Puskas: No Banner, but Browns are still secretive

If anyone thought the Cleveland Browns’ penchant for playing coy was swept away with owner Jimmy Haslam’s front-office housecleaning, they probably aren’t all that familiar with the way teams approach the NFL draft.

The firings of former general manager Mike Lombardi and CEO Joe Banner might have made the inner workings of the Browns’ brass more “streamlined,” as Haslam put it when he announced the stunning moves, but that doesn’t mean the team plans to adopt transparency as its MO in preparing for the draft in May.

Are you kidding?

This is probably the most critical draft for the Browns since their 1999 return to the NFL. They have 10 selections, including three of the top 35 picks, and they simply have to get this one right.

There can be no Courtney Brown, Gerard Warren or William Green this time. With the No. 4 overall selection and the No. 26 pick (thank you, Indianapolis, hope you’re still enjoying the myriad talents of a broken-down Trent Richardson), the Browns can ill afford to blow this draft the way the Mike Holmgren regime did with Richardson and Brandon Weeden.

If they do, look for Haslam to fire people who haven’t even been born yet.

So Ray Farmer, the Browns’ new GM, is going to be extremely careful about the organization’s intentions with all those draft picks and the cap space the team has cleared in recent years.

Even as the 2013 season was winding down, the consensus was the Browns had seen enough of Weeden and Jason Campbell to know that using another first-round draft pick on a quarterback was necessary. Brian Hoyer, who looked decent enough before his season-ending injury, seemed like the kind of player who was best suited to keep the job warm for a 2014 rookie.

Maybe Johnny Manziel or Teddy Bridgewater. Maybe Blake Bortles or Derek Carr.

Farmer, talking to reporters at the NFL combine in Indianapolis last week, didn’t exactly say, “Not so fast, my friend,” but he might as well have pulled a Lee Corso.

“It could be safe [to say we’ll draft a quarterback], but we might not go that direction,” Farmer said. “It may not be what everybody thinks it’s going to be. There is an opportunity for some curveballs.”

Banner and Lombardi are gone, but Farmer isn’t going to tip his hand before the draft. It pays to keep other teams guessing — especially when three of them are picking ahead of you. If the Browns really covet Manziel— or any of the other QBs — why let anyone know about it now?

If their intent is to take a player like wide receiver Sammy Watkins at No. 4, maybe they sandbag for him and try to convince other teams they want someone else.

The Browns already have some talent on the field — most notably wide receiver Josh Gordon, left tackle Joe Thomas and cornerback Joe Haden — and this draft is the best opportunity they’ve had in years to add more significant pieces and become relevant again.

The Browns, for once, have leverage and the draft is all about leverage. Farmer is going to keep his as long as possible.

It’s what teams do this time of year, no matter who is making the decisions.

Write Vindicator sports editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @edpuskas85.