Maybe Don’t Listen to the Guy That Drafted Johnny Manziel?

If I were to tell you that you were about to get some advice from a former general manager that worked for the Cleveland Browns, I’m sure you would immediately ask me, “what for?”

There are certainly things a former Browns GM could be very knowledgeable about, information that he gleaned over his tenure with the team that could benefit you in some way.

Things like…

How to break a lease?

How to find the best moving company?

How to file for unemployment?

Is a restraining order that serious?

What’s the best beer to buy in bulk?

How does a repossessed Nissan Titan affect your credit score?

Those are questions which a former Cleveland Browns GM could absolutely present himself as a believable authority.

What I don’t want to hear from a former Browns GM is any advice on who to draft.

Which brings us to Mike Lombardi.

Lombardi made news this week because he thinks that Alabama quarterback and presumptive first round pick Tua Tagovailoa is “brittle and injury prone.”

Now, it doesn’t matter that if these minor injuries happened that they didn’t keep Tagovailoa out of the Crimson Tide line up regularly or appear to alter his Heisman-level performances in any way until he actually hurt his hip this past season, an injury that he has since been cleared.

According to Lombardi, “He (Tagovailoa) is a really good player. …I’m not disputing the evaluation. I’m saying that, if you’re picking a quarterback, it’s really hard to pick a good one. …The risk far outweighs the reward.”

Lombardi should know. He’s the general manager that pulled the trigger on Johnny Manziel.

Mike Lombardi, if you can believe it, is no relation at all to Hall of Fame Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi, which explains why he sucks, but does not explain in any way how he managed to keep a job in the periphery of the NFL for years.

Most of Lombardi’s actual football jobs have been with the Browns, either the old or the new and they are punctuated by ridiculous failures. He was Director of Player Personnel in 1993-1995, which, if you’ll recall, were the seasons that ensured that the old Browns would get packed up and moved to Baltimore to become the Ravens.

After already ruining Cleveland once with his reverse Midas touch, the new Browns hired him as their GM in 2013. That same year, he selected Barkevious Mingo, at No. 6 overall. Mingo lasted all of three seasons in Cleveland and has bounced around the NFL ever since, starting 38 of a possible 110 games.

Who could they have picked in that spot? I don’t know how fair it is to look at that 2013 draft and ask that. It was garbage from top to bottom. It was a bust fest and deserves its own 30 for 30 someday. I mean, look at it. It’s a crime against humanity.

But it’s the 2014 draft that should hang like a millstone wrapped in dead albatrosses around Lombardi’s neck for the rest of this life. Cleveland picked at No. 8. Who did they pick? Cornerback Justin Gilbert who, as of 2017, is no longer in the NFL.

Who could they have had? They had their pick there, at eight, of not one, not two, not three, but four possible future Pro Football Hall of Fame players and Lombardi whiffed on every one of them. Ironically, Odell Beckham Jr., who was picked at No. 12 by the New York Giants, is actually a Brown now. Taylor Lewan went to the Tennessee Titans at No. 11, C.J. Mosley went to the Baltimore Ravens at No. 17 and most damningly, the best defensive player in the NFL and one of the best ever in the history of the league went to the then St. Louis Rams at No. 13. I’m talking of course about Aaron Donald.

But the Browns didn’t have just one first round pick. They had two. That second one came into play at No. 22 when Lombardi proudly turned in the card with Manziel’s name on it with Teddy Bridgewater and Derek Carr still on the board. Carr, at least as of this writing, is the starting quarterback for the Oakland Raiders. Bridgewater is the presumptive starter with the Carolina Panthers. Manziel is hawking Direct Auto insurance.

Lombardi slummed it up with the New England Patriots for a few years after getting tossed out the Browns’ airlock before even Bill Belichick got sick of looking at him. Now he’s on your satellite radio station, listened to by 10s of people who can’t find the aux button on their rental car.

Maybe ignore his thoughts on Tua Tagovailoa is what I’m saying.

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