Over the course of the past couple of years, I have been much more closely monitoring divisional news than I had in years past, and part of that process necessarily includes the monitoring of teams’ websites. Let’s just say that while the design might be pretty uniform around most of the league, some teams manage their sites in a very different manner than do the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Cleveland Browns, for example, are even doing mock drafts of their own. They have had all three of their primary writing contributors to the site do a series of mock drafts over the course of the offseason, and their third and final editions came in yesterday.
They were all unanimous in Cleveland selecting outside linebacker Myles Garrett with the first-overall pick in the draft. Now, that’s not saying that that is what the Browns are actually going to do tomorrow evening when they are on the clock, but perhaps it’s at least something. You would think that the team’s own media would be the most likely to have the most accurate pulse on the decision-making process.
I do think that is the most likely outcome. Head Coach Hue Jackson has spoken extremely highly of Garrett on multiple occasions with the effect of indicating that he is the player that he wants. VP of football operations Sashi Brown also seemed to come around to Garrett while denying rumors of division within the organization.
It is interesting that not one, but two of the mock drafts also agreed on the Browns using their 12th-overall pick in the first round on tight end O.J. Howard, who is pretty widely regarded as the top tight end in this draft class.
It does make sense, as outside of Gary Barnidge, who is already getting up there at 31, the Browns doesn’t really have anybody notable at the position, and they could use a dynamic threat there, making their offense more diverse and unpredictable.
All three mock drafts had the Browns coming away with a quarterback within the first 33 selections of the draft, but they disagreed on who and when. Only one writer had them taking Mitchell Trubisky, and doing so at the 12th-overall spot.
The other two writers had Cleveland going with Patrick Mahomes, with one writer mocking him to the team with the top pick of the first round, while the other argues that they will trade back into the first round—not with their top second-round pick—to get up to 24, taking the quarterback in that spot.
There have been reports that the Browns have called multiple teams within the top six or eight selections leading up to the draft, likely with the intent of seeking a trading partner to land Trubisky. They have reportedly considered taking the quarterback first-overall, but they may be able to get him at 12. If they are worried, they will trade up.
