Why the Browns need to and will pick Justin Blackmon with the #4 overall pick

I recently read an article on Bleacher Report about how the Browns need to draft Trent Richardson (Why the Browns need to pick Trent Richardson) by my good friend Gordie Gold. As much as I like Gordie (I tutored the damn kid in Chemistry) and his mom's Tollhouse cookies, I have to disagree. A lot.

Justin Blackmon needs to be the pick for the Browns. If he's not, Cleveland might burn down...again and for the first time since Lebron's departure.

The Browns had the 29th overall offense in the NFL in the 2011-2012 season, the 24th ranked passing attack, and the 28th ranked rushing attack. So why Blackmon?

Justin Blackmon is by consensus, the #1 WR in this draft.

The fact is Colt McCoy, like it or not, is not a franchise quarterback. But are the Browns really going to use the 6th overall pick on Ryan Tannehill, a former wide receiver who started playing quarterback late in his career at Texas A&M? No. Not with their offense having such gaping holes like Montario Hardesty as their starting running back and Mohammed Massaquoi, Greg Little, and Josh Cribbs as their top three wide receivers.

Those names don't strike fear into anyone, but by all accounts, adding Blackmon will. I am not that big of a fan of Blackmon, but he adds a dimension to the Browns' offense that they have never seen: an explosive wide receiver who can catch. Cribbs is an explosive player when he has the ball in his hands, but holding on to the ball has always been a problem for him. Blackmon gives McCoy or whoever else is under center in 2012 a sure-fire option, both on intermediate and long routes.

The Browns already lost out on the RGIII sweepstakes to the Redskins and Mike Holmgren explained it away to his season ticket holders by blaming that on the friendly relationship between Jeff Fisher and Mike Shanahan. The Browns need someone not only to sell tickets, but also to help them win. Sure, Richardson does that, but is a RB really worth a Top 5 pick in today's NFL unless his name is Adrian Peterson? No.

Lamar Miller looked awfully impressive at the NFL Combine.

More teams have gone toward a running-back-by-committee approach, in an attempt to lessen the wear and tear on their horses. As Gold mentions, the Brown have another first round pick - #22 overall and you know who will be available there? Lamar Miller, the running back from Miami, who has blazing speed and will also help McCoy with dump-offs and screen passes. If the NFL playoffs showed us anything last year, it's that you need a good quarterback and good weapons around him to succeed. Very few teams in the playoffs had a dominant #1 running back, but nearly all of them had great receiving options. It's not worth it to pick Richardson at #4 and to take a gamble on "lesser" wide receivers like Stephen Hill from Georgia Tech or Michael Floyd from Notre Dame.

Besides, there is a decent enough possibility that Richardson falls into the mid-to-late-teens. He's not a surefire prospect and there have been rumblings about him slipping. It's not entirely unlikely to think of the Browns trading up from #22 and #37 to grab Richardson. But at #4? Not a chance.

In addition, I will go on record right now to state my Top 5 picks for the NFL Draft. This will not change and I fully expect this to happen:

1. Colts: Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford - Don't buy Irsay's smokescreen. He loves the media and no way in hell he takes Griffin.
2. Redskins: Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor - Done deal. Griffin turned down the Colts and seems to be in love with the idea of playing in Shanahan system.
3. Vikings: Matt Kalil, OT, USC - The best OT since Joe Thomas is not going past Minnesota. Ponder needs protection and lots of it.
4. Browns: Justin Blackmon, WR, Oklahoma State - See above.
5. Buccaneers: Morris Claiborne, CB, LSU - Don't pay attention to his recent Wonderlic score. In a study conducted by Towson University, defensive backs who got lower Wonderlic scores actually perform better than their higher scoring counterparts.

Tell me if that Wonderlic score is really going to affect this..