Let’s see, the Cleveland Browns are a playoff-caliber team in need of an improved pass rush. They have Kamerion Wimbley, Willie McGinest and Antwan Peek to generate the “edge” rush – and when exactly did it become an “edge” rush anyway – but more pass rush is always good. There was a perennial Pro Bowl player on the market, a guy who as recently as two seasons ago was the Defensive Player of the Year. Name of Jason Taylor. Could have been acquired for less than a first-round pick. Taylor played in college at Akron, and now he plays professionally in Washington. He was traded to the Redskins yesterday.

Should the Browns have tried to acquire Taylor?

Let’s admit first that Taylor’s salary cap hit this season is $8 million. I have no idea if the Browns can fit that, but I would hazard a guess that given the increase in the cap the past two years finding the room for Taylor’s deal would not have been a major problem. We proceed here on that assumption.

Second, let’s admit that it’s easy to look back and second-guess. Taylor already is traded. It’s almost moot to discuss it now. But it’s also fun. And at various points this offseason the Dolphins made it clear they would not trade Taylor. Turns out it wasn’t that difficult a thing to do, and had the Browns wanted to acquire Taylor they might have been able to complete a deal.

Finally, it’s possible the Browns did try to acquire Taylor. They conduct their business in private and they don’t always call to solicit advice, so it’s entirely possible the team made a pitch or conducted some serious meetings to discuss the possibility and decided otherwise. I’m just pondering – and it’s a blog, and we all know what THAT means.

So let’s ponder …

Pro: Guy can rush the passer. Great pass rusher.
Con: He’s 33, and threatening to focus on his acting career after this season. Sound like another Browns great?
Pro: He’s a pro. Despite his desires to get out of Miami, he brings the right attitude to the locker room. Last year he won the Walter Payton Award as the league’s Man of the Year, which honors a player’s community activity as well as on-field play.
Con: He would fill the same role as McGinest – the elder statesman with a year or two left – and a team only needs so many of those guys.
Pro: He’s had at least 11 sacks in each of the last three seasons.
Con: How long can that last?
Pro: He leads the NFL with 117 career sacks.
Con: You want me to find a con for that one?
Pro: He can cut a mean rug.
Con: The Brown already have one dancing fool on the team in Shaun Rogers.
Pro: The Browns are close, very close, and when you’re close you should take your shot. Big risk can sometimes equal big reward.
Con: The Browns already traded next year’s third-round pick to Dallas for tight end Martin Rucker. Trading the second-round pick next year (which Washington did plus a sixth-rounder in 2010) would leave the Browns with one first-day pick – in the first round. The Browns had a zero-activity first day in this year’s draft. Line up too many of those in a row and suddenly the future is void.
Irrelevant thought: Washington gave up a second next year and a sixth the following? The only thing that would have made the deal more one-sided would have been to include a retired player doing nothing, a la the NBA.
Pro: Taylor could mean the Super Bowl!
Con: He could also tear his Achilles’ practicing a plie (how do you get that little funny mark over the “E” in Word anyway?).

The key question – is the possibility of acquiring Jason Taylor and adding 10 sacks going to make the difference in the Browns? This comes down to philosophy. Me, I believe the key to any successful defense begins and ends with the pass rush. Disrupt the quarterback’s timing and half the battle is won.

But I’m just a schmuck with a typewriter. I’m not sitting in Berea poring over films or discussing schemes. At one time in Berea “gap integrity” was a big issue. A colleague once quipped that when eating lobster he violated “lap integrity” by spilling butter on himself.

Alas, we digress.

The key fact about acquiring Taylor was his ability – which is a higher level than anyone’s on the Browns defense now, including Wimbley. Right now, Taylor is the kind of player Wimbley aspires to be.

But there’s his age. Joey Porter seemed like a decent player when Miami signed him a year ago; now he looks washed up. Things can go quick in football, and when they do there’s nobody waiting at the recliner to put the ability back in a body.

The other concern is the future, and how much a team mortgages for now. Some teams will do anything for now. The Browns don’t seem to be that kind of team. If a second-round pick were traded, that would mean the Browns would enter the 2009 draft with one first-day pick from the 2008 and 2009 drafts.

Travis Wilson excepted, these first-day picks are the lifeblood of a team, the heart and soul of the future. They are vital to maintaining any kind of consistent success. It’s hard to envision any team succeeding over time trading them all away. Too, once you make the first trade with a future pick, it snowballs because more future picks are all you have to trade as you go along.

That being said, the Browns also are a team that is pretty dadgum close. And if Taylor could make a difference, it might be worth it. Too, the Browns have a GM who is very adept at acquiring draft picks via trade, so perhaps he could recoup some lost picks in the future.

Tough call. Very tough call.

But if I were sitting in Berea, I’d have been on the phone with Miami. A lot.

On a separate matter … kinda miffed at Adriana Lima. Not only does she spurn dumpy Irish sportswriters for an NBA player, she has to rub our face in it. Could we not have done without this little “red carpet” show at the ESPYs? I mean, really now. Was this a sponsorship deal or something? Was this done because some of us couldn’t attend because we had to sort out the junk drawer? When’s the last time an NBA player sorted out his junk drawer? Or even HAD a junk drawer? Hrrmph. This keeps up she’s coming off this year’s Tupperware party list.