INDIANAPOLIS -- The Browns are preparing for the NFL draft knowing they have the sixth overall selection and several holes to fill.
We don't -- and won't -- know what they're actually planning to do with that pick, but general manager Tom Heckert did present an intriguing possibility Friday in a meeting with Cleveland-area reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine.
How about a young, athletic, early-entry cornerback from the SEC? Just like Joe Haden last year?
If LSU's Patrick Peterson is still available when the Browns go on the clock, Heckert hinted that it would be tough to turn him down.
In today's pass-happy NFL, defenses have to be match up with speedy and versatile receivers. While the Browns prioritized the secondary last offseason in starting the draft with Haden and T.J. Ward and trading for Sheldon Brown, Heckert said he wouldn't be afraid to do so again with Peterson.
"He's big and fast and those guys don't come around every year," Heckert said. "This guy can fly."
Peterson, who won't be 21 until this summer, was listed by LSU at 6'1, 222 pounds. He'll be officially measured at the Combine when he arrives this weekend. The defensive backs don't work out until Tuesday, closing the Combine. Many here expect Peterson to post one of the fastest 40-yard dash times here this week.
There are two problems with penciling Peterson in with the Browns. One, that would be a lot of money invested in what would be an intriguing but still unproven position group. And two, the five teams picking ahead of the Browns are just as likely to put him on their respective wish lists.
Peterson won the Bednarik Award as the nation's top defender last fall and also the Thorpe Award as the nation's best defensive back. The SEC coaches voted him as the league's best defensive player and best special teams player.
Heckert and new Browns head coach Pat Shurmur were both working for the Eagles when Philadelphia had one of the league's top cornerback duos in Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor, and when the Eagles drafted Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown in the same year. Could we see a similar situation used as a defensive building block with the Browns?
"I wouldn't shy away from that," Heckert said. "You always need three cornerbacks. We have two good ones. We don't know about the third. If you can get a really good one, you have to look."
When Heckert says two, it's clear that Haden is one and Brown is the other. Eric Wright struggled in his fourth pro season, finished the year on injured-reserve and is likely headed for restricted free agency once the NFL's labor issues are resolved. The Browns carried only three true cornerbacks on the roster for much of last season, and Brown turns 32 next month.
Heckert said he's open to bringing Wright back -- "I think he's a good football player. I don't know what happened last year," Heckert said -- but it remains to be seen what will happen with the labor issues and how the Browns choose to address their needs whenever the free agent movement period begins. Safety Abe Elam is alsonscheduled to be an unrestricted free agent.
The Browns are facing a total defensive rebuild after switching from a multiple and complicated 3-4 base defense under old head coach Eric Mangini to a 4-3 base defense under Shurmur and new defensive coordinator Dick Jauron. The Browns lacked pass rushers last year and earlier this month released veteran defensive linemen Shaun Rogers and Kenyon Coleman and veteran linebackers David Bowens and Eric Barton.
