By virtue of Sunday’s 22-17 loss to the Chiefs, the Cleveland Browns locked up the No. 26 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft.
It will be the latest the Browns have been slated to make their initial selection — draft slot before any trades — since the 1995 NFL draft. The Browns earned the No. 26 pick that year too, but traded the pick (and RB Eric Metcalf) to the Atlanta Falcons before trading again to wind up making the first pick at No. 30. They took Ohio State LB Craig Powell.
The Browns could have picked at No. 25 but the Los Angeles Rams sewed up that spot when they lost to Green Bay in the NFC divisional game on Saturday night. The Rams went 10-6 in the regular season, one game worse than Cleveland’s 11-5. The divisional weekend’s other losers, the Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints, will pick 27th and 28th.
That Rams selection at No. 25 belongs to the Jaguars as part of the Jalen Ramsey trade, so it will be new head coach Urban Meyer and Jacksonville making the selection immediately before the Browns.
