ARLINGTON- We are heading to the tail end of silly season, that time of the year when smokescreens are everywhere. Teams continue to play the political game of distract everyone from their intentions and at the same time provide honest insight. Some teams are simply putting all of the pieces of information together and are not actually committed to a single plan of action until Thursday. After all, not every team has the luxury of knowing which players that will end up selecting. The Cleveland Browns have an interesting scenario to work with in round one.
The Browns have the first and fourth overall pick. It seems everyone is convinced that the Browns will definitely select a quarterback first overall. This is the conversation and the accepted notion. Unless something unexpected happens, the Browns will either select USC quarterback Sam Darnold or Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen. Fans shouldn’t expect anything out of the ordinary. If fans expect any plot twists or big reveals, they might be disappointed. This is likely going to be a fairly straightforward pick. A trade down from the number one pick is not likely to happen. It doesn’t hurt to be open-minded to the possibility however as the Browns have a reputation for acquiring more picks. General Manager John Dorsey did tell every team in the NFL the Browns will listen to offers. It seems more like a simple matter of due diligence than anything concrete.
Will Darnold be another USC quarterback that struggles in the NFL? He needs to be careful with turnovers and work on his release. However he has all of the attributes to succeed and win games.
One seldom mentioned possibility is that the Browns will select North Carolina State defensive end Bradley Chubb. Everyone seems so intrigued with the idea of Cleveland needing to establish depth at quarterback that they often forget about the concept of best player available. It is also hard to dismiss the notion that the Browns need a defensive end to work with Myles Garrett at developing the best pass rush duo in the NFL. For everyone saying that Chubb will be that at pick four, the counter-argument is that the Giants are likely looking to select a defensive end after trading Jason Pierre-Paul to the Buccaneers.