With the NFL Draft coming up this Saturday, the Cleveland Browns have one tradition to upkeep: picking a bust.

According to basically every prognosticator in the land of football, Alex Smith will be the Browns pick.

Smith had two big years in college, both under Urban Meyer, who has an offense that is designed to make life easy on quarterbacks.

Smith threw for 2,952 yards and 32 touchdowns against four picks last season for Meyer. Those are numbers that pail in comparison to Omar Jacobs, who plays in a similar offense here in Bowling Green and will be spending next season with the Falcons again, a plan Smith should’ve done in order to become more polished and a more realistic No. 3 pick in the draft.

Even worse yet, would Smith even be a first round pick if Matt Leinart were in the draft, or would he be hanging around with Charlie Frye and Jason Campbell in the second round?

To end this story right now, Smith will be a bust.

But just in case this year’s Browns want to break the mold and take a chance at a decent player, they will have to dig deeper in the draft than the quarterback position.

A good place to start would be at wide receiver.

Right now, I’m doing some research to see if Braylon Edwards has cooties. Because nothing short of cooties or typoid fever should stop any of the top three teams from taking the Michigan star.

Edwards took an offense that featured two true freshmen in the backfield and rode it the whole way to the Rose Bowl. Rarely does a true freshman throw for 2,743 yards and 25 touchdowns like Chad Henne did. But rarely does a receiver like Edwards come around.

Unless of course that receiver’s name is Mike Williams. All Williams did in his two years at Southern Cal was take the Trojans out of the dark ages and back to glory.

His first year as a Trojan, he helped Carson Palmer to a Heisman Trophy by catching 81 passes for 1,265 and 14 touchdowns.

Then he followed that up by taking the Trojans to the national title with 95 catches for 1,314 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Basically, he and Edwards have one true strength. As a quarterback, all you have to do is throw it near them and they will catch it (see: Williams one hand grab in the endzone last year and the entire 2004 season for Edwards).

But in case the Browns feel they have too many weapons at receiver with the likes of Antonio Bryant (average at best), Andre Davis (injury prone) and Dennis Northcutt (return man) they can look to shore up at running back.

Thankfully, the William Green era is over and Reuben Droughns is a product of Denver’s unstoppable running game (see: Olandis Gary or Mike Anderson).

Behind Cleveland’s line, Droughns will be swallowed up immediately.

They need someone with the quickness and strength to get upfield and they need to look to further than Auburn for their remedy.

Everyone is up in arms about Ronnie Brown because he’s 232 pounds and runs a 4.45 40, but Carnell Williams was the man for the Tigers last year and there was a reason for that.

He is every bit as good, if not better than Brown. And considering Brown will be taken in the first two picks, maybe the Browns should try out the Cadillac, instead of the Gremlins they’ve grown accustomed to.

But because I know the Browns hate running backs and picking one isn’t altogether likely, they ought to start looking at underdogs.

Tackle Alex Barron is the top lineman in the draft and if the Browns want an instant impact on the line where they need an instant impact, Barron will succeed.

Derrick Johnson and Antrel Rolle could be considered underdog picks.

Rolle was more of an impact in college because of his ability to blitz from the corner, he may be locked up easily in the NFL.

Johnson, on the other hand, was good in college simply because he was good. He may not be able to shed blocks in stupid combine drills, but just look at what he did in college and you can see he can do it all defensively.

But when I say underdog, I mean underdog.

This goes beyond even David Pollack and brings us back to the quarterback position.

I am saying this, I would rather the Browns pick up supposed trouble maker Adrian McPherson, or north east Ohio’s very own, Charlie Frye than draft Smith or Aaron Rodgers.

Frye has proven he can win without much of a team around him.

He throws the ball well and is deceptively fast. Also, picking someone who isn’t supposed to be a superstar in the first place will prevent the Browns from drafting a bust of Tim Couch proportions.

And as far as McPherson is concerned, I have one word: throwing flat-footed 75 yards. I know it would piss off Cleveland and the NFL if McPherson was made the Browns first pick, but even he will be a better player than Rodgers or Smith.

There is a simple math equation these days: Smith or Rodgers equals Courtney Brown plus William Green muliplied by Tim Couch to the fourth power.

What I’m really trying to say, since Phil Savage reads the BG News every day, is don’t pick a quarterback. That is, unless you want to continue the Browns’ draft tradition.