What Im hearing about Browns NFL draft plans: Potential trades, top targets and more

June 05, 2024

The 2023 NFL Draft is here. For the Browns, it doesn’t start until Friday night.

There are few certainties in any draft, and it appears this one has fewer than most. But the Browns won’t be trading back into the first round because they simply don’t have the ammo to do so. The top of their 2023 depth chart is mostly set, and they’ll be waiting until Friday night to join the draft party. What might happen then? What am I hearing about prospects of potential interest to the Browns? Where’s the best bet for trades involving the Browns to be made? Keep scrolling for a 44-part puzzle that answers some of those questions and gets you caught up on a variety of Browns and draft-related topics.

Why 44? Because 20 years ago, the Browns made a pretty good fourth-round selection at No. 115 in running back Lee Suggs, and Suggs wore No. 44. The Browns figure to be back in the running market this year, and with a draft that doesn’t start until the mid-third round, a reasonable expectation for a successful draft would be finding a player (or two) in the fourth round who ends up becoming productive over the next few seasons.

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Three NFL talent evaluators spoke on the obvious condition of anonymity; two longtime college scouts are designated as S1 and S2, and a high-ranking personnel executive is designated as “The Exec.” Also included are numbers and insight from The Athletic’s lead draft analyst, Dane Brugler. Here goes…

1. The Browns have eight picks, starting at No. 74 in the third round. They enter the draft with two picks in the third round (74 and 98), two in the fourth (111 and 126), two in the fifth (140 and 142), No. 190 in the sixth round and No. 242 in the seventh round.

2. Last year, this list was 43 items because the Browns went into the draft holding Pick No. 43. They traded out of that pick on Friday night and ended up starting their draft at No. 68 with Martin Emerson. They also drafted at No. 78 (Alex Wright) and No. 99 (David Bell), which provides a template for this year when it comes to matching needs, wants and position groups as the Browns prepare to finalize each pick. This is the fourth year for Andrew Berry, Paul DePodesta and Kevin Stefanski at the front of the draft room and the second for the Browns knowing they’d have to wait until Friday night to begin their draft.

3. I couldn’t go all the way to No. 74. Clearly I’m a hopeless draft nerd, but even that has its limits.

4. By now, this Berry-led group has a track record. It likes young players, usually early draft entries, who record high relative athletic testing (RAS) scores and/or otherwise have well-above-average physical traits or athletic measurables. With Wright as the only exception, the Browns have focused on players from college football’s top programs and conferences. This is a process-driven front office that views the draft as its own entity, and positional value matters. Typically, the Browns will take edge rushers over defensive tackles and offensive tackles, wide receivers and cornerbacks over running backs and linebackers. The Browns, of course, don’t actually know which players will be available by 9:30 p.m. or so on Friday night and 40-plus picks from the start of the second round to the Browns’ current first pick. So, we have guesses and we know the Browns have guidelines and guardrails. But really, we’re guessing. And to an extent, the guys in charge are, too.

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6. The Browns pretty much have their team for 2023. It’s in no way a perfect roster, or a team that’s really even begun to evolve the way it eventually will during the season given that Jim Schwartz is the new defensive coordinator and Deshaun Watson gets a full season for the first time at quarterback. Watson was rusty in six games late last season; for most of those six, he was really bad. He says he’s going to be better, and his track record says he will. Stefanski and Berry say he’s going to be better, and they believe new wide receiver Elijah Moore will be a part of that. What’s a successful draft for this Browns team? What do they really need immediately? Other than at least one more pass-rusher, the current answer is not clear. But over the course of a season, the Browns are going to have needs develop. All good players are welcome. And let’s just be honest: Berry having what down the road can be considered a good draft would be a change from how his previous three drafts are currently viewed.

7. Teams like to say they don’t draft for need. They do. The Browns still need to add to the defensive line, and they probably need to add players to the pipeline and linebacker and safety, too. On the offensive side, they still could add another wide receiver. They’ll almost certainly add an offensive lineman and a running back, too. With eight picks, they can take a lot of stabs at adding depth and still hope at least a couple players can contribute right away on defense. Maybe the Browns will just take players they always coveted. Maybe they’ll trade up for one they really want. Or maybe the end result will include a couple surprises, leaving us on the outside to decipher what the team’s path means for the future. With Watson’s exorbitant salary-cap number (currently $63 million for 2024) and other big numbers ($16-plus million) on the offensive side in 2024 for players like Nick Chubb, Amari Cooper, David Njoku and Wyatt Teller, the Browns have a lot of big decisions to make sooner than later. A really big season is ahead.

