Savage On-Board

As I'm sure you have heard, Phil Savage is the new GM. Good. I'm excited
about the guy's track record in picking talent in the high rounds of the
draft. I'm a little concerned that he hasn't been in much of a GM-type role
before. But we will have _years_ to discuss the guy's strengths and
weaknesses. Hopefully he is able to show his strengths right off the bat in
the April draft, or even before that by resolving some key roster issues
that are staring the Browns in the face. A couple quick thoughts:

- Maybe I am wrong and hindsight allows me to say this, but the Ravens
drafts for the past 7 years haven't been as revolutionary as all those
Pro-Bowlers would suggest. Guys like Terrell Suggs and Ed Reed were very
highly regarded by you average ESPN-watcher, but inexplicably dropped on
draft day. By the time the Ravens chose them it was almost a no-brainer.
That doesn't take away much credit from what a guy like Savage was able to
accomplish (lots of teams, afterall, passed on a guy like Reed) but it
should be a reminder that it took the Ravens a lot of good fortune to draft
so well.

- I don't think the Ravens have traded down as long as Savage has been
around. And I'm struggling to think of many later round gems the Ravens
have drafted. There are definitely a few, but I wouldn't say rounds #3-#7
have unearthed anymore pleasant surprises than the average NFL team. Those
things considered, I wonder if Savage is likely to try and trade down in
the upcoming draft.

Anyway, all Browns fans should enjoy a beer (I recommend Guinness) and
celebrate the fact the Browns have at least got a bona fide talent
evaluator calling the shots now. Lerner and Collins apparently got a solid
guy in what was becoming a rather scary GM search with fewer candidates
being available than we all expected. There will be lots of time to second
guess, but I'm willing to give it a day or so. ;)