Browns fans know all too well what happens when the team makes a poor choice in the first round of a draft. Missing on a top-10 overall pick is a major setback, depriving the team of an infusion of desperately-needed impact talent.
New Browns GM Andrew Berry cannot afford to miss with his first pick as the man in charge. This current Browns team is built to compete for the postseason right away. Avoiding a mistake is just as important as getting the right player.
Here are four players Berry and the Browns need to avoid in the first round, be it at No. 10 or in any trade back from that slot.
CeeDee Lamb, WR, Oklahoma
Lamb is expected to be one of the first two wideouts to come off the board, and the Browns pick is in the range where that starts to happen in most mock drafts. He’s a very gifted playmaker, great on contested catches and an exceptional threat after the catch.
But the Browns already have a better, more experienced player just like Lamb on the roster in Odell Beckham Jr. Cleveland does need to address the paucity of depth at WR sometime in the draft, but using the first-round pick on a redundant player to Beckham doesn’t make sense from a fit or value standpoint.
Mekhi Becton, OT, Louisville
Becton has earned scores of fans for his outstanding 2020 NFL Scouting Combine performance. Not many 365-pound people can move the way Becton does, and it showed on the field for the Cardinals in 2019.
However, Becton’s size is not a great fit for the zone blocking scheme new head coach Kevin Stefanski is expected to implement. Becton does indeed move well enough to pull it off, but there’s risk in asking a man of his size to be so agile and technical all the time. Then there’s the matter of his pass protection results at Louisville.
Compared to the other top offensive tackle prospects, Becton isn’t even in the same ballpark in Pro Football Focus pass blocking grades:
There is definite upside and appeal to Becton, but there is also sizeable (no pun intended) risk. With other options available, it just doesn’t make sense to take the risk on Becton in Berry’s first draft.
Derrick Brown, DT, Auburn
Brown sure looks like he’s going to be a very effective NFL defensive tackle. He’s strong, quick, sturdy and plays hard on every snap. At 326 pounds, Brown is a load for interior offensive linemen — almost always plural — to handle.
So why would Brown be a bad pick for the Browns at No. 10?
Positional value plus depth at the position are the uneasy answers. It’s difficult for an interior defensive lineman to impact the game more than a good left tackle, a legit No. 1 cornerback, a top-end wide receiver or a pass-rushing EDGE can do. And all those more valuable spots are significantly more difficult to find later in the draft. The difference between what Brown offers at No. 10 and what Cleveland could get from Justin Madubuike or Ross Blacklock in the second round is nowhere close to as big as the dropoff at the other positions if the Browns’ pick hits.
At least with Brown the Browns would be getting a high-floor player who could, at worst, offer what Danny Shelton did for the team as a first-round interior defensive lineman. That’s not bad, but they can do better.
Kenneth Murray, LB, Oklahoma
Murray is not a viable option for anyone at No. 10 overall. This is cautioning against trading back a few spots and chasing after Murray as the direct replacement for Joe Schobert in the middle of the Browns defense.
Murray offers a lot of the same plusses Schobert did. He’s a very good athlete, shows range and anticipation in coverage and gets himself in position to make tackles that other LBs cannot. Like Schobert, Murray will also miss his fair share of tackling opportunities (31 missed tackles in 2018-19) thanks to a poor launch point and lack of body control at full speed.
The new Browns regime could have kept Schobert, but they chose not to prioritize the off-ball/coverage LB position. Murray’s best-case outcome in the NFL is to be what Schobert was in Cleveland, and this Browns regime didn’t want that. Drafting Murray would be an unwitting acknowledgment by Berry & Co. that letting Schobert go was a mistake, even if Murray will cost much less.
