Offensive tackle Joe Thomas has spent his entire 11-year career in Cleveland, and the Browns have produced a .292 winning percentage during that span. Understandably, the veteran understands a thing or two about “tanking” for a top prospect. However, considering his experiences, he warns that the strategy doesn’t always lead to success.
“It’s always fun for fans and the media to have that narrative because it gives you guys something to talk about,” Thomas told Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. “And for fans, I’m sure they enjoy the optimism of looking toward the future if they don’t think that the present is bright. But it seems like every year the player that you want to suck for ends up dropping and not being the top pick… or what you expected.”
During Thomas’ 10 full seasons, there have been eight different Browns quarterbacks to lead the team in passing…despite the fact that the organization had selected three signal callers in the first round.
“If you look historically at the draft at quarterbacks in the Top 10,” Thomas said, “About half of them flame out very quickly. So, there’s no guarantee in the NFL that if you’ve got the No. 1 pick or you’ve got a Top 5 pick, that you’re going to be able to draft a franchise quarterback. So, I’m not sure that the appropriate strategy is just to tank for a quarterback.”
Let’s check out some more notes from around the AFC…
- Speaking of “tanking,” ESPN’s Rich Cimini examines the Jets‘ quarterback scenarios if they fail to get one of the top picks in the NFL draft. The team could look to sign one of the big names via free agency (including Drew Brees and Kirk Cousins), or they could try to pull off a trade for a veteran quarterback (Cimini mentions Alex Smith as a potential target). The Jets could alternatively try to trade up in the draft and acquire their targeted quarterback, although that’d surely cost them multiple picks. Ultimately, Cimini believes if the Jets finish outside of the top-5 in the draft, it will end up costing them a lot (whether it be money or picks) to acquire their next quarterback.
- The Bengals will once again be without tight end Tyler Eifert and wide receiver John Ross tomorrow, reports ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). Ross, a 2017 first-round pick, has only appeared in one game this season, hauling in a single catch for 12 yards while also losing a fumble. Meanwhile, after collecting 18 touchdowns over the past two seasons, Eifert only has four catches for 46 yards in 2017.
- In case you missed it, former Giants and Jets tight end Will Tye visited the Chiefs on Friday.
Agree with Thomas 100%! I’m not a Browns fan but respect their loyalty, I’ve been a Rams fan for as long as I can remember so I can sympathize, and it’s depressing when less than half-way through the season you’re already trying to figure out who your next quarterback is going to be and hoping that you don’t score to many points in a game to take you out of the running for that guy.