Cory... You say I don't understand the game of football because I spoke of Corey Williams 7 sacks and Harrell needing to eclipse it? Read the rest of what I wrote... I said his overall impact on the defense and improvement vs. the run were factors too. Football isn't simply a game of stats, I realize this.
I also know that we weren't picking up an extra first for this year...we would've lost our first, but we'd be picking up an extra first next year.
I layed out a plausible scenario had we taken Cleveland's offer. It's likely that Dwayne Jarrett or Sidney Rice would've been our pick at the top of round 2 and we would've been able to take Brandon "No Bo" Jackson at the top of Round 3, or do a trade down and likely get him later in Round 3 and still get James "Round 3 Tragedy" Jones or Aaron "Appendectomy" Rouse.
I feel for the fans who honestly feel that Jacksonville and the Giants are further away from making a run than we are. I guess that no one is arguing the other teams on that list are worse off than us.
The original point was that we aren't going for the throat to win in '07, so since we're obviously building for the future, it would've been nice having TWO picks in Round 1 in '08. Yes, I would be willing to bet both of those picks are TOP 15. Cleveland is not going to finish middle of the pack. If Quinn plays they might be picking 1st next year. As I said before, our 8-8 record was puffed up. We beat garbage the last 4 games including an uninspired Bears team. I will be stunned if we equal 8-8. No matter. The point, really, is where the BROWNS pick will be. I think to argue that it's anything less than a sure Top 10 is being completely dishonest, but people are free to hide behind the whole "it's a crapshoot, no one knows where that picks going to be" argument. To those type of folks I ask you to go lay some money in Vegas on the team with the longest odds to win the SuperBowl, because, as you've said, there's just know way of knowing what might happen. A little use of common sense dictates that Browns pick was a gem of a pick to acquire, but some just can't/won't admit it.
Justin Harrell better be amazing.