Should the Browns trade for Jimmy Garoppolo? We debate it from all sides

It seems like a good bet Jimmy Garoppolo will be traded somewhere this offseason.

The New England Patriots are working on an extension with Tom Brady, and he looks like he might make good on his promise to play into his mid-40s (he turns 40 before next season). Garoppolo’s contract runs out after next season. The Patriots can’t really pay $20 million or so to franchise tag Brady’s backup, they can’t give Garoppolo a starting-quarterback-level contract with Brady still in place, and one would have to imagine Garoppolo would want to go somewhere else and start. Either the Patriots trade him now, or they’ll likely lose him for nothing a little more than a year from now.

The Cleveland Browns are emerging as the most logical trade partner. They need a quarterback and that 12th overall pick looks just about right for a trade.

But is it wise? Our Shutdown Corner writers Shalise Manza Young, Eric Edholm and Frank Schwab did a little role playing, speaking from the perspective of Garoppolo, and both sides the Browns front office will have to consider before making the trade:

Jimmy Garoppolo (played by Shalise Manza Young): There was such a big deal made when the New England Patriots drafted me in the second round of the draft in 2014. Bill Belichick had never drafted a quarterback so high in his 15 years with New England – hell, I was taken 137 spots before Tom Brady – and I was immediately seen as Brady’s eventual successor.

Even Coach Belichick stoked that fire: on my draft night, he told reporters, “We all know what Tom’s age and contract situation is.” Brady was 36 years old at the time and turned 37 during our first training camp together. All he’s done since then is bring us to three AFC Championship games and two Super Bowl wins. Not exactly a sign that Father Time is knocking at his door.

Look, it’s been great learning from Tommy and Josh McDaniels and Coach Belichick these last three years. But I’m already 25, Tommy’s contract is for two more years, and there was a report this week that the Patriots and Tommy have interest in extending him even longer! How long am I supposed to wait?!?

Aaron Rodgers sat behind Brett Favre for three years, then became the Packers’ starter at 25. I’m already that old now. The Patriots drafted Jacoby Brissett last year and he’s off to a good start, so he could be Brady’s successor in a few years. Or maybe Tommy will play until he’s like 48 and his successor is still in high school. Who knows.

The beginning of this season wasn’t exactly a dream scenario for us, with Tommy getting the shaft from Roger Goodell, but I got a chance to start. It was supposed to be a four-game stint, but it didn’t quite work out that way: I was picking apart the Miami Dolphins in Week 2 when Kiko Alonso drove me to the turf and I wasn’t able to start the last two games of Tommy’s suspension.

I was good in my starts. Heck, I’ll even say darn good. I brought us back in Week 1, on the road against the Arizona Cardinals, and then had us up big on Miami before I got hurt. Not to brag but in those two games, I completed 42-of-59 passes (that’s over 71 percent) with four touchdowns and no picks.

Sure, there’s not a lot of game action to judge me on. But look at what I said: I’ve spent three years watching every move Tommy Freaking Brady has made. I’ve been put through the ringer in Coach Belichick’s practices. I’ve learned one of the most complex offenses in the NFL.

Who wouldn’t want me over Mitch Trubisky? (No offense, Mitch.)

I can’t thank the Patriots enough for drafting me in 2014, but I’ve watched other teams play, and there are some bad quarterbacks out there. Cleveland isn’t exactly my dream city, but it’s pretty close to home, so that’s not so bad. I hear Hue Jackson is great with quarterbacks, and if we can get the Browns to the playoffs, we would be kings. And if not Hue and Cleveland, I see the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers might also be looking for a new quarterback.

I can win in this league; I know I can. Give the Patriots a first-round pick instead of wasting it on some project QB who might never work out, and let’s get to work.

Oh, and you might have to pay me a little bit. But success isn’t cheap, right?

The aggressive Browns GM (played by Eric Edholm): Look, we’ve done what you’ve said is smart. We’ve squirreled away a lot of draft picks, most of them up high. That’s good, right? Our problem is using them on college players. Our success rate has been sub-optimal, you see.

That’s why we have to send the 12th pick — and, if we must, a little sweetener down the road — to the Patriots for Jimmy Garoppolo. And we’re more than happy to do it. A few reasons why …

Our new regime, one roundly mocked by the rest of the league, turned in a mixed bag of a 14-man draft class a year ago. We also lost all but one game and remain in our perpetual hamster wheel of a quarterback search.

The Browns have used the first pick (Tim Couch) on a QB. Lord knows we’ve used the 22nd pick on one (Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden and Johnny Manziel). We’ve tried to be clever and use third-round picks (Colt McCoy and Cody Kessler) with third-round results or worse.

Heck, we’ve tried to land local guys (Quinn and Charlie Frye), and there’s one in this draft with strong ties to Ohio (Mitch Trubisky). We passed on one local prospect (Ben Roethlisberger) and well, you know how that worked out.

We’ve signed free agents at the position, too, and none of them have panned out. Heck, we own three of the first 33 spots in the draft, and we couldn’t even get Deshaun Watson to come to Mobile for the Senior Bowl. All he needed to do was try on a uniform, eat a few oysters with our coaches and we probably would have drafted the kid.

