As a Cleveland Browns fan, most of us know that the annual NFL Draft has been the Browns’ Super Bowl. This organization hasn’t had much luck on the playing field for decades, so fans of Cleveland tend to spend more time than other fan bases gearing up for what we deem to be important to the team’s future. Unfortunately, a Browns win at a draft hasn’t yet caught up to wins on the football field.
As this draft got started, Cleveland had the No. 2 draft pick. So there were lots of stories building going into this draft of what they’d do and who they would select. Most would contend that winning on the field is all that matters and that winning these drafts in terms of player selection doesn’t really matter if it doesn’t project to W’s.
This year’s Cleveland draft class selections were outstanding and, in my book, earned them an A grade. Many local and national media outlets also gave the Browns high marks. But will it ultimately lead to victories on the gridiron?
The Browns selected seven players overall. They initially had that No. 2 draft pick but traded it to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who ended up acquiring Travis Hunter, a wide receiver and cornerback from Colorado. The Browns, in return, got the No. 5 pick and an additional series of picks for next year, including an extra first-round pick. With the Browns’ pick this year, they took star defensive lineman Mason Graham from Michigan.
Polarizing quarterback Shedeur Sanders of Colorado was projected to be drafted very high, but he unexpectedly dropped significantly in this draft. There are a lot of people speculating why that happened. The Browns were considered a favorite to pick him initially early in this draft, but that never happened, and the rest of the league passed on him for most of the draft.
But he was still available in the fifth round at pick No. 144, and the Browns took him off the board.
They had previously drafted Dylan Gabriel of Oregon in the 3rd round at pick No. 94, so the pick of Sanders came as a surprise to many.
Let’s take a brief look at the players the Browns drafted, and what could help this team significantly now and into the future.
Mason Graham
Top top-rated defensive end in the draft from Michigan. He will help the Browns’ defense, especially against the run. A generational talent who can play in Cleveland for a decade.
Carson Schwesinger
The highly touted linebacker was ranked as one of the best at his position. He only started last season for UCLA, but led his team in tackles and had instincts at the spot to make him a great get. Cleveland needs help at the linebacker position with an unknown future of Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoah
Quinshon Judkins
Photo via Imagn Images
The Ohio State Buckeye running back was a beast over his college career as a Buckeye and before that at Ole Miss. His bruising run style and ability to find the holes and take runs for touchdowns will make him an immediate fan favorite.
Harold Fanin
Another local talent, Fanin, a tight end, grew up in Canton and used to play at McKinley High School. He played college football at Bowling Green, where he tore up the MAC. He led all of college football with 117 receptions last season
Dillion Gabriel
He was a surprise pick by the Browns at No.94 at the end of the 3rd round of the draft. He helped his Oregon Ducks to many victories this year in the Big Ten. Before that, he was at Oklahoma for two seasons and three seasons at the University of Central Florida. His an older player, at 24 years old, and doesn’t exactly fit the mold of a typical AFC North quarterback. Gabriel only stands at 5’10 and could have difficulty in the NFL because of that. Analysts mention that Gabriel had a college football record-setting 155 touchdown passes in his career, but that career spanned six seasons. I don’t see him being more than a lifetime backup quarterback. It was my least favorite pick that the team made in this draft.
Dylan Sampson
Sampson comes from Tennessee, Jimmy Haslam‘s (Browns owner) alma mater so this was not a huge surprise that they drafted him. It doesn’t sound like the team expected to draft two running backs, but that’s what they did. Now there are questions of whether long-time Browns running back Nick Chubb, who’s currently a free agent, will return to Cleveland and what the team will do with Jerome Ford? Ford is in his last year of his rookie contract and his owed $3.4 million this season. Will the team consider cutting him if they can’t find a team to trade with for him?
Shedeur Sanders
Photo via Imagn Images
Sanders was the surprise pick of the team in this draft. Not because they were not interested, but because they passed on him multiple times during the draft. The fact that Sanders dropped in the draft so far is stunning, and there are a lot of questions about why that happened.
I’d written on Sanders being potentially drafted by the Browns at the No. 2 spot for a while now, and think the team should have taken him initially at that position.. But there he was at No.144 and the team finally made their move for him.
In their press conference after picking him, Browns General Manager Andrew Berry and Browns coach Kevin Stefanski talked about his value being too good to pass up at that point in the draft.
Why the NFL passed on Sanders is up for a lot of debate. I believe that a lot of it had to do with what I’ve mentioned before on Sanders and his family, and his father, Deion Sanders who is an NFL Hall of Famer. The family that was perceived by many as being very cocky and spoiled, and I question if the NFL purposefully passed on him until the Browns picked him up in the later rounds as a way of proving some sort of point.
We will never know for sure, but if that was the case, it was certainly very pathetic on the part of the NFL. Sanders was considered by most who analyze the draft and players coming out of college football as one of the top players to be drafted.
Moving forward, the Browns potentially have a future franchise quarterback in Sanders, so stay tuned!
In the end, the Browns won this draft. However, can they take these picks and help them win on the field of play?
Only time will tell!
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