Do the Browns Get Offensive with the Fifth Pick?

There are some recent rumblings about the Browns possibly selecting an offensive lineman with the fifth overall pick in April’s NFL Draft.  Hopefully, they stay as just that: rumors and rumblings.  This time of year is really just a lot of smoke and mirrors as players begin ascending and descending in stock with the Combine making teams extra loopy.  However, there is always the chance that, with the recent injuries to some highly-touted prospects, OL Andre Smith could fall to the Browns.

Yes, the right side of the offensive line must be fixed, but is it the most pressing matter?  Absolutely not.  I would never have been too keen on picking another offensive lineman so high in the first place, and I am especially reluctant to even consider Andre Smith as a potential draft pick.  The guy is a head case, and has managed to show it off at some of the most inopportune times.  He was suspended for Alabama’s Sugar Bowl loss to Utah and, most recently, went completely missing from the NFL Combine this past weekend.  Apparently, he did so to get a head start on working with his new trainer, but conveniently forgot to tell someone he was peacing out on the folks from the NFL looking to evaluate his talent.

One can assume that Mangini and Kokinis (ManKok) would never draft a player with a character such as this, but there is always time to make the first great blunder and go back on one of those pillars to success.  Now, another Smith – OL Jason Smith, of Baylor, that is – is also highly touted and expected to be gone early on Day One of the draft.  Despite his upside when it comes to the right side of the line in a 3-4, I would be very apprehensive about not going with defense first.  That is, unless a trade was made…