Mock drafts all over the board with Browns first pick being 74th overall
Apr. 8—Even the first round of NFL mock drafts blow up quickly when the real draft rolls around because of trades made at the top of the round or because of projected trades not made.
Sometimes teams ignore what seems like an obvious pick because the team's general manager thinks he is wiser than anyone else. There are other examples, but think about the Arizona Cardinals taking quarterback Josh Rosen with the 10th pick in 2018 as a major miss. Rosen was traded to the Dolphins in 2019. He was with the Browns during their 2022 training camp and was assigned to their practice squad to start the season. He was released on Oct. 10.
The Browns don't have a first-round pick in the three-day draft that begins April 27 because they traded it to Houston as partial payment for Deshaun Watson. They don't have a second-round pick because they traded it to the Jets for wide receiver Elijah Moore and pick 74 overall.
Watson has to prove himself to show the Browns are better off with him than they would have been had they held onto the six picks they traded Houston to get him — first-round picks in 2022, 2023 and 2024 plus a 2022 fourth-round pick, a 2023 third-rounder and a 2024 fourth-round pick.
The 2023 first-round pick is 12th overall after the Browns finished 7-10 last season. They obviously wouldn't get a player as good as they expect Watson to be with the 12th pick. Likewise, they would have difficulty landing a receiver as good as they expect Moore to be with the 42nd pick.
Many mock drafts don't end with the first round or even the second round. Following is a sampling of mock drafts projecting what player the Browns will take in the third round with the 74th overall pick:
Draftwire.usatoday.com has the Browns taking Syracuse offensive tackle Matthew Bergeron.
NFL.com has Mississippi junior running back Zach Evans going to Cleveland 74th overall.
WalterFootball.com noted the Browns signed safety Juan Thornhill in free agency, but still has them taking a safety, Brandon Joseph of Notre Dame, with their first pick, which will be the 10th pick in the third round.
Of course, no sampling of mock drafts would be complete without knowing what the good folks at Pro Football Focus are thinking. PFF also has the Browns taking a safety, but instead of Joseph they have him selecting Jordan Battle of Alabama.
"One of the most reliable safeties in the class. Rarely caught out of position," PFF wrote in its analysis. "His range is just OK. Not going to make too many plays from deep alignment."
Interestingly, Pro Football Focus last June ranked Evans as the third-best college running back in the country heading into the 2022 season with this scouting report:
"Evans may have just 146 career handoffs to his name, but that's enough to know he's going to be in the first-round conversation next spring. On those carries, he's averaged 7.3 yards per attempt — including 4.8 after contact."
Evans did not crack PFF's top 10 running backs when it updated its 2023 draft projections in December.
Evans played at TCU in 2020 and 2021, which is where he averaged 7.3 yards a carry. He transferred to Ole Miss for the 2022 season and averaged six yards a carry on 144 carries — 52 more carries than he had in his final year at TCU.
The Browns also have the 98th overall selection as a compensatory pick for the Vikings hiring Kwesi Adofo-Mensah from the Browns front office to be their general manager.
