This NFL Draft has been one of the most interesting in years for the Cleveland Browns. The Tennessee Titans will not be taking a quarterback with the number one overall pick. Which makes it rather interesting for the Browns. Both of the top two consensus quarterbacks in the draft have drawbacks. Basically, none of them are worth the number two overall pick. Complicating the issue is the presence of two generational talents in Penn State defensive end Carter and Colorado wide receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter. The Browns do not have a consensus on their number two overall pick. It is going to depend a lot on what Tennessee does. And Tennessee wants to bait Cleveland into trading up for the number one overall pick. Costing us valuable draft capital for someone we could get anyway at number two.
This is why the Browns have been very tight-lipped on what they are thinking. It is obvious now that they have not fallen in love with either of the quarterbacks. Cam Ward could be our version of Lamar Jackson. We all remember Lamar Jackson’s first years in the league, too. He did not look that great at first. The Browns have an aging roster and they do not want to wait three years for a quarterback to develop. The Browns are built to win now and we need to win now. If you look at it from this aspect, Cleveland signing Joe Flacco and trading for Kenny Pickett is going to be what they are going to do in the quarterback market this year. Both of these options are stopgaps. But that is all we need to win is stopgaps.
The game the Tennessee Titans are playing is to make Cleveland think that they are going to take Carter or Hunter number one overall. If the Browns are in love with one of these picks, they’re going to have to trade up to the number one overall pick to make sure they get their guy. Basically, the Tennessee Titans want to get a lot of the Browns draft capital without showing their hand. Cleveland has to stay disciplined and not fall for this trap.
The consensus around the league is that the Browns will take Travis Hunter. Hunter fits two needs. With Jerry Judy and Hunter you can have a two-headed monster on offense. And if Travis Hunter needs a little rest, you can play them in the slot on defense. If he’s feeling good, he can hold up against the number to the receiver. Travis Hunter is a superstar and he would look great in a Cleveland Browns uniform. Players like Travis Hunter will force their way on the field anyway. In this case, letting him on the field for 90 snaps a game would be awesome. You would feel two needs with one pick.
Is Travis Hunter worth trading up for the number one overall draft choice??
In one word, no.
Travis Hunter is a generational talent and a great player. But the Browns would have to give up a lot to move into the number one choice. No player is worth what the Browns would have to give up. If the Browns don’t get Hunter, they could still take Carter. So you would have Myles Garrett number two on the line. That might be asking a lot from Carter, but he is also a generational talent. And it would give the Browns one of the best defenses in the league. Probably one of the best since the 2000 Ravens. Those are also shoes that would not be too bad to walk in.
So a lot of what you are reading in the papers and seeing on ESPN is just the front offices of the Cleveland Browns and the Tennessee Titans jockeying for a potential trade for the number one draft choice. This is a game that will continue on draft night. We need to hope the Browns stay disciplined and do not trade up. Unless they can do it on the cheap. If there is a way to trade for the number one draft choice on the cheap, Andrew Berry will have to find it. And only then can we make a safe trade for our guy.
The Browns’ draft extends further than just the number one choice. The Browns have a lot of premium picks. They need to use them wisely. We can feel a lot of roster holes on our roster with these picks. The Browns have been developing talent over the last few years. Now we need to fill the talent pipeline and let them develop. Andrew Berry is going to need to cook. We need some cheap talent around the Myles Garrett and the Deshaun Watson contracts. The Browns need to pull a page out of the Kansas City Chiefs’ playbook and just hit on talent, no matter what the position is. We need some good, young and cheap players just because of the two big contracts. And we need them now.
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