Cleveland Browns: Could Andrew Luck be in the future plans?
By Roger Cohen
The Cleveland Browns are still searching for that franchise quarterback, and Andrew Luck’s name is one that comes up as a potential fit.
I’ll confess — I have a man-crush on Andrew Luck. Not just because when healthy, he’s the poster child for everything you’d want in an NFL quarterback: smart, strong, fearless, a great leader, terrific field sense, accurate passer.
He’s also a three-time Pro Bowler who has led a weak Colts squad to three playoff appearances (2012-2014) and a 43-27 regular season record over five seasons.
Over that same period, an even dozen – -count ’em 12 — different Cleveland Browns starting quarterbacks have (somehow) won 20 games, lost 60, registering zero playoff appearances and zero meaningful games into November.
But that’s not why I love Andrew Luck. It’s because down deep the Stanford educated, Houston-bred and London-born Luck has Cleveland DNA. His accomplished father, Oliver, was not only a former Browns front office exec, he was a high school standout at St. Ignatius — and except maybe for Glenville High, it doesn’t get more Believeland than that.
Ever since the Browns just missed out on the chance to draft Andrew in 2012, (picking Trent Richardson at No. 3 after Luck and RG III went one-two) I’ve fantasized about the kind of harmonic convergence of factors that might bring Luck back to his paternal hometown.
The Washington Post predicts those factors might have converged: Luck’s injury history and this season’s IR shutdown, his $140 million price tag, front office and coaching turnover in Indy, and a treasure trove of available Browns draft choices, including two first rounders and three seconds.
If the Browns reportedly offered a second and a third for Bengals’ backup AJ McCarron (three career starts, one win), what would you offer for a 28-year-old proven franchise QB? Even one with a bum shoulder?
Let the dreaming — and bidding begin. I’d ante up the Browns’ likely top overall pick, two of the seconds and as a sweetener, DeShone Kizer, returning the former Golden Domer back to the Hoosier State.
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As for Luck’s big price tag, it sure beats paying Brock Osweiler close to a million bucks each week to play for the Broncos. Or bye-week watching ex-Browns Barkevious Mingo AND Jabaal Sheard combining to make the game-saving sack for the Colts on Sunday – -making the Browns’ Houston picks even more valuable.