Who is the Browns' General Manager for the 2013 off-season?

[MalTalm]

He picked:
Greg 'dropsies' Little

Who was a RB we are converting to WR in his second year, and needs at least another full offseason before we can ascertain whether he can develop into a solid pick.

MoHard

Who was injured for his rookie and most of his sophomore campaign but has been contributing to this team. While trading up for Hardesty at this point was definitely a "miss", he may still be a contributing piece for this team in the long term.

Marecic

A 4th round FB, hardly the draft pick that is holding our roster down.

Decided to sign: Young and zero WR's

According to his draft-first philosophy. He announced we would not be a team which pursued high value free agents, and he has held true to that philosophy. I'm not sure why this still surprises people.

He also picked:
1st round

Joe Haden
Phil Taylor
Trent Richardson
Brandon Weeden

2nd Round

TJ Ward
Jabaal Sheard
Mitchell Schwartz

3rd Round

Shaun Lauavao
John Hughes

4th Round

Jordan Cameron
Travis Benjamin
James Michael Johnson

5th Round

Larry Assante
Buster Skrine
Jason Pinkston
Ryan Miller

6th Round

Carlton Mitchell
Clifton Gaithers
Emmanuel Acho
Billy Winn

7th Round

Eric Haag
Travis Wade
Brad Smelley

So, as of now, he seems to have hit on all of his 1st round picks, most of his second round picks, and he has found solid contributors to our team in all 7 rounds. What GM would you say has done better in the draft in the past 3 years? What improvement could reasonably be made on draft day from what the Browns have done? Not to mention, quite a few guys I've chosen not to bold are still getting playing time, showing improvement, and may yet be big contributors to our football team in the coming decade.

 

[AZ_]

In breaking away from The OptOmist and his ridiculously stupid argument....

How good has Mitchell Schwartz been this season?

The Browns have allowed five sacks in their last five games, and look like one of the best young offensive lines in the NFL right now.

 

[MalTalm]

In breaking away from The OptOmist and his ridiculously stupid argument....

How good has Mitchell Schwartz been this season?

The Browns have allowed five sacks in their last five games, and look like one of the best young offensive lines in the NFL right now.

I've been very impressed with our line play so far. Joe Thomas is actually having a bit of a down year, and they are still solid up front. They even found a way to make a couple sizable holes for Richardson in the last game. They have a way to go yet, but as a unit they're growing. And yes, Schwartz has been phenomenal. I'd say he's outplaying everyone on that line right now, and he's probably the second best of the group behind Thomas.

 

[Soda]

Rumor is him and banner didn't get along. Heckert's looking around the league for another job. By success you mean? 3 losing seasons. Great!

Sorry, but they win as a team and lose as a team. How many probowl players has Heckert drafted here?

Answer: ZERO

First off, where's the rumor? Second, who said it? Is it credible or truth? You're, again, talking a whole lot of what-ifs as if they're fact.

 

[Soda]

In breaking away from The OptOmist and his ridiculously stupid argument....

How good has Mitchell Schwartz been this season?

The Browns have allowed five sacks in their last five games, and look like one of the best young offensive lines in the NFL right now.

They're in the top third of the NFL in this statistic. Even with John Greco (whom was a pick-up by Heckert (Shurmur)), the line has been very solid. Check out the sack differential in the tweet below:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Sack Differential Chart: NYG currently lead the NFL <a href="http://t.co/bRcm0i32" title="http://twitter.com/MoveTheSticks/status/262975425796521984/photo/1">twitter.com/MoveTheSticks/…</a></p>&mdash; Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) <a href="https://twitter.com/MoveTheSticks/status/262975425796521984" data-datetime="2012-10-29T17:53:22+00:00">October 29, 2012</a></blockquote>
<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Spectre]

Heckert has made his share of mistakes. All GMs do. However, he's added a solid amount of talent to the team in a short time.

I've gone back and forth on this but here's where I'm at: is Heckert better than the average guy out there? Absolutely. If you're going to replace him, you'd better be damn well sure you're getting a stud. There isn't a ton of room for improvement but based on the crap that we've had at GM in the past, it's a long way down from where Heckert is at now to the bottom of the barrel.