8. From the department of best guesses and nothing more when it comes to pick No. 74, most of my mocks and look-ahead pieces have focused on two defensive end prospects: Zach Harrison of Ohio State and Isaiah McGuire of Missouri. Both are just 21. Both had high-level college production, though NFL evaluators thought Harrison should have had more. Harrison is 6-foot-5, 274 pounds, with an 85.5-inch wingspan. McGuire is 6-foot-4, 268 pounds, with an 82-inch wingspan; his RAS score was a 9.53 on a scale of 10 and came with a “great” speed grade and an “elite” explosion grade.

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9. After Ohio State’s pro day, Harrison said his goal was to “confirm” for scouts “that athletically, he;s not normal. “(I want them to say) ‘that dude really is that explosive, that fast, that strong.'” He is, and that leads to the question: why did he never have more than four sacks in a college season?

10. The Exec: “We’re split in our building on Harrison. He has rare size and some pretty good tape, but there are some questions about his instincts and toughness. I’d probably say (he’s) ‘polarizing.’ He’s (gifted) enough that he should be a top-50 pick, but there are some concerns. You watched, and you wanted more.”

11. Both Harrison and McGuire were team captains. That’s something scouts always note because the captain designation speaks to players having responsibility and the respect of their peers. Both had their most productive seasons last fall. Harrison used his long arms to break up five passes and force three fumbles. McGuire had 7.5 sacks and had an 82.0 pass-rush grade from Pro Football Focus.

12. S1: “I don’t think McGuire is a dynamic pass rusher, but he’s a good football player. He’s a strong, solid guy. He can be a starter (in the NFL) but he’s never going to be a 12-sack guy. Harrison was a monster recruit coming out of high school and probably never saw himself being (at Ohio State) all four years. He’s a freak physically, but there were some inconsistencies. I think he did realize (last year) that he didn’t need to get the sack every play to impact the game. There aren’t many dudes that big who can rush off the edge, so he’s got the chance to make a lot of money if he really works at it. There’s nothing that says he’s a bad kid. I just wanted to see more.”

13. Said Harrison: “I just wanted to take my game to the next level (my senior year), just be more of a pro about my approach — film study, taking care of my body, (things) I wasn’t necessarily doing earlier as a college player.”

14. I’m really not sure what’s going on at the Browns’ linebacker spot. Four returnees are working back from season-ending injuries. Three of those four are only under contract for 2023, Sione Takitaki just suffered a torn ACL in December and probably will miss all of the preseason (at least) and, after Takitaki moved to the middle last December, three of them play the same position in the base defense. Maybe the Browns think Anthony Walker Jr. and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah give them enough ability and stability to just gradually build and develop the rest of the linebacking corps, or maybe they need to add a rookie who can play right away if called upon. We’ll find out soon.

15. Two drafts ago, the Browns traded up to get Owusu-Koramoah out of Notre Dame. Maybe the Browns getting bigger (and better) at defensive tackle can help Owusu-Koramoah avoid blockers and use his rare speed to be a more impactful player. Getting Walker back was a priority for a team that needs better leadership in the locker room, and Walker is smart enough to help Schwartz implement his new defense throughout the spring and summer — and to help rookies catch on. I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that the Browns use one of their third-round picks on a linebacker, and I think one of the mysteries of this draft (and any late free-agent pickups) is how much input Schwartz is really going to have when it comes to personnel.

16. S1: “This is not a great linebacker class in terms of pure numbers or guys you’d want early, but that’s always kind of a pick-your-flavor position depending on what you have and what your scheme wants. This is an early cornerback draft and the best edge guys always go in the first round. We all want speed (at linebacker), and the guys who can rush off the edge a little get a bump. Probably only a couple second-round guys in this class, then a bunch of Saturday (rounds 4-7) guys.”

