Mitch Trubisky: Sun Bowl Cements His 1st-Round Pick Status

Potential first-round pick Mitch Trubisky is the No. 1 reason northeast Ohioans are watched the Sun Bowl. He didn’t have his best game, but he showed why he should a first-round pick in the NFL Draft.

CBS sportswriter Jason La Canfora was at it again. Weeks after reporting the Browns were in love with Mentor High School product Mitch Trubisky, the scribe is revved up the rumor mill yet again.

La Canfora tweeted that the Browns front office was in attendance to watch Trubisky and his North Carolina Tar Heels in the Sun Bowl.

Not really sure how much this means, other than at least the Browns are doing their due diligence. Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta were in attendance to watch Myles Garrett in the Texas Bowl Wednesday night. Remember, the franchise did no homework on Dak Prescott leading up to the 2016 draft.

Congrats on doing your job, Browns.

Early on, Trubisky’s didn’t disappoint. Check out this touchdown strike.

And then there was this one, where Trubisky evades the pass rush and picks some yards up on the ground.

Trubisky may not be 6-5, 240 as Ben Roethlisberger is, but he’s no such either. At 6-foot-3, 220 pounds,  I couldn’t help but think of Big Ben as I watched Trubisky shed tackles here.

Just think of how many times Ben has evaded a Browns pass rush to make something out of nothing.

During the first half, Mitch was far from perfect. Here, the safety jumps his attempt to Ryan Switzer.

The first half continued to trend the wrong way for Trubisky, who fumbled the ball after the Umpire accidentally knocked the ball out the quarterback’s hands.

Trubisky was mostly quiet for the second half, until his named popped up again for the wrong reason. This pick six put his team down eight, and as we’d find out, his team would never recover.

Stanford looked like it was going to win this one easily as the Cardinals possessed the ball late in the game on Tar Heels’ 1-yard-line. The defense held, and Stanford settled for a field goal.

With the score 25-17, Mitch would get another chance, and he capitalized. Just look at the huge chunk of yardage he picked up with just over a minute to play.

The game was looking like more of a disappointment than a showcase for Trubisky, who probably didn’t do much to change the mind of his detractors.

But what he did show, was heart. He had at least three touchdown passes dropped on the final drive. He hooked up with Bug Howard for a 1-yard TD pass after finding Switzer with this gem.

One game can make a draft pick, but it shouldn’t break Trubisky for playing Despite cooling off considerably from the first quarter, Trubisky brought the Tar Heels back to the brink of tying the game with some more Roethlisberger-esque moves.

Unfortunately, Mitch couldn’t convert the two-point conversion and the Tar Heels lost.

Trubisky number’s aren’t off the wall good. His team lost the game. He was 23-of-39 for 280 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

But one so-so game shouldn’t change his stock. By this time of year, all the scouting, in theory, should be done. If anything, Trubisky helped himself by leading a last minute drive with the pressure cooking.

At least one NFL scout still believes the Browns should make the northeast Ohio native the No. 1 overall selection this spring, according to Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot.

Does Mitch remind you of any NFL QBs? Which ones?

Next: Pryor Has No Choice But To Test The Market

Does his play in the Sun Bowl hurt or help your opinion of him?