Delpit should be a starter

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By STEVE KING

So, just how did the Browns do on the second day of the NFL Draft on Friday night?

It’s hard – if not downright impossible – to tell how any team does on any day of the draft, at least right away. It’s like trying to determine how good a meal is before you taste it. You just don’t know. As they say, the proof is in the pudding, and the pudding hasn’t been served yet. These players haven’t taken the field yet. They couldn’t find Berea, home of Browns Headquarters, even if they were standing in the middle of it and it was on fire.

All you can do is look – again, just like in Thursday night’s first round – at the common-sense aspect of their combined total of four picks in rounds two and three.

The Browns went into the evening needing, first and foremost, all kinds of help on defense, and all four selections were on that side of the ball. And two of them were from national champion LSU. On paper, that seems like it was the right thing to do – the right approach – just as it made sense to take left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. in the first round when there was a hole at that position.

After a trade-down with the Indianapolis Colts in the second round to No. 44 overall, the Browns took LSU safety Grant Delpit, then in the third round following another trade-down, this time with the New Orleans Saints, they tabbed, at No. 88 overall, a defensive tackle in Missouri’s Jordan Elliott. They finished by choosing another LSU player, linebacker Jacob Phillips, at No. 97.

Delpit, who was injured for much of last season, which might explain why his production dropped from 2018, is going to get every opportunity to start this season. Of that you can be sure. Indeed, a player taken in the top half of the second round, especially at a position of need, means Delpit should be a starter. If he doesn’t end up starting, then the Browns will have swung and missed on the pick

Although, Delpit should be a starter the Third- and fourth-rounders should certainly contribute in some shape or form, again especially at positions of need, so Elliott and Phillips will get that chance with that expectation.

The Browns go into Saturday’s third and final day, with rounds four through seven, needing more linebackers (it is, by far, the weakest position on the team now) , an edge rusher and depth at both wide receiver and in the interior offensive line. We’ll see how they address that.

Cleveland Browns:

• “Browns Nab Bama’s Wills With No. 10 Pick To Plug Tackle Hole” (AP)
• Browns take Jedrick Wills Jr. (Browns Daily Dose)
• “Andrew Berry Said Jedrick Wills Checked All Of The Boxes” (OBR) –
• The first televised NFL Draft (Browns Daily Dose)
• “Browns set up Baker Mayfield to return to fearless form” (ABJ) –
• “Baker Mayfield, Jarvis Landry and more praise selection of Alabama OT Jedrick Wills Jr. on social media” (Browns.com)
• Paul Brown, Obie and Brownie (Browns Daily Dose)
• “Young cancer patient announces Browns’ first-round pick” (CantonRep)
• “Four teams have shown most interest in Trent Williams” (PFT)
• New 2020 Cleveland Browns Jerseys

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