.

[Hester]

Sounds like a Cleveland move

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Hey, can you blame the owner? I think they sold like 2000 season tickets since they drafted jonny football. Dam right its a smart business move!

[DLD24]

The funny thing is, with a decent QB Cleveland would be in playoff contention....BUT with MAnziel they are making more money, which nowadays is more important than winning....

[zepman]

Hey, can you blame the owner? I think they sold like 2000 season tickets since they drafted jonny football. Dam right its a smart business move!

+1

The whole town erupted when he was picked.

[FISHINGURU]

No doubt Manziel was the fancy pick at QB this year, he'll definitely bring some hope and excitement to the Browns. It's going to be a tough blow for him if Gordon misses most of or possibly the whole season. Someone should let him know that drug tests for weed aren't that hard to pass lol.

These QB's have a tough road ahead of them, most of them went to places that can never develop a very good QB. Vikes, Browns, Raiders, Jags, Titans, ect.

[RumRiverRat]

Vikings should have ignored the study too.

[fishersofmen]

Those who were in the draft room reported the Vikings wanted Manziel at the 22nd pick but Cleveland made a better offer to trade up. PA asked Spielman about this in an interview but he obviously wouldn't respond to the question. Manziel was the highest rated qb on the Vikings draft board. Instead we got a qb with small hands and questionable arm strength and accuracy on the deep ball.....

Maybe they have accidentally stumbled on the better qb, maybe not. If Bridgewater ends up being the better qb Spielman will obviously say that was their intention the whole time. If Manziel lights it up and Bridgewater is a bust he should lose his job.

[greebs]

Am guessing next season many will be saying it was an awful pick because bw will be holding clipboard and jm will be playing every week and making the occasional sports center hilights. Jm will no doubt sell tickets for a team like the browns who need ticket sales. Whether he leads the team to any long term success on the field is still anyone's guess. It's going to be a few years to know which team did the best job with this draft.

Think the reality is if the vikes or any other team for that matter, valued jm as much as some think was the case he would have been picked with their 1st selection.

[FISHINGURU]

Hard to say what is real and what is fake, from the outside looking in it would seem Teddy was our guy with all the extra time they spent with him. It was reported that Cleveland wanted Manziel the whole time and he wouldn't make it past their first pick, if they didn't take him he would fall.

Cleveland had a chance and let him go, then we made the trade with them so they could move back up, almost everyone thought it was for them to get Manziel but they passed on him again. Obviously the Vikes didn't care much to let them have another shot at him.

As far as anyone knows we were trying to move to pick 22 to take Bridgewater but the asking price was too high, maybe it was for Manziel but it really didn't seem we were targeting him, it's possible we never thought he'd still be there at #22 and decided to feel it out.

Maybe they were equal to us and we just wanted one or the other, when a team finally took one of them we made our move to make sure we got the other.

I hope they both end up being good, makes for better football.

It might end up being a blessing in disguise that Teddy didn't wear his gloves during his pro day, if he would of had a great pro day we would of never got him where we did, he probably would of even went before #8. Before the bad pro day people said how it would be a dream for him to slip to the Vikes at #8 and we ended up getting him at #32.

[creepworm]

Jm will no doubt sell tickets for a team like the browns who need ticket sales.

Like 1,200 season tickets in a couple hours?

[fishersofmen]

No maybe's. Manziel was the #1 qb on their draft board and they wanted him at 22 but Cleveland made the better offer. Zimmer pushed hard for a defensive player with the first pick and got his wish. With all the nonsense they were spewing about Manziel after his pro day most people realized it was a smoke-screen and they were right. They were in Johnny's jock from day one.

The fact that Spielman danced around the question and wouldn't flat out deny it when asked on the radio tells me that is exactly what happened.

The Minnesota Vikings failed to trade back into the first round to draft quarterback Johnny Manziel, but were able to jump back up to nab Louisville's Teddy Bridgewater.

NFL Media's Albert Breer reported Thursday that the Vikings tried to trade with the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 22 to draft Manziel, but the Cleveland Browns made a better offer. The Vikings rated the Texas A&M signal-caller as the top quarterback on their board, according to team sources.

