Paul DePodesta: Browns did not view Carson Wentz as top 20 NFL quarterback

Some questioned why the Cleveland Browns traded out of the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft back in April despite needing a quarterback and knowing they’d be able to select Carson Wentz. The answer, according to the team’s football czar, is simply the fact that the team did not rate Wentz that highly.

Chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta said that the Browns were motivated to trade the pick and stick with Robert Griffin III because they didn’t envision Wentz developing into a top 20 NFL quarterback at any point.

“We have to make judgments on the individual players and we’re not always going to be right,” DePodesta told Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland. “But in this particular case, we just didn’t feel it was necessarily the right bet to make for us at this time. Again, it comes down to individual evaluation of a player. We will not always be right on those type of things.

“I think the hardest part, and where we have to stay the most disciplined, as much as you want a player, you can’t invent him if he doesn’t exist. In a given year, there may be two or three NFL-ready quarterbacks at the college level. In another year, there literally may be zero. There just may be not be anybody in that year who’s good enough to be a top 20 quarterback in the NFL. Even though you have a desperate need for one, you have to resist the temptation of taking that guy just because you have a need if you don’t believe he’s one of those 20 guys at the end of the day. I think that’s the hardest part, just maintaining your discipline because you have the need. That’s what we did this year.”

The Philadelphia Eagles clearly feel differently about Wentz after giving up a huge parcel of draft picks to draft him, then turning the keys to the offense over to him immediately. It’s definitely a bit of a gamble by the Browns. If Wentz turns out to be a quality quarterback and Griffin is a failure in Cleveland, they’ll be subjected to a lot of second-guessing.