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2012 NFL Draft: Brandon Weeden 'By Far The Best Player' For Cleveland

The Cleveland Browns got out of the first day of the NFL Draft with two new offensive toys in Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden. Richardson was a completely expected pick for the Browns, though their trade up a single spot to pick him up was a bit odd, but not many people were expecting them to draft the 28 year old Oklahoma State QB.

Despite the rumor that the Browns were heavily looking at WR Kendall Wright, who ended up being taken surprisingly by the Tennessee Titans right before the Browns second pick, Cleveland GM Tom Heckert said that they had their eye on Weeden the entire time.

Heckert said that the Browns would’ve still most likely taken Weeden, even if Kendall Wright wasn’t drafted just two spots ahead of them.

"Brandon was by far the best player for us," he said. "We talked about it, but we had a lot of conversations about it but when you’re talking about a quarterback, we wanted to make sure we got him. There were teams behind us that were interested.

"We liked Kendall, but a quarterback is a quarterback," he said. "We didn’t have to make that decision."

For better or worse, the Browns seem sold on the older Weeden as their franchise QB of the future, even if that future might not be the 10-15 years that most teams expect their QB's to stick around after being drafted.

For more on the Cleveland Browns, head over to Dawgs By Nature. More news on the NFL can be found at the SB Nation NFL hub, and more news on the 2012 NFL Draft as it continues through the weekend can be found at the SB Nation NFL Draft hub.

Photographs by spatulated, Triple Tri, and chrischappelear used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.