It could be a failed trade that makes Vikings fans wince with every Fran Tarkenton-esque play Johnny Football makes in Cleveland.

"I was just able to establish relationships with Rick Spielman, the GM, coach (Norv) Turner, the offensive coordinator, and Scott (Turner), the quarterbacks coach," Bridgewater told NFL Media's Deion Sanders. "So I felt very comfortable that I was going to end up in Minnesota, someway, somehow."

General manager Rick Spielman could have taken Manziel at No. 9, but opted to give coach Mike Zimmer the talented, but raw, pass rusher Anthony Barr of UCLA. Perhaps Spielman was gun-shy after reaching for Christian Ponder in 2011.

In lieu of grabbing the flashy Manziel, Spielman sent a second-round pick (No. 40 overall) and a fourth-rounder (No. 108) to the Seattle Seahawks to close out the first round with Bridgewater.

Glazer reported on it on twitter right as it was happening....

The Minnesota Vikings walked away from Round 1 of the 2014 NFL draft with a new quarterback, Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater. But Bridgewater reportedly was not Minnesota’s first choice at the position.

Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported Thursday night that the Vikings attempted to trade up with the Philadelphia Eagles in order to draft Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel at No. 22 overall, but that the Cleveland Browns offered the Eagles a better package for the pick.

[not_nuf_time]

On a side note to this, they were also reporting that they were informed by a Viking assistant coach that Manziel was there choice to try and move up to get at 22. My opinion is that if I were the Vikings management I would find out who that asst coach was and he would be gone. No questions asked. Not a good way to start off a new coaching regime, by talking to much. Gone.

[fishersofmen]

I'm sure they aren't thrilled it got leaked but everything does now days. Nobody can keep quiet about anything. It may work out in their favor but I doubt it.

[BartmanMN]

I just hope the Reciever gloves work for Teddy "Tiny Hands" Bridgewater.

The guy has smaller hands than Culpecker and he could barely hold the NFL football.

[CaptainMusky]

So you guys can see through one smokescreen but choose to believe that "Manziel was the Vikes top choice"? IDK, it could certainly be true, but perhaps they intentionally leaked this by an "Asst Coach" to ease frustration by the rubes who were foaming at the mouth for Manziel?

[JP Z]

That could be the case. JM just didn't seem like a good fit for the team to be honest. But hopefully in 2 years (after this year of being on the sideline and learning) we will know if TB is our QB or if it was a major loss of not getting JM.

[fishersofmen]

So you guys can see through one smokescreen but choose to believe that "Manziel was the Vikes top choice"? IDK, it could certainly be true, but perhaps they intentionally leaked this by an "Asst Coach" to ease frustration by the rubes who were foaming at the mouth for Manziel?

Ease the frustration.....how does a botched draft pick trade ease frustration? To me it makes it far worse. If they thought TB was the better qb and stood behind it is one thing, no way they make up a story that they indeed wanted Manziel but screwed it up thinking that would ease the majority of fans minds.

[Doonbuggy]

Maybe it's true, but I'm not buying it. If they really wanted Manziel they wouldn't have traded down with Cleveland at 8 who they knew would take a QB. The hot rumor also included Dallas taking Manziel at 16 and Arizona could have picked a QB at 20. I think we lost out at pick 22, but we would have taken Teddy B. Which means we ended up even better at pick 32. Zimmer's old school and I doubt he was interested in Manziel and his "money money" gyrations.

DB

[CaptainMusky]

Exactly Doon! If they would have had him ranked tops they certainly wouldn't have traded with the team most likely to take him.

Its a smokescreen to the smokescreen.

[JAfish]

The best QB pick in the first round would have been no pick at all. One big time hit and Manziel will be dancing in the pocket and chucking it out of bounds and you have to wonder if Bridgewater is tough enough to stand in the pocket too. Bets on that either Logan Thomas, Tom Savage or Jimmy Garropalo will be the better QB. one of these guys are going to hit it big given the time to develop for a couple years. Can Norv Turner really develop Bridgewater, or is he about as good as he is going to be? I thought Norv's offenses liked to get the ball down the field-