This is a bummer of a thread for fans, but what if Luck opts out of Miami?

Not really. Head coach is pretty unproven. They don't have any weapons around the QB to entice Andrew. Heck, they seem to be in some sort of weird feud with their star running back.

If we're talking about a trade, it's more customary for the player being traded to have some say in where he wants to go. Cleveland will want to make sure he wants to be there before they send a huge package of picks for him.

 

If we arent sitting at #2, yes, I think clubs like CLE could easily leapfrog us for a package to get the #1.

Frankly, I could see CLE leap from us to #2 if we are say at #3, or they could leapfrog us to #3 if we are at #4. None of that would surprise me.

 

I'm drawing a blank too.

 

Robiskie is likely to get cut in the offseason, Maassaquoi is probably better suited as a #2 receiver and Josh Cribbs is strictly a #3/#4 guy with a lot of ST value. In fact, the Browns desperately need a #1 receiver. Joe Thomas is the only left tackle in the game who can give a healthy Jake Long a run for his money, but Alex Mack is rather average - he's a very good run blocker but frequently gets exposed when pass blocking. They need an RT almost as badly as we do (okay, no one needs a RT as badly as we do, but they do need one), the jury's still very much out on Marecic and while they do have some terrific young players on defense, they also have some gaping holes, most significantly at OLB, DE and S, where T.J. Ward is miscast as the FS.

Cleveland is still trying to figure out some very fundamental things. Word is that Holmgren and Heckert don't see eye to eye on Colt McCoy (Holmgren likes him, Heckert didn't even want to draft him) and their feud with Hillis likely stems from the fact that they do not consider him a stud RB for the future but a major injury risk due to his running style.

 

Alex Mack is a fine center in every way, shape and form. There are no "buts" about it.

 

Not, it's certainly not. But I also don't think that the situation would compare all that well to the Eli controvery, either. The rookie wage scale saw to that. Back in 2004, the Giants were prepared to break the bank for Eli (I recall they gave him the second highest SB ever, behind only Peyton's contract extension), while A.J. Smith had a reputation of playing hardball. In fact, Eli was signed right in time for training camp; Rivers and the Chargers fought in an ugly holdout situation until the end of August. Yes, Eli didn't particularly want to play for San Diego, but money and the willingness to make a commitment to him (with the Ryan Leaf debacle still fresh in memory) played a significant role as well.

There's no money or potential holdout issue with Andrew Luck, however. And unless the Dolphins manage to hire someone who promptly goes on to alienate the Luck camp (is his mom a hooker, by the way? We should ask him), I simply don't see any organization being so much more desirable than Miami that Luck would risk his reputation and possibly his NFL career just to play somewhere. I could see it with, say, Arizona but even though we've sucked for quite a long time and I don't really like all the folks in Miami who continue to live in the past, we're no Arizona.

 

I'm so glad we've talked about this. My mind radiates with insight. I need to lie down and recite this like mantra.