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By Christopher Witflee
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Two years ago, the hottest parlor game among NFL draftniks concerned the choice between two very different college quarterbacks. The Indianapolis Colts, holding the top selection, were certain to pick between Tennessee's Peyton Manning or Washington State's Ryan Leaf, prompting vigorous debate as to which was the better pro prospect.
Manning had never won anything truly big at Tennessee, but he was known to be a straight arrow who seriously studied the game and learned at the knee of his father, Archie Manning, a respected NFL quarterback. The younger Manning had performed well and under the microscope since his earliest days of college.
But Leaf really captured the imaginations of NFL scouts who think football is so complex that only trained professionals can understand attributes like tools and talent, so they fall in love with guys like Trent Dilfer. Leaf was known to be a free spirit, which, spun favorably, is a flair for the dramatic. The scouts strained their brains considering the greatness to come if Leaf could harness his size and arm strength. But Leaf had performed to national repute only in his junior season before declaring his intention to turn pro.
The San Diego Chargers, who held the third position in the draft, figured they couldn't go wrong with either quarterback, even though an excellent defensive end, Florida State's Andre Wadsworth, would have been available at their turn. But they were mesmerized, so they traded to Arizona three contributing regulars and draft picks that turned into Wadsworth, Corey Chavous and David Boston so they could move up one spot to No. 2.
Indianapolis still called the game and made the correct assessment, picking Manning. In advance, the case for Manning was air tight. Even though he couldn't match Leaf on the upside, he was much more likely to reach his upside.
And Manning still had a very nice upside. Furthermore, quarterbacking requires extreme seriousness about football, and no one could deny Manning that. Like no other position, the quarterback is an extension of the coaches' chain of command and offensive philosophy. You don't want a yes man, but you do want someone who will cooperate.
With Manning off the board, the Chargers cheerfully selected Leaf and the Cardinals walked off with Wadsworth.
Two years later, Manning already is one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, guiding the Colts to last year's AFC championship game. Manning kept his head through an extremely difficult rookie season and came out of it ready to ply those lessons to the rest of a promising career.
The Cardinals, with Wadsworth, won a game in the NFC playoffs during his rookie year. Meanwhile, the Chargers are stuck with Leaf, a giant, hot-headed baby in whom they have so little confidence that they're more likely to play anyone who would crawl in off the street and sign his name to a piece of paper.
The story comes to mind because this weekend's NFL draft presents the Cleveland Browns with a top-pick riddle that's at once quite similar and quite different. It is similar, because the consensus top two players available address similar needs and, indeed, come from the same school. It's different because the players in question are defensive players.
Do they take Penn State defensive end Courtney Brown, or do they take Penn State linebacker LaVarr Arrington? Brown, who completed four years of college football, is, like Manning, the closer thing to a sure thing. Arrington, coming out after his junior season, is said to be somewhat difficult to coach and has proven himself brilliant and erratic, which is to say he has a flair for the dramatic.
So, would the Browns be wise to heed the Manning-Leaf case and take Brown, the steadier player? Of course not. The Browns would be wise to pick Arrington.
Defensive play isn't nearly so cerebral a matter as quarterbacking. The defensive player figures out where the play is going, runs down the ball carrier and tackles him. It's characteristic of defense that it feeds off emotion and raw aggression, two qualities Arrington piles onto the table.
Lawrence Taylor and Dick Butkus aren't in the Hall of Fame because they took such a refined, intellectual approach to the game. They're there because they were drawn to ball carriers the way sharks are drawn to blood. Arrington is in that very same mold.
It's often intended as a compliment to a quarterback when it's said he plays with a linebacker's mentality. But it's a disservice to a quarterback like Brett Favre, who not only plays tough and with daring but takes seriously his leadership role with the Green Bay Packers.
Like Taylor, Favre has done his bouts with intoxicants. But it was never considered a problem for Taylor, the player, the way it has been identified a problem for Favre, the player. And it's because the requirements for a quarterback and a linebacker are a lot different.
Favre has and will improve to the extent he plays quarterback like a quarterback rather than like a linebacker. No NFL team with any sense wants its quarterback to play like a linebacker. The smart teams want quarterbacks who play like quarterbacks and linebackers who play like linebackers.
Many pre-draft assessments of Leaf pegged him as a quarterback who played with a linebacker's mentality. The Chargers have come to learn how damaging that can be. But now the Browns are presented a chance to pick a linebacker who plays with a linebacker's mentality, and they ought to take it.
Arrington can give this new manifestation of the Browns the defensive identity it needs. He's a playmaker, a difference maker and, that said, by no account nearly as unreliable as Leaf. The team that picks Arrington soon will unleash the most awesome defensive force in the game. Meanwhile, though Brown is good, he'll have to tangle consistently with smart, beefy offensive linemen. He can't and won't make nearly the impact so early and often.
The Browns last year put themselves through a detailed and rigorous process to choose Tim Couch over Akili Smith, Cade McNown, Dante Culpepper and Donovan McNabb as their franchise quarterback with the top selection. Choosing Arrington as the cornerstone of their defense should be much easier.
Following the Browns and preceding the Bengals, who pick fourth, the Washington Redskins own the second and third selections. Recent speculation about New York Jets wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson has opened a scenario by which the Redskins would take Alabama offensive tackle Chris Samuels with the second pick and trade the third pick to the Jets for Johnson. The Jets would then pick Brown.
Like a lot of fellows who buy football teams, Redskins owner Daniel Snyder isn't shy about getting his way and is said to be enamored of Johnson, even though the Redskins already have two fine wide outs in Michael Westbrook and Albert Connell. The Redskins would be wise to hold onto the picks, drafting Samuels and Brown, although they already have signed future Hall of Famer Bruce Smith.
That leaves the Bengals. If Brown should slip, it would be interesting how the Bengals would react if the Jets should offer Johnson. Picture Johnson and Carl Pickens going out for passes from Smith. Both receivers are grumpy and Johnson would come with salary cap issues, but we're talking about the Bengals and anything we could make up would have to be more appealing than the reality.
It speaks volumes about the Bengals as a football operation that the pre-draft analysis is premised on the common desire of Pickens and running back Corey Dillon, their two top offensive threats, to take the next plane out of here. The draftniks expect the Bengals to take a receiver so they can let go of Pickens or, less often, take a running back so they can let go of Dillon.
Intractably, as always, the Bengals say they won't let go of either one. They have little leverage with Dillon after this season, however, and he'd be easier to replace in the draft. They could even trade down and still have a crack at one or two of the best available running backs -- Virginia's Thomas Jones, Alabama's Shaun Alexander (formerly of Boone County High), Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne from Wisconsin or Tennessee's Jamal Lewis.
If the Bengals should try to draft a wide receiver, the options aren't very appetizing. They could take Florida's smallish Travis Taylor, Florida State's Peter Warrick of the infamous sweater caper or Michigan State's Plaxico Burress, who showed up for a pre-draft workout in a limousine. They might as well give Reggie Rembert another try.
Whatever the solution, this is the kind of fix that's rendered laughable the notion of the Bengals rebuilding, through the draft and otherwise. If the Bengals find themselves drafting, trading and signing free agents just to replace players who want to leave, they'll never make any progress.
