The Cleveland Browns will not announce their intention for the first pick in the 2017 NFL Draft before they are on the clock Thursday. Largely, the assumption has been that Cleveland will take former Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett No. 1 overall.
That has somewhat been thrown out the window with a ton of recent suggestsions indicating that the team is truly torn between Garrett and former North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky (more on that here).
Now comes this from ESPN’s Adam Schefter telling us a story of people around the NFL who believe Trubisky will indeed be the first pick.
“I continue to hear, I continue to hear that Mitchell Trubisky is sure in consideration and may turn out to be the No. 1 pick,” Schefter reported (h/t Niners Nation). “I know everyone says Myles Garrett’s gonna be the pick, and I will not be surprised if that turns out to be the case tomorrow night, but I have got very smart, very well-connected people telling me over the last 24 hours that they think Mitchell Trubisky’s gonna be the No. 1 pick. We’ll see.”
This is interesting in that there’s been a running theory out there suggesting that Cleveland would take Garrett first overall and then look to move up for Trubisky. It boasts the 12th pick in the first round Thursday night as well as two more second-round picks on Friday.
There’s surely enough capital to get that done. Whether general manager Sashi Brown and Co. feel a trade-up is worth it remains to be seen.
Picking No. 2 overall, the San Francisco 49ers are a true wildcard here. No one knows what direction they will go with that pick. Everyone from Trubisky to LSU running back Leonard Fournette have been bandied about as possibilities. Flush with a first-year general manager that has no front office experience, San Francisco’s decision-making process is the great unknown here.
What we do know is that the 49ers are desperate to trade down form No. 2 overall. It’s something GM John Lynch has not been afraid to mention publicly.
Then again, San Francisco has a need at quarterback and could go Trubisky with that second pick. At the very least, it could bait the Browns into thinking that’s a realistic possibility.
Whatever happens, the top-five picks in Thursday’s first round promises to be among the most interesting in recent NFL Draft history. And should the Browns pass up for Garrett in favor of Trubisky, it would set the draft stage in Philadelphia on fire (not literally).