Cleveland Browns waived 2009 second-round pick David Veikune

[Legacy Fan]

p.s.

Your move, Dan Snyder.

[Crow]

no no don't cut him

just teach him to play wr he'll be great

[Alo]

Originally Posted by Thaak

I don't completely agree with you. While it is definitely a bigger switch than the switches you said could work, the switch from DE to ILB HAS worked before. Also, if you are an intelligent, athletic, football player, you should be able to switch from any position to any position.

It's just that Veikune wasn't smart enough, athletic enough, or good enough of a football player to make the switch. My guess is, that the coaching staff determined he would make a horrible OLB, and thought his only shot was ILB.

There are an increasingly number of guys being moved from defensive end to inside linebacker, in part to keep up with the surging demand for 3-4 inside backers.

However, those conversion guys usually are late round picks/UDFAs, in part because the transition isn't easy or likely to be a successful one.

Taking Veikune that high to be an ILB was unprecedented. Yes, Bruschi was picked in the 3rd round, but his transition to ILB wasn't planned out from the start, like Veikune's was.

[TheBestPlayersPlay]

No risk, no reward. They thought Veikune had the brains to make the switch, they were wrong.

Veikune would likely still be on our roster, however we went out and signed a bunch of pretty good LBers over the offseason if anyone forgot. Veikune is not that good yet, and he may never be. But this is certainly a feather in the cap of Mangini haters everywhere. Otherwise, his first draft with the Browns looks pretty damned good, if you are actually looking at it without media fueled Mangini hate rhetoric staining your assessment.

Heckerts is looking good so far too, blown knees happen. Hopefully Hardesty returns to form as the franchise back he should be, but I'm ecstatic with what I've seen so far from Haden, Ward, Hardesty, and Lauavo.

Mack's got it right in this thread.

[Flugel]

Originally Posted by Alo

That's a good point about him not being eligible for the p-squad. Does anyone really want a guy who hasn't found a position and who isn't dynamic on special teams taking up a roster spot?

I know we're not exactly a franchise that can flush high round picks down the toilet. My take? Not really a BIG deal considering he was a complete reach to be one of three 2nd round picks in the first place. We more than made up for it with the additions of Jason Trusnik, Marcus Benard and Titus Brown. Trusnik can play inside or outside. Benard showed me he could get back into soem zones when he's not supposed to rush the passer - LOVE that more than you can imagine. Rewatch the last game vrs Chicago. Even when he was late he closed so freak fast the gain was 2 yards. He's everything we wanted Veikune to be and so is Trusnik. I think we're gonna eventually see Titus Brown is better tham Maiava even though Maiava got drafted because he can play STs and he played in a 3-4 in college. I think the upside favors Brown here.
- Tom F.

[samoth]

Originally Posted by DeadWombat

Oh man.... finally.

ManKok's draft was so sad its funny. But hey, we got Mack!


Unfortunately Heckert's first year here hasn't looked too good so far either.

I don't know man, any draft you can get 3 starters out of is a good one IMO. We had plenty of nasty drafts under Butch and Savage where almost none of the players panned out.

2009 we got Mack, Massaquoi, and potentially Robiskie depending on how he pans out.
2010 we got Ward, Haden and Lauvao, and potentially Hardesty.

That's not a bad thing. Think of all the Gerard Warrens and Willie Greens we drafted and be happy things are turning around.

[Legacy Fan]

Originally Posted by TheBestPlayersPlay

No risk, no reward. They thought Veikune had the brains to make the switch, they were wrong.

Veikune would likely still be on our roster, however we went out and signed a bunch of pretty good LBers over the offseason if anyone forgot. Veikune is not that good yet, and he may never be. But this is certainly a feather in the cap of Mangini haters everywhere. Otherwise, his first draft with the Browns looks pretty damned good, if you are actually looking at it without media fueled Mangini hate rhetoric staining your assessment.

Heckerts is looking good so far too, blown knees happen. Hopefully Hardesty returns to form as the franchise back he should be, but I'm ecstatic with what I've seen so far from Haden, Ward, Hardesty, and Lauavo.

Mack's got it right in this thread.

If I'm being lumped into the "Mangini Hater" group for expressing my displeasure with how the Veikune thing turned out, let me at least clarify my(our) position, as it appears to be incorrectly portrayed in this post.

It's not that Mangini should 'hit' on every pick. It's not that Mangini shouldn't draft projects. It is about where Mangini drafted this project. And then didn't give a real chance. Some guys aren't practice phenoms that can answer every question right in the film room. Some guys just know how to get to the football & make plays on gameday. So you let them do that (Shaun Rogers).

Hopefully Mangini at least saw a little of this or this pick (& Mangie's draft acumen) is even worse than I am complaining about.
Posted via Barking Hard Mobile

[Enigmatic Evil]

Originally Posted by Masters

Exactly Alo. It would be hard to believe that BMac's recent twitter incident didn't play a factor in him being cut.

I am out of the loop... What did BMac say? (I didn't know he was cut...)

This though, is no surprise to me. We reached on Veikune, and we never gave him a spot to be comfortable. We kept trying new things and hoping that he would just 'get it'. That was not the case. Moving him to ILB and hoping for the best was a doomed move and really, a terrible decision. Mangini's supposed to be a defensive minded guy, he should have known better than this but oh well. The people who have been dogging Veikune since the start (which is a considerable amount of us) are right...

I'm labeling Veikune an official bust.

[Shep]

Originally Posted by MackTruck

In terms of talent, the BE deal was more beneficial. The Browns have picked up Stucky,Lauvao and Trusnik for BE, a guy who wasn't coming back. Nice reinvestment. Guys with several more year in the tank.

If you have read any of Mangini's pressers, you will understand how desperate he was to trade down for Mack. I suspect the Jets were the only team interested into trading up for Sanchez and thus got a easy package from Mangini. Basically Mack and a 2nd rounder, plus Coleman and Elam, who could help the defensive transition. But in terms of talent, the former deal was better outside Heckert wasting a 5th.

Did we pick Veikune with that pick? I think we did, right?

So it stands Sanchez for Mack and Elam right now... which in most minds here is Sanchez for Mack. Few GMs would trade a starting QB for a starting center, even a good one.

That trade is not looking great. But agreed... the BE trade could end up surprisingly okay, considering it was basically a fire sale.

[webdog]

Originally Posted by Masters

Exactly Alo. It would be hard to believe that BMac's recent twitter incident didn't play a factor in him being cut.

That, and he doesn't play special teams.

[Shep]

My issue of the past two drafts is that we're a team that lacks star power, impact players making big plays, etc., and we've come away with a center, a nickel corner, a couple of possession receivers, a safety, and a right guard. They're all perfectly good players, but I would have liked to have seen a QB, a gamechanging #1 WR, a franchise back, or a scary-ass pass rusher in there somewhere.

[Crow]

we easily won the be trade

because it meant be left cleveland