The draft is the lifeline for every team in the NFL.

A team gets better – and remains at a high level – based on what it does in the draft.

Indeed, as the draft goes, so goes the team.

In that regard, then, fans have to be encouraged – and possibly even excited – about the players the Browns picked at the top of this year’s draft.

Three of their first four choices – two first-rounders in right defensive end Myles Garrett and safety Jabrill Peppers (25), and quarterback DeShone Kizer, a second-rounder – have really stood out. When you take the eye test, which, I firmly believe, is the most telling test, you can’t help but to notice them. They are making plays – impactful ones.

Yes, of course, I know that it is early – extremely early, really. The Browns have played just one preseason game and won’t have another one for nearly a week. Training camp is still ongoing.

If this season were the Boston Marathon, the Browns haven’t gone even a quarter-mile yet.

So things could change – drastically so. These guys could all begin struggling mightily and never get back on track this year. Or there could be a change for the positive and this trio could improve even more dramatically.

You just don’t know for sure. No one does, not even Browns head coach Hue Jackson and Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown. You just have to wait and see.

But in the meantime, it’s so far, so good. The players who are supposed to be good based on where they were selected in the draft, have been good in the short time since camp started.

That’s good. That’s all you can ask in this small sample sixe.

It’s a whole heckuva lot better than looking at these guys at this same juncture and wondering, because of the unimpressive way that they’re playing, just why in the world the Browns drafted them.

By the way, the player I left off the list of top picks playing well so far is, of course, tight end David Njoku, the last of the team’s three first-rounders. He’s been hurt and had some problems holding on to the football.

The expectation by just about everybody is that he will get himself straightened around sooner rather than later and join this group. But again, we just have to wait and see.