For more years than we care to remember, the NFL Draft has been sort of the Super Bowl for Browns’ fans. With the trade for Deshaun Watson last year, the front office decided to pretty much do the same thing the organization has done with the championship game, that is, sit it out.
We also feel that some Browns’ fans watch the selection process and feel that every player picked by the team’s divisional rivals are destined to be inducted in Canton someday, while Cleveland’s picks will never pan out.
That’s what three winning seasons in the 21st century will do to a fan base.
We aren’t going to sit here and pretend we know how the players the Browns just selected will turn out. That can’t be done for several years. What we can comment on is whether or not the picks make sense.
And quite frankly, we don’t have any beef about the players making any sense.
Yes, you can argue about the lack of linebackers, a position group the Cleveland front office seems to not value, and we can see the point of the discussion. They did sign Utah LB Mohamoud Diabate after the draft to a guaranteed deal.
Their first selection at pick #74, WR Cedric Tillman battled injuries last year, but in 2021 he caught 64 passes for 1081 yards and 12 touchdowns for Tennessee. More likely than not (and draft experts agree), he would have been drafted much higher had he been healthy in ’22.
Stopping the run was a problem for the team last year and they did address the situation in free agency by inking Dalvin Tomlinson, but they added a defensive tackle that should help in 6’4″, 358 pound Siaki Ika out of Baylor.
We don’t think you can ever have too much depth at certain positions on the football field. Teams should always be looking at players who can get after the opposing quarterback and also guys who protect the passer. And like pitching in baseball, you can never have enough cornerbacks.
GM Andrew Berry addressed those spots as well, drafting a pass rusher in Isaiah McGuire from Missouri, and two Ohio State offensive linemen in T Dawand Jones and C Luke Wypler. Jones is intriguing just by his size, listed at 6’8″ and 350 pounds, but likely more than that.
If offensive line coach Bill Callahan works his magic with Jones, Cleveland likely has found its ultimate replacement for Jack Conklin.
And they also added another corner, Greg Newsome’s former teammate at Northwestern, Cam Mitchell.
We would guess the pick debated the most is the selection of UCLA QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the fifth round. No problem here, we kind of agree with former Green Bay GM Ron Wolf in believing a team should take a quarterback every year.
Josh Dobbs is Watson’s back up in the short term and we would guess Thompson-Robinson will compete with Kellen Mond to be the long-term guy.
And best-case scenario is one of those QBs has a great exhibition season and a desperate team offers you a draft pick for him. It could even be better if Watson misses a game or two (that’s not the good part) and the substitute plays great in the regular season game.
You just never know.
You also won’t know about this draft for a few years. One thing we do know is that Berry is going to have to make some tough decisions this upcoming season on players he selected. For the first time, he will have to cut a few of them it would seem.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 