According to an article today in the Akron Beacon-Journal, things have gotten so bad in Cleveland that Browns GM Phil Savage has begun polling sportswriters of all people on who the Browns should take with the third pick.

A snippet from the article:

“

As he stood to go back to work, he stopped and said: `OK, (quarterback JaMarcus) Russell and (receiver Calvin) Johnson are gone. Who do you take?’

The poll of 10 or so writers was almost evenly split between Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson and Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, with Wisconsin tackle Joe Thomas getting one vote.

Savage’s choice?

He wasn’t saying. He kept his straight face Tuesday as he discussed the Browns’ plans for the April 28 and 29 NFL Draft.”

He wasn’t saying or he doesn’t know.

I think it’s much more likely the latter.

Let us not forget that this was the guy who drafted Motorcycle Expert Kellen “The Soldier” Winslow, Jr. with the 6th overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. He picked a guy who has exactly three career touchdowns going into his fourth year in the  league in a top ten draft class that included Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Larry Fitzgerald, Sean Taylor, Roy Williams and DeAngelo Hall.

So who will the Browns take with the third overall pick on April 28? In fairness, a lot of it depends on what the Raiders and Lions do with the first two picks. You can imagine that if the Browns are sitting there and Russell and Johnson are off the board then they’re looking at Brady Quinn, Joe Thomas or Adrian Peterson. The problem with the Browns is that they’re so horrendous that they could use all three of those players.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them take Brady Quinn with this pick. It’s a pick that the fans in Cleveland would get behind because Quinn’s an Ohio kid and the prospect of seeing Quinn throw to Braylon Edwards is probably very enticing.

The smart pick but not the sexy pick would be Joe Thomas. Charlie Frye may not be the quarterback of the future in Cleveland but you’ll need someone to protect that guy whoever that guy is down the road for the Browns.

MORE ON VIRGINIA TECH

Pretty poignant cartoon yesterday by Jim McCloskey of the News Leader in Staunton, Va.

There was an article today in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that I thought I would see more of in newspapers across the country. The reporter asked University of Wisconsin football players what they thought about what happened at VaTech, given that they also go to a large public university.

A pretty good article today in the Washington Post about how the university and its athletes are trying to balance athletics and tragedy in the aftermath of the massacre.