The Cleveland Browns made a couple difficult—and even surprising—decisions during the NFL draft this year. This included the team's choice to draft Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round after already taking quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the third round, as well as the decision to pass on Heisman trophy winner Travis Hunter and trade down in the first round.
Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said Tuesday that the decision to take Sanders belonged to general manager Andrew Berry, but he did have to sign off on the trade that allowed the Jaguars to move up to take Hunter in exchange for multiple draft picks.
"Those are hard decisions," Haslam told reporters at training camp. "Listen, Travis Hunter is a special football player and I do think he can play both ways and I think he'll do well. He's also a great kid, not a good, but a great kid. We were locked in on that, but then the opportunity came back. We go back three places and we felt there were really good players and we think we got a really good one in Mason [Graham]. And then to add really almost a first-round pick with the 36th pick and to add a No. 1 next year, we just thought was too good to pass up. Time will tell whether we did the right thing or not."
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The Browns have used the picks they've gotten back from the Jaguars to select Mason Graham, Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson. They will also get to use the 2026 first-rounder they get back from the Jaguars next year.
Berry echoed a similar sentiment to Haslam when he previously detailed the Browns' thought-process in choosing to accumulate more draft capital over taking Hunter in June.
"One of the alternative paths is you take a non-quarterback, potentially the best player in the draft in Travis, someone the league really hasn't seen before in terms of a two-way player," Berry told CBS Sports. "Then the third avenue, which you've seen teams like Philadelphia and Detroit walk this route, where you're able to take a very good player, but significantly increase the amount of resources that you have to rebuild your team over a multi-year time horizon."
As the Browns look to rebound from a 3-14 record and build a better core for their future, they certainly have multiple needs to address. However, their decision can only pay off if several of their draft picks work out, or at least make up for what they lost by not selecting Hunter.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Browns Owner Weighs In on Decision to Pass Up Drafting Travis Hunter.
