Why Cleveland Should Draft Carnell Tate

Rich lays out a pitch Cleveland fans should want. The Browns sit at the sixth pick. Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate is on the board. If Cleveland takes him, they check three boxes at once. Premium need. Premium fit. Fan service.

Rich's logic runs through how the Browns have used recent draft capital. They have invested in the offensive side of the ball in back-to-back classes. They added Harold Fanning. They drafted Quinshon Judkins. They have built a young offensive room even after losing David Njoku. Plugging Tate into that mix gives new head coach Todd Monken, an offensive mind, a real one-two-three of receiver, running back, and tight end coming out of this class. It also gives Browns fans a name they already know. The Ohio State pipeline into Cleveland is a straight line up the highway.

The wrinkle is the quarterback. Rich says it plainly. Deshaun Watson is going to start. The Browns did not bring in a veteran in free agency. They are not going to sign Jimmy G at this stage. They are locked into the money they owe Watson, so he is the answer until he is not. Rich adds he has gone further on the Shedeur Sanders case than almost anyone in national media, and he still thinks Browns fans have to reconcile that Watson is the one who walks out of the tunnel week one.

That is the honest part of the sales pitch. The excitement part depends on Watson looking like the player they spent their capital on. If he does, giving him Carnell Tate to throw to is the move that gives the offense a spark fans can rally around. Rich lists the trio of Tate, Judkins, and Fanning and says the answer writes itself as a foundation, at least on paper.

Rich closes with a rivalry bit. Both Judkins and Tate have one common line on their resume. They beat Michigan. Rich points out a story bouncing around that a radio host apologized for saying Ohio State had a better year than Michigan this past season. His response is that the final score of the national title game is not hard to look up.

The segment reads as a fan-forward argument built on real draft logic. Position value at six. A scheme fit in Monken's system. A pipeline Browns fans already respect. And a quarterback problem Rich is not pretending away, because the pitch only works if Watson shows up as the version of himself that justified the trade in the first place.