Right now players stocks are rising and dropping in a furious rate, which could lead to some very interesting scenarios, like three quarterbacks getting picked in the 2016 NFL draft within the first seven picks, if the Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers go in that direction.
The Browns have the number two overall pick, and many expect them to take a quarterback with that. Josh McCown isn’t going to continue with them, and neither is Johnny Manziel. Hue Jackson has been brought over for a number of reasons for the Cincinnati Bengals, but the main one has been the expectancy of him to be able and develop a quarterback for the Browns that lasts more than a year or two at the position before the franchise once again is forced to move on.
So who do the Browns take? While Jared Goff coming out of California seemed to be the number one quarterback on the board for most teams about a month ago, there seem to be some changes. Without a clear number one guy like in last year’s draft (Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota was never really going to Tampa Bay), it seems that it’s more about a trend and momentum. Right now, Carson Wentz coming out of North Dakota State, an FCS school need I remind you, is the popular choice for the first quarterback off the board.
But it’s not that Goff is going to fall far. While the Cowboys are sticking with Tony Romo for at least another season to try and get them somewhere (although they might not have a good enough team), it’s quite clear that his injuries and age mean they should be thinking of the day after. Robert Griffin III and Manziel aren’t good contingency plans, Jerry Jones has to know that. Going with Goff doesn’t promise anything, but signing someone who isn’t a media headache and looks like he/they are done in the league seems like the smarter move.
Then we go down to the number 7 overall pick and the San Francisco 49ers. On one had, words coming out of Northern California suggest it’s going to be a battle between Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert for the starting spot. Other rumors suggest the 49ers and Kaepernick’s agents are hard at work trying to find a team willing to make a trade for the quarterback. Chip Kelly doesn’t have the control he had in Philadelphia (and for good reason probably).
So will they take a quarterback? Paxton Lynch out of Memphis is an intriguing option that might really be to the linking of Kelly. If the 49ers stick with both Kaepernick and Gabbert, then Lynch is going down the pecking order and who knows how far he can fall. But with so many teams having quarterback problems and the 49ers possibly trying to dodge the Kaepernick salary bullet, it’s more than reasonable to consider Lynch as a top 10 quarterback and the third in the top 7.