Winner: Browns show discipline
By all rights, the Cleveland Browns could have taken a quarterback with either the No. 1 over No. 12 overall picks and nobody would have batted an eye. Regardless of what your take is on this year’s quarterback class, they need one, make no mistake about it.
However, rather than reach for a need, Sashi Brown and Co. stuck to their board and took the right man at No. 1, Texas A&M star Myles Garrett.
Then, rather than taking Deshaun Watson, who they obviously weren’t sold on, the Browns traded down. Now, it’s going to be fascinating to see how Deshaun Watson performs. He’s in a perfect situation as we mentioned before, but who knows if he would have succeeded in Cleveland?
With the pick they received in the trade with Houston, the Browns took a guy who could end up being a dynamo in the secondary, Jabrill Peppers. This scribe isn’t convinced Peppers will thrive in the NFL as a tweener, but the Browns didn’t do anything crazy by drafting him at No. 25 overall.
Finally, at No. 29 overall the Browns landed one of the steals of the draft in Miami tight end David Njoku. He’s going to step in immediately and make a huge difference as a receiving tight end, giving Cleveland two solid options there to go along with Gary Barnidge.
As an added bonus, the extra draft currency that was purchased with their trade will help Cleveland in the long term.