17. Just based on what we know about this roster and how the Browns draft, I think the two players who probably started out atop the team’s wish list were Tennessee wide receiver Jalin Hyatt and Kansas State edge rusher Felix Anudike-Uzomah. Whether the Browns didn’t think they could get either player at pick No. 42 or whether I’m way off in that assessment is something we’ll never know. The Browns tried to trade for Elijah Moore last year at the trade deadline, then finally got him in March. Moore just turned 23 and is on his rookie contract for two more years, which is a big deal to this Browns team as it’s currently configured. The head coach and play-caller made it known that he and his quarterback needed more explosion from the receiving corps, so the Browns waited out Moore — and then signed free agent Marquise Goodwin to a one-year deal.

Moore had 80 receptions for 984 yards and six touchdowns in two seasons with the Jets. (Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)

18. Berry has made two trades during each of his previous three drafts, and in each year he’s added a pick in the following year’s draft. The Vikings hired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah away from the Browns as their GM in January 2022, and in Adofo-Mensah’s first draft with the Vikings, he made six trades — two within the Vikings’ division and one with Berry and the Browns that resulted in the Browns’ additional fourth-round pick they carry into this weekend. During last year’s draft, Berry said he and Adofo-Mensah had “three or four separate discussions” throughout the weekend. Expect them to talk again — and even if the Browns end up with eight picks, don’t expect them to be the eight they currently own.

19. There were two trades made in last year’s third round that provide potential blueprints for how the Browns might move up or down the board Friday night. Denver went up to pick No. 75 in exchange for picks 80 and 162, and then Denver got back in the end of the third round at pick 96 for a 2023 third-rounder and pick 179 at the end of the fifth. That tells us the baseline cost to move up a few spots in the third round is a fifth-round pick. The Browns currently hold two fifth-round picks in this draft and two fifth-round picks in next year’s draft. If a player the Browns covet falls out of the second round (or is still available in the middle part of the third round), the Browns absolutely can go get that player. They didn’t trade for Watson so they could build a fortress of fifth-round picks. At least fans hope they didn’t.

20. If you’re tracking the draft and trying to dazzle your friends with Browns’ trade projections, keep an eye on another Berry confidant, Eagles GM Howie Roseman. The Eagles pick at No. 62 at the end of the second round, then don’t currently have any picks in the third, fourth or fifth rounds. If the Browns want to be sellers in that range, perhaps Roseman will call.

21. One of the coolest local-prospect stories in this year’s draft involves a couple potential Browns targets. University of Cincinnati wide receivers Tyler Scott (Norton High School) and Tre Tucker (Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy) were friends long before they shared the same agent or were roommates at the NFL scouting combine. They were longtime teammates on the West Akron Track Club as youngsters — fast youngsters who really only chose football (and specifically wide receiver) later. “We traveled all around the nation together,” Scott said of Tucker. “Our families would get a rental car and we rode a bus to Texas… we’ve been to New Orleans, Virginia Beach, all over the place for track.”

22. Scott is an early entry who’s in the draft after one big college season. Tucker played a lot of slot receiver at Cincinnati but has impressed NFL scouts with his ability to play as a punt gunner and punt returner. Unofficially, both Scott and Tucker clocked 4.32 40-yard dash times at Cincinnati’s late-March pro day. Brugler wrote in his draft guide that Tucker has “Sonic the Hedgehog-type speed” and had one of the most eye-popping stats in the entire guide on Scott, who averaged 44.6 yards per touchdown catch in his college career. My very talented colleague, Justin Williams, went deeper on their story — and their bond.

23. “When I first met Tre he was in eighth grade and was getting ready to go to some national track meet in Virginia or some faraway place,” said Tucker’s high school coach, Dan Larlham. “I hoped we could keep him as a football player, but his first love was track. Back then I never saw him as a college football player (let alone) an NFL guy. When he was a freshman, I’m not sure he even weighed 100 pounds. But we put him out there, playing both ways. I think his rib protector stuck out farther than his shoulder pads, and I absolutely worried that somebody was going to break him in half. But the thing is, they had to catch him to do that. Even at 14 years old, he was electric.”

24. By the time Tucker was a senior in high school, Larlham said he was “rounding up” and telling college coaches Tucker weighed around 170 pounds. “But looking back, no one recruiting him really talked much about his size,” Larlham said. “They just loved his speed.” Now, Tucker is officially a little over 5-foot-8, 182 pounds, “and he’s rock-solid,” Larlham said. “A lot of that is the college weight program and eating right. Tre did all the work. He made himself a college player.” Tucker, the youngest of 12 children, is now on the verge of becoming an NFL player.