 

[MGMT]

I've been impressed with Schwartz - steady and noticeable improvement throughout the year thus far. Rich Gannon did make one decent point during the game, you'd like to see him be a bit more aggressive at times at pass blocking e.g. the batted pass by Shaun Phillips or whoever it was. But that's one instance where it was apparent, not sure about the rest of the season. So whatever, love the pick right now. I'd still like to see guard addressed at some point, not sold on Pinkston as a LG.

 

[Wulfgar1224]

Heckert has made his share of mistakes. All GMs do. However, he's added a solid amount of talent to the team in a short time.

I've gone back and forth on this but here's where I'm at: is Heckert better than the average guy out there? Absolutely. If you're going to replace him, you'd better be damn well sure you're getting a stud. There isn't a ton of room for improvement but based on the crap that we've had at GM in the past, it's a long way down from where Heckert is at now to the bottom of the barrel.

I'm leaning in the direction of keeping Heckert as well. I was a huge proponent of trading up for RG3. So, naturally, I was disappointed when the Browns didn't get it done in that respect. After whiffing on RG3, I also wanted to wait on drafting a QB (maybe grabbing someone like Foles). I still think the Browns would've been better served by grabbing a pass rusher with their second first round pick than taking Weeden. That is not meant to bash Weeden as I think he's progressing nicely. We all know the bane of the H&H regime has been the inability to acquire a dependable receiver.

Having said all of that, I think Heckert has added enough talent in the three years he's been here to warrant keeping his job. Plus, I'd like to see how he does with Holmgren not poking his nose in the draft at inopportune times.

I've been impressed with Schwartz - steady and noticeable improvement throughout the year thus far. Rich Gannon did make one decent point during the game, you'd like to see him be a bit more aggressive at times at pass blocking e.g. the batted pass by Shaun Phillips or whoever it was. But that's one instance where it was apparent, not sure about the rest of the season. So whatever, love the pick right now. I'd still like to see guard addressed at some point, not sold on Pinkston as a LG.

I like the progress of Schwartz as well. The Browns are building solid young lines on both sides of the ball. That is the biggest reason they can at least hold their own in every game now. I still would like to see another pass rusher for the DL and a better guard for the OL.

 

[The Voice]

Josh Gordon & Cooper?

Yes, he picked Gordon in the supplemental draft, but all of your negatives can be countered with positives.

And where have any of these guys translated into wins?

 

[The Voice]

In breaking away from The OptOmist and his ridiculously stupid argument....

How good has Mitchell Schwartz been this season?

The Browns have allowed five sacks in their last five games, and look like one of the best young offensive lines in the NFL right now.

Where did I say he sucked?

 

[Backstage]

And where have any of these guys translated into wins?

Browns vs. Bengals on 10/14:

Receiving REC YDS TD LG
J. Gordon 3 99 1 71T

 

[The Voice]

Browns vs. Bengals on 10/14:

Receiving REC YDS TD LG
J. Gordon 3 99 1 71T

Great, so we have 1 win because of a pick. We also have way more losses because of picks. You don't spend a second rounder on a project.

 

[The Voice]

Referring to Greg little

 

[Shakalu M.D.]

Great, so we have 1 win because of a pick. We also have way more losses because of picks. You don't spend a second rounder on a project.

Well when that project comes out and blows all the other rookie WRs out of the water you should be happy. WR is a tricky position to adjust to in the NFL. You don't see many A.J. Greens who come in and dominate immediately. Most of the time they have to get used to the fact that pro secondaries are so much faster than what they're used to in college.

I really don't get your argument. Heckert hasn't built a winner in 3 years. Fire his ass. It's not like he had to jettison over half the roster and bring in a youth movement or anything.

 

[Phills14]

I would like to sum up 87 posts in this thread into 1

Heckert: Most people like him and want him to stay
Polian: 99% think he was a great GM but hasn't drafted well in his last 5 years plus he's old. TheOptimist loves Polian and believes Heckert is lousy.
Mike Lombardi: LOL