But we’re taking a new course now. Sure, it will be more expensive, but as it’s noted in every story about us, we lead the NFL in salary-cap space and draft-pick ammo. Lock and load, baby.

That’s why we’re willing to trade for Garoppolo, even though he has 101 fewer NFL passes than Kessler. Heck, even RG3 threw more passes in the final three weeks of last season than Jimmy has in three years, but we’re willing to roll the dice here. We think you can understand we’ve seen enough of those two, thankful as we are for their service, to know it’s not working out.

We now have a chance that we’ve never had before: the rare opportunity to trade for a 25-year-old potential star QB. Even if he’s 2007 Matt Schaub, we’d be fine with that, believe us. The Houston Texans sent two second-round picks and slid down from 8 to 10 in the first round that year for Schaub — he of the two NFL starts prior, just like Jimmy — and it worked out well. Our analytics tell us Schaub had three 4,000-yard seasons in a four-year span. The last time we had a quarterback throw for 4,000 yards three times in a four-season stretch was … well, never. We’ve had one 4,000-yard passing season, period. That was Brian Sipe. In 1980.

We own five of the first 65 picks in the draft, including No. 1 overall. Sorry, Pats. That one is earmarked for Myles Garrett. Short of chloroforming us at the combine, we’re not sending you that pick. But 12? We’re game. Sure, the 12th pick can be pretty fertile draft turf. You can land an Odell Beckham, a Marshawn Lynch or a Fletcher Cox. Or you can miss with Christian Ponder, D.J. Hayden or Knowshon Moreno. Our history suggests the latter is more likely.

And one more thing is clear: finding a QB in that range is nearly impossible. Over the past 20 drafts, the quarterbacks taken between the 12th and 17th picks have been Ponder, EJ Manuel, Josh Freeman and Cade McNown. Even by Browns standards that list tastes like a Cuyahoga River cocktail.

Need us to throw in a 2018 pick? Well, we’ve got extras — all of our picks, plus extra second- and fourth-rounders, thanks to the Eagles and Panthers. Look, we need a quarterback. If not, we all get fired maybe. So yeah, we can talk 2018 too.

The kid is good. He’s not just some Bill Belichick creation, or aberration. We watched him play well against the Cardinals and Dolphins before getting hurt.

We love making deals with the Patriots. We got something for Barkevious Mingo, which shocked even us, and heck, we’re bold enough to say we won the Jamie Collins trade! Yeah, seriously, now that we’ve re-signed the guy we honestly feel like we pulled one over on old Bill. Of course, he does have that Lombardi Trophy thing down pat.

Give us Garrett, Garoppolo and let us pick two more Day 2 players, and we are downright giddy about our haul. And heck, if the kid turns out to be the next Brock Osweiler, it’s not like we’d be crushed financially — remember, we have more than $100 million in cap space. Booyah.

So that’s our sales pitch. A little more well-thought-out than our owner taking draft advice from a homeless dude or our Hollywood GM playing musical chairs with our picks, right? That’s what we thought. That’s why we’re Team Jimmy (Garoppolo, not Haslam).

The prudent, patient Browns GM (played by Frank Schwab): Three years ago, every NFL team (including us) passed on Jimmy Garoppolo in the draft, and most teams passed twice. The old regime here picked Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel in the first round instead, but let’s not talk about that now. What has really changed with Garoppolo since then?

He learned from Brady? That was supposed to be the magic potion for Matt Cassel, Ryan Mallett and Brian Hoyer, too. Learning from Peyton Manning was supposed to be a positive for Brock Osweiler. You don’t become great by osmosis, and a lot of teams have blown a lot of assets assuming Brady’s backups will be Brady clones.

Here’s what we’d have to give up for Garoppolo: likely the 12th pick and maybe more, and an Osweiler-type long-term deal. It’s not like we can trade a first for Garoppolo and then gamble we can re-sign him after 2017, so the contract extension has to be considered part of the deal. What has changed so much since 2014, when we thought Manziel was a better option (sorry, just threw up a little in my mouth), and 61 picks came and went without Garoppolo being picked? Are we really ready to treat Garoppolo like a franchise quarterback after 94 career passes? This seems very much like what happened with noted debacles Scott Mitchell and Osweiler – and Mitchell had 241 passes when the Detroit Lions signed him, and Osweiler had 305 before Houston signed him. Investing so heavily in Garoppolo after 94 passes is a blind leap of faith. He looked good, but again, it’s 94 NFL passes.

There’s also an opportunity cost involved, which nobody ever talks about. Let’s be honest – we’re going to be bad for a while. This was a total rebuild, and there should be no rush to add a few wins and go for 4-12 next season. We’ll be in position to draft high next season, when top quarterback prospects Sam Darnold of USC and Josh Rosen of UCLA, among others, should presumably be in the draft. We can’t draft either if we’ve already invested in Garoppolo. Once you make that move, Garoppolo is the guy for at least three or four years. Sink or swim with Jimmy. Or, you could use the 12th pick on a quality player – Alabama tight end O.J. Howard, to throw out a name – and then get your quarterback next season. What’s the harm in that?

If we trade for Garoppolo, we have to be absolutely sure he can be a franchise quarterback, or very close. If not, we’re setting the rebuild back to square one. It’s hard to bet all of that on a guy with less than 100 career passes.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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