It’d be tough to start this piece off with any other team.
Around this time last year it seemed like the Cleveland Browns—with two first round picks and the solid basis for a quick turnaround, they appeared to be in a position to kill the draft and have a very good season.
They had an OK season and overall the draft class seems good, but their two first round picks—Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel—are already looking like horrible choices. It’s worse for the fact that they traded back for Gilbert, away from Sammy Watkins and ignored Mike Evans. Cleveland was determined to not grab a wide receiver, despite the fact they knew that Josh Gordon would be suspended for at least part of the 2014 NFL season.
Flash-forward to this offseason, where we see the Browns in much the same position. Gordon is again suspended—this time for a whole year according to ESPN’s Jerry Fowler—and while the team added Dwayne Bowe, he hasn’t cracked 1,000 yards since 2011 and hasn’t had close to double-digit touchdowns since 2010. Maybe Andrew Hawkins and Brian Hartline can have a big impact, but it seems as if the Browns are once again in the position of having a huge talent gap at receiver.
Oh, and they lost Jordan Cameron as well, though his concussions limited his impact in 2014.
While this isn’t as good a receivers class at the top as last year’s was, it’s pretty deep and there should be some great players available for them at either the No. 12 or No. 19 spots in the first.
They also seem to need a quarterback quite badly as well.
Josh McCown isn’t the answer—we saw that in Tampa Bay with the Buccaneers last season—they can’t trust Johnny Manziel right now, shouldn’t trust Thad Lewis and have a long way to go before Connor Shaw is consistent enough to trust as well.
The problem here is, this is not a good year to need a quarterback.
So they have to be careful about how they approach the position—it may be better to stick with the guys they have and hope they can limp through.
They also need some help at outside linebacker (especially for depth) and nose tackle. The front seven was a bit weak last season and they need some more help there.
More than anything though, they need to nail those first two picks. Even if that means allowing someone (his name might rhyme with Zip Smelly) to trade up while they move back for more picks.
If they do that—or even if they don’t—they cannot afford to waste those two first round picks again. They need impact players with them this year, not just guys who can contribute like they got later in the draft last season.
Next: Tennessee Titans