Clearly the Cleveland Browns are one of the front-runners to trade up and select Heisman trophy winner Robert Griffin III, but there is another quarterback who could entice them later in the first round if they’re not the team who makes a move to go and get him.
That player, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Mary Kay Cabot, is former Texas A&M standout Ryan Tannehill, who has played quarterback for only 20 games but is considered the consensus third best quarterback by most analysts and experts.
If the Browns don’t go for Griffin, they’ll surely take a hard look at Tannehill later in the first round. But Tannehill’s stock is rising and he probably won’t be around at No. 22. Scouts won’t see him work out at the combine because he’s recovering from surgery to repair a broken foot. But he’s widely-regarded as the third-best quarterback in the draft behind Andrew Luck and Griffin and could easily go in the top 15. Did we mention he aspires to be an orthopedic surgeon?
With Tannehill, who played for former Mike Holmgren protege Mike Sherman in college, the Browns wouldn’t have to adapt their West Coast offense to accommodate him.
The inclusion of Tannehill in this discussion is interesting because he is the only one who is not considered a consensus top 10 prospect of the five players mentioned by Cabot, which were Griffin, LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne, Alabama running back Trent Richardson, Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon, and Tannehill.
It seems more and more like Colt McCoy is going to have serious competition for his job next season, if he is even still on the roster at that point. By the looks of it, the Browns are going to be in the market for a quarterback early, and they have a few guys they’re keeping an eye on.