25. S1: “Tre Tucker, I love that kid. I’m not going to say much about him because I really hope we can get him. He’s tough, he’s fearless and he can impact games. I think he’s that good as a gunner.”

26. S2: “Scott’s speed is real. I like him. He’s still pretty new to the position and that shows up on his tape. But he’s a good prospect, and I think he can be a really good player two or three years down the road.”

27. “I’ve tried to stay off of the online mock drafts and all that stuff,” Larlham said. “What do you believe? Does anyone really know anything? I just know I talked to Tre after his pro day and of course, he ran well, but he was really upbeat. He said he’d heard from a lot of teams and I think he feels good about things. Some team is getting a great kid who’s going to continue to prove people wrong — even me.”

28. I think that Scott or Oklahoma’s Marvin Mims (20 years old, big-time speed) could be potential Browns targets in the third round. “I think Mims goes before 74,” S1 said. “If he’s there, I think the Browns should take him. He’s explosive and I think he’s only going to get better.”

29. The Exec: “It will be close. That’s right in the range where I see Mims going, the middle of the third round. If I had to guess I’d say he’s still there at 74.”

30. There’s another speed-first player with Northeast Ohio ties in this draft: Jaleel McLaughlin, a running back who played at Notre Dame College and Youngstown State. McLaughlin had an NCAA-record 8,166 rushing yards and 79 rushing touchdowns in his college career. McLaughlin is only 5-foot-8 and around 190 pounds, but he showed some ability to catch the ball out of the backfield during his final two college seasons. He’ll likely get a chance to make a team as a return specialist — and potentially a third-down back. Can smaller players like McLaughlin, Scott and Tucker make it in today’s NFL? “If they’re fast as s—, yes,” S2 said. “McLaughlin is that.”

31. Brugler ranks McLaughlin as the No. 40 running back in this class and gives him a priority free agent grade. “There’s a chance someone drafts (McLaughlin),” S1 said. “If he doesn’t get drafted, his phone will be busy Saturday afternoon because he’s a guy who might come in and light up camp. Maybe he’s a practice squad guy who has to grow into some specific role, but I think lots of teams will want to find out.”

32. I know the Browns had formal pre-draft visits with multiple quarterback prospects, but I wouldn’t read too much into that. It’s smart business to talk Xs and Os with players you either like or might be playing against. The Browns’ claim of Kellen Mond last August just 16 months after Mond had been drafted in the third round is proof that you never know when a mid-round quarterback might be available, even if you don’t get that player this weekend. When Berry was asked about the Browns investigating quarterbacks, he twice called it “the most important position in sports” and said doing full work on the quarterbacks should always be part of the draft process. It being the most important position in sports is why the Browns did what they did with Watson and don’t have a first-round pick until 2025. Even with three quarterbacks under contract, the Browns should be evaluating the state of their quarterback room — even if they think Mond is worth further development.

The Browns claimed Mond, a 2021 third-round pick, off waivers prior to the start of the 2022 season. (Brad Rempel / USA Today)

33. There are lots of reasons the Browns brought back Joshua Dobbs as their backup quarterback. Dobbs is well-liked in the locker room; he’s brilliant; if he has to play, he’s experienced and mobile and he knows the offense. But one of the other ones is that Dobbs doesn’t necessarily need a lot of reps to get himself ready, and that’s going to be important this spring and summer as the Browns continue to get Watson to shake the rust. Watson got double reps last spring, and he may not need that many this time around, but it’s clear both that the Browns are going to be a different offense and that they need the best of Watson in order to have any chance to keep up in the AFC. Maybe this isn’t the offseason to add and develop a rookie quarterback.

34. Kind of like the Browns always knew they wanted to draft Cade York on Day 3 last year, if the Browns want to draft a quarterback on Day 3 this year, that’s probably long been in the plans. S2: “You might have a quick draft-room debate on Saturday about a wide receiver vs. a linebacker, or why you’re willing to take a guy who maybe has some baggage that you wouldn’t have taken a round earlier. But a quarterback, that’s a guy you’ve targeted and talked about for weeks in almost every case. That’s not usually a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

35. Last week, I wrote about one of the draft’s most interesting prospects, Bowling Green defensive lineman Karl Brooks. Brooks hasn’t played a lot of true defensive tackle, but he has enough natural pass-rush ability and enough positional versatility to eventually be an impactful player on some team’s defensive line.

