I am never a fan of trading down in the first round of the NFL Draft, especially if you’re at the top of the round, as the Browns were on Thursday night when they worked a deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

I think if you’re in that situation, and I strongly think this, that you put on your big/boy pants and take the kind of transformative player that you will find at the top of the first round, just like the Jaguars did when they chose Travis Hunter with the No. 2 overall pick they got from the Browns on the deal.

Did the Browns get a good player at No. 5 with the Jaguars’
old pick in defensive tackle Mason Graham from Michigan?

Certainly they certainly did, and he fills a big need as the Browns had all kinds of trouble stopping runs last year, especially up the middle. He will help that immensely.

But the Browns also need help at wide receiver and cornerback, the two spots that Hunter plays. He fills two needs.

Yes, the Browns also got Jacksonville’s first-round pick in next year‘s draft. But I couldn’t care less about next year. This is this year, and the Browns are coming off a season in which they were 3–14. They need every transformative player they can get, and they didn’t get the one that was available, sitting right at their feet.

We’ll see what the Browns do on Friday night, particularly when they pick at the top of the second round.

I would trust the Browns a lot more in all this if their draft record was better during these last five years when General Manager Andrew Barry was running things.  But his record is not good, and so I am going to assume that their draft strategy will not work out.

The Browns had a chance to make a big splash last night. Instead, they made only a ripple in the water. That doesn’t win you championships.

Steve King