Tannehill in the top 10 would be bad idea

Ryan Tannehill does not make sense for the Cleveland Browns.

Not with the fourth pick, and not with a top-10 pick either.

The Texas A&M quarterback’s name keeps coming up, but taking him would be a serious error in judgment by the Browns. Not the same as New Coke, mind you, but an error nonetheless.

With the NFL Draft about a month away, several names are mentioned as the Browns' likely first choice. Receiver Justin Blackmon, running back Trent Richardson and cornerback Morris Claiborne are all legitimate choices. Then there’s Tannehill.

It simply would not be a logical move.

Not that he might not be a good player. He might be. But he’s also a projection -- the main concern that he’s only played quarterback a couple years.

He’s good, but he’s not Andrew Luck and he’s not Robert Griffin III. He’s not worth a trade up or a major move to get him. He’s not a guy teams live with for two years while they build around him.

He’s a nice quarterback who probably should go somewhere in the 10thto 14th range based on his ability. He’s a nice quarterback who probably will go higher because teams will do anything to get a quarterback.

But he’s also a classic example of a guy rising in the draft rooms because of his position.

Tannehill’s ability has nothing to do with the fact he’s not logical for the Browns, though.

The Browns have Colt McCoy at quarterback. He hardly excites the masses, but the one caveat with McCoy is he had no help around him. No big-time dependable back, no big-time experienced receivers. A right tackle playing on an ankle held together by silly putty.

The offseason thinking has followed two tracks. Either McCoy is not the quarterback and the Browns need to find one, or the Browns can win with McCoy if they surround him with talent.

Prior to the Redskins' acquisition of the draft pick that will allow them to take Griffin, one offensive coordinator in the league who played against McCoy last season said if he were the Browns he’d not trade up; he’d add talent to give McCoy a better chance and he feels McCoy could win.

The fourth pick should allow the Browns to get an extremely talented player, either at receiver or running back or even cornerback, which won’t help the offense but will help the team.

Even if the Browns trade down to six or eight, they should be able to get a top receiver -- Blackmon or Notre Dame’s Michael Floyd.

That should help McCoy and the offense.

But if they take Tannehill they still will lack a dependable and experienced running back, and they will have not added a receiver. They could add those guys later in the draft, yes, but they would not have the playmaking impact of a guy in the top five or eight. That guy should be a sit-up-and-take-notice talent, a la A.J. Green of the Bengals.

If the Browns take Tannehill first, they will then have not one, but two young quarterbacks surrounded by little talent.

What good would that do?

It’s one thing if that young quarterback is Griffin or Luck, guys whom everyone says will be stars for years. Those are guys worth the farm. It’s quite another to add a guy like Tannehill, who in many ways seems like McCoy Light -- without the college wins and the autobiography (“Growing up Ryan”).

McCoy has much work to do. There are some who believe no matter what he does he’ll be a backup. There are others who believe that he can win with more talent.

But putting two young quarterbacks on the team competing for the same job with no talent around either is simply illogical.

The Browns have a golden opportunity to add two very good players and let a young group grow with the group that arrived the last two years. They could add a quarterback in the second or third round (Brandon Weeden? Kirk Cousins?), a guy to compete but not necessarily a guy who has to start immediately.

Those first three picks, all in the first 37, could be big-time, impact players -- sort of like the Eagles in 2009 when they drafted WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy in the first and second round. Fit a right tackle between a back and a receiver and the Browns might have something.

But adding a second quarterback to a team that lacks talent simply puts two quarterbacks in a bad spot and helps neither.

It just does not make sense.