Johnny Manziel is the obvious answer but the list is long of Browns NFL draft mistakes
While we as a site tend to focus as much as possible on the positives of covering the Cleveland Browns, the team’s recent history has a lot of negatives. The betrayal by Art Modell led to The Return in 1999, a rushed process that left both the stadium and the team with poor foundations.
Year after year, new front offices and new coaching staffs tried to re-pour new foundations using the NFL draft as the material for what would become the new Browns. Year after year, failure followed.
With the second overall pick, GM Andrew Berry hopes not to add to the “swing and miss” that was the Deshaun Watson acquisition. Given Cleveland’s draft decisions since 1999, it is unlikely (but still possible) that Berry’s choice at the top of the 2025 NFL draft will even crack the top 10 of worst picks and decisions.
In a piece that will be posted on SB Nation’s home page soon, we were asked to give what we thought was the Browns biggest draft regret. We all decided to keep our answers to a more recent history (only going back to the 1990s).
Cleveland fans were already running through their Rolodex of terrible decisions by the team, but we will start off the conversation with two of them:
Drafting Johnny Manziel
Was Manziel a first-round prospect? Potentially, but his red flags were obvious even back then. Playing in just 14 games in his NFL career, costing the team OC Kyle Shanahan and continuing the legacy of horrible Browns decisions, makes the selection of Manziel 22nd overall and easy inclusion on this list.
Trading down with the Ravens so they could draft likely HOFer Haloti Ngata
Then-GM Phil Savage, pictured, thought he was being slick by getting Baltimore to give up a sixth-round pick to move up one spot. If Cleveland had just selected Kamerion Wimbley with the 12th overall pick and let the Ravens grab Ngata one pick later, the decision would still be notable but far less laughable.
Instead, Savage was giddy to add a defensive tackle who played in just two games in his two-year career with two tackles (and who was the answer to our 4/6 DBN trivia game) and then select Wimbley while Baltimore got Ngata with the pick that was Cleveland’s originally.
We know those two moves are far from the only bad ones since 1999, so we want you to join the conversation in the comment section below with your example.
If you’ve never signed up for an account with us, which you will need to comment, you can do so here then come back and share what Browns NFL draft decision caused you misery.