Will Joe Haden Fall Out Of The Top Ten In The NFL Draft?

If you take mock drafts as gospel, then Florida CB Joe Haden will be going to the Browns at the 7th pick. He's arguably the top corner in this draft and the Browns are in need of some secondary help.

Fortunately, mock drafts are not gospel and Haden's draft position is up for debate.

According to Michael Lombardi of the National Football Post, Haden may be slipping out of the top ten.

Florida corner Joe Haden has had some top-10 visits, but I keep hearing he's not a top-10 pick. Hard to pick a speed-deficit corner in the top 10 and pay all that money. Remember, the rookie pay scale overpays the players from the first to the 12th pick in the first round; the rest of the salary structure is effective.

I agree with Lombardi that pay scale is out of whack but what's the big deal about the speed? Chiefs CB Brandon Flowers had similar speed concerns which caused him to drop into the second round. Now he's one of the best young corners in the game.

Haden ran in the area of a 4.4 forty at his pro day so I just don't see the speed argument having any validity.

I know forty times are important but Haden is rated as the No. 1 corner in this draft for a reason and that's what he did in games at Florida -- not what he did in track and field.

Cornerback is a premium position and Haden's atop that list so I have a hard time seeing a scenario where he falls.

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The Browns are expected to strongly consider selecting Florida's CB Joe Haden with the 7th pick in the 2010 NFL draft. However, should he fall, a couple of other teams will have plenty of information on him.

According to the National Football Post, Haden will conduct pre-draft visits with the Titans and Bengals.

The Titans are selecting 16th and the Bengals 21st so he would really have to tumble in order for him to have a shot absent a trade up.

The biggest knock on Haden following the NFL Combine in February was his speed which was reported to be in the 4.6 second range. He addressed those concerns with a strong performance at Florida's pro day running the forty yard dash between 4.3 and 4.4 seconds, according to various reports.

Even if the Browns pass on him, I have a hard time believing he makes it all the way to the 16th pick.

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CB Joe Haden is making the pre-draft rounds and, according to his agent, the Browns are showing "strong interest" in Haden, who's expected to be selected in the top half of the draft.

"The Browns have shown a lot of interest in Joe and he's very, very excited about the possibility of playing in Cleveland," said Shareef. "He likes coach Eric Mangini and [President] Mike Holmgren. He'd love to be part of Mike Holmgren's legacy of turning that franchise around."    

The Browns visited with Haden in Maryland on Monday. Defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson put him through an individual workout and Haden's agent said he performed well.

The Browns are also bringing him to Cleveland for a private workout sometime in April.

Their interest in Haden isn't a surprise. The most common mock draft landing spot for Haden is Cleveland at No. 7.

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