By: Jason La Canfora
Amid all the conjecture and speculation about how wild the first round of the NFL draft becomes, and which teams are likely to move around the most, one continues to stand out.
All of SportsBoom’s contacts involved in this process to any real degree, execs, agents, scouts, seem convinced that the Browns are as motivated as anyone to jump around a draft class that is short on superior blue chip talent and also short on prime depth at the position groups rebuilding franchises value the most.
Sources are convinced at this point that they will not be using the sixth overall pick, whether it’s a more nominal trade to drop down a few spots, or them going deep into the teens before the use their first pick.
“They are bailing out of six,” one general manager told SportsBoom. “They aren’t making that pick.”
Sticking To Their Brand
Given where the Browns are, with vast uncertainty at quarterback and across the offensive line and having lost a talented defensive coordinator who kept that unit among the league’s best, the drop-off in talent between the players most likely to be beckoning them with the sixth pick is not going to be that drastically different than players who end up being taken with picks between 11-17.
Even with a second first-round pick already under their control, rival front offices seem pretty convinced pick No. 6 is on the move.
“Trading down is a natural instinct for that group,”’ said one longtime exec of the Browns front office, “and this draft lends itself even more to that notion.”
It’s just not a blue-chip heavy group.
If the Browns are as motivated to rebuild their offensive line as some clubs think, then getting extra draft capital for next year while grabbing a tackle or guard in that 11-17 range would seem to make a lot of sense.
It very well may be the strategy the Browns employ, which would be an extension of some overarching roster-construction philosophies. We could honestly see them moving down more than once.
Article courtesy of SportsBoom.