36. “You ask me if (Brooks) is good and I just don’t know,” S2 said. “He’s interesting as hell. He played some stand-up defensive end at 300 pounds. He looked the part down at the Senior Bowl but he’s got a ways to go. My team doesn’t have a top-100 grade on him but I wouldn’t be stunned if he went late in the third or super early in the fourth round. His (athletic) testing numbers weren’t great but his film shows that he’s a lot faster than most 300-pound guys are.”

37. Brooks is 23 and has the rare distinction of having led his college team in sacks for five seasons. I asked the exec about the Browns’ focus on drafting younger players and he said, “it’s not just the Browns. You are looking for upside and — really first — a lot of the best guys in any draft are early entries. I think we definitely take into account the guys’ development and how they might eventually fit with that big second contract, but you can’t count too much on long-term planning. You have to get guys who are ready to play or you’re not going to have a job. This draft is different. A lot of guys took the (extra) COVID year and a lot of them transferred. A lot of those players needed that extra year or that fresh start. If a 24-year-old dominated younger guys for one season, you might have questions. But if a guy has the right makeup and just now is becoming a good football player, do you really care if he’s 22 or 23?”

38. Said S1: “Talent first. Do all the (scouting) work, put the rare ones on top of the board then hope like hell there are still some guys left in the last three rounds. There usually are.”

39. Berry has made 10 selections in the first three rounds over the last three drafts. Of those 10, nine players the Browns picked were either 20 or 21 with Jordan Elliott (22) as the only exception. When asked about the age factor at the conclusion of last year’s draft, Berry said, “it all factors into it. We are not age purists as everyone may believe. We really do want good football players.”

40. If the Browns are still into speed and athleticism over mass at linebacker, a potential mid-round fit is DeMarvion Overshown of Texas. Overshown (6-foot-3, 229) switched from safety to linebacker after two college seasons and said during the pre-draft process that he wishes he would have moved sooner. In 2020, his first year at linebacker, he started all 10 games and was named Alamo Bowl MVP. He earned an 8.18 relative athletic score based on his pre-draft athletic testing, and his wingspan of just over 78 inches also rates well among this linebacker class.

41. S2: “The Toledo defensive tackle, he’s a little raw but he’s a tank. I like him. We have a draftable grade on him.” That’s Desjuan Johnson, who had 10 of his 15 career sacks over his final two college seasons. Brugler wrote that Johnson lacks ideal size for the position (6-foot-2, 285) but “is quick off the ball” and has “violent hands” that give him a chance to win an NFL role. Brugler wrote that he expects Johnson to be drafted in either the sixth or seventh round.

42. Toledo co-defensive coordinator Vince Kehres on Johnson: “It’s the get-off, the anticipation of the snap and then he’s back there disrupting whatever it is the offense wants to do. He’s an excellent pass-rusher and we even moved him to the edge sometimes to let him rush. NFL teams all want inside rushers, and he can be that. That (pass-rush ability) shows up on the film, and he’s very durable and physical. He’s a great worker and was well respected in our locker room.”

43. At No. 74, this is slated to be the Browns’ latest beginning to a draft since 2008, when they picked linebacker Beau Bell at No. 104 after trading their first-round pick for the chance to draft Brady Quinn during the 2007 draft and shipped their next two picks in separate trades to acquire defensive linemen Corey Williams and Shaun Rogers in March 2008. It was just five years ago this week that the Browns selected Baker Mayfield No. 1 overall — then followed that by taking cornerback Denzel Ward, offensive lineman Austin Corbett and running back Nick Chubb within the first 35 picks.

44. There are different ways to start a draft. There are clearly different paths to landing on draft classes that are home runs — and some that are rather forgettable. Maybe the next trade Berry makes will be a really important one. Maybe this draft will be Berry’s last. At this point, we really don’t know. Every draft matters in the overall scheme of roster-building. For the Browns to return to the playoffs this year, their long-established and highest-paid players have to deliver.

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