Myles Garrett or Deshaun Watson? Why Not Both?

The Browns have holes. As in plural.

The Browns need playmakers on both sides of the ball.

The Browns need a quarterback.

By the way, taxes are due on April 15th.

In all seriousness, after Deshaun Watson’s epic championship performance, the Cleveland Browns have an interesting dilemma on their hands.

Do they take the consensus best overall player in the draft or are they confident enough that Watson is a franchise quarterback to select him with the first overall pick?

Teams need quarterbacks and as much as fans can hope Watson is there at No. 12, it’s probably not going to work out that way.

In case you’ve been under a rock, Alabama’s defense has been touted as the greatest in college football and the most talented group to play under Nick Saban.

Someone forgot to tell Watson that. Twice. In the biggest stage any college player can hope to perform.

This doesn’t take away from the potential greatness Myles Garrett can bring to a Browns defense that desperately needs star players.

My question is this: why does one have to exclusively be the right choice and the other is automatically a failure in the minds of fans?

If Garrett goes on to have a successful career, that means Watson is a guaranteed bust? And vice versa?

This is a good problem to have.

When the team you root for has the number one pick, it means your team controls its own destiny.

What route does the team want to go?

For starters, when the Browns hired Hue Jackson, one of his main duties was finding a quarterback and grooming that player to be the face of the franchise.

Forgive me if I’m missing something, but Cody Kessler doesn’t seem to strike that chord.

Watson has already achieved milestones none of his college peers were able to accomplish.

If Coach Jackson believes he can make Watson the franchise QB, are fans going to then second guess the judgement of the guy who they were so happy to put in charge of this search?

Secondly, on the off chance that Watson falls, it seems like a win-win.

Unlikely, but not impossible.

But here’s a thought:

If the Browns believe both players can be franchise changers, why not put all the chips on the table and go for it?

The team has options.

Move up from 12, throw in whatever resources it takes to put the team in position to grab Watson and Garrett, and there are your two centerpieces of the team on each side of the ball.

If the coaches, scouts, and management are that confident in each player, what’s stopping them from pulling off that kind of haul?

At the end of the day, anything I write, anything a talk show host or NFL analyst says, or anything a fan tweets should not cross the minds of decision makers in the War Room.

But why do we limit one player’s chances based on another player’s potential, when the two aspects never intersect?

Garrett could become an All-Pro defensive lineman.

Watson could become a perennial playoff quarterback (and judging by his resume, he shows up in big games).

Let’s stop with the back and forth of this guy is a stud and the person you like sucks.

We had enough of that with the election.

Let’s allow football minds to make the best football decision and bring the best football players to Cleveland.

If I’m putting my two cents in for you to read, I prefer both. I think both will be good. And Lord knows the Browns can use talent in more than one position.