Hue Jackson: Cleveland Browns will exit NFL Draft with a quarterback
By Thomas Moore
Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson made it clear that the team will select a quarterback in the 2016 NFL Draft. Just don’t ask him which one.
Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson had quarterbacks and the 2016 NFL Draft on his mind when he spoke with the media Wednesday at the NFL Combine.
While he obviously did not go into specifics, Jackson made it clear what the Browns intend to do on the final weekend in April in Chicago.
“We will come out of this draft with a quarterback, I guarantee you that,” Jackson said. “Now where it’s going to be, everybody wants me to say it’s the second pick. Well, it could be, it could not be. I think what we have to do is feel good about where we are in the process of evaluating the guys that are here and then going from there and making the decision what’s best for us.”
“We will come out of this draft with a quarterback, I guarantee you that.” – Head coach Hue Jackson
“There’s a lot of talented players out there and I don’t know if it’s just that No. 2. I know everybody thinks that’s where we’re heading at No. 2. I think we’re going to draft whoever we think is the best player at No. 2 for us. But at the same time, there are some tremendous players out there. We’ll continue to go through this process.”
It has been widely reported and expected that the Browns will take a quarterback with their first round pick, most likely selecting from the presumed top three of Cal’s Jared Goff, North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz and Memphis’ Paxton Lynch. Even though Jackson hinted that may not be the case, he did reveal a trait that the Browns will be looking for in their next quarterback.
Jackson said that hand size matters, especially for a team that needs its quarterback to be able to perform in the poor weather conditions that are common in the AFC North Division, a view that is shared by his fellow coaches.
“That’s something that is highly underrated,” Arizona coach Bruce Arians said last year at the combine. “It does depend on where you play. You play (indoors), not too bad. But if you play in Green Bay and struggle controlling a football when it’s cold and wet then that’s a problem.”
According to an ESPN study, since 2008 there had been 39 quarterbacks who had been measured with a hand size of 9.25 inches or smaller; less than one-fifth of them had even gone on to start half a season in the NFL and none had made a Pro Bowl.
If true, that would be a mark against Goff, who reportedly has “tiny hands.”
One point of curiosity for coaches/scouts entering combine week: how does Jared Goff measure? Smallest of top QBs, hands supposedly tiny.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 24, 2016
Because he participated in the Senior Bowl, Wentz had his hands measured and checked in at 10 inches, which is reportedly good enough for the NFL. Goff and Lynch will have their hands measured on Thursday at the combine when the quarterbacks begin the evaluation process.
If the tale of the tape confirms that Goff is lacking in hand size, the speculation will turn to the Browns taking Wentz, especially given Jackson’s work in Baltimore with Joe Flacco, a first-round pick by the Ravens out of Delaware in 2008.
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“I’ve had an opportunity to help draft players that come from small schools before,” Jackson said. “I don’t think that will be the criteria that stops us one way or another. If a guy fits for us and what we’re looking for, we’ll draft him regardless of where he’s from at the position we think he’s draftable. I don’t want it to be about the school a player comes from. Can he play? And does he fit the criteria of what we’re looking for?”
And if the Browns decide they don’t like any of the quarterbacks at No 2? Well, when you are coming off a 3-13 season there are plenty of holes to fill on the roster.
“We have several needs,” Jackson said. “So we have to take the best available player at the spot we’re drafting, and who we think is the best player on the board is the guy we have to take regardless of what position it is.”