Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson is beside himself with joy after his football team traded the No. 2 overall draft pick to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The 2016 Cleveland Browns have a ton of holes to fill on their depleted roster. Five key players left the Browns in free agency, including center Alex Mack, wide receiver Travis Benjamin, and right tackle Mitchell Schwartz. Cleveland also ended up cutting linebacker Karlos Dansby and defensive back Donte Whitner.
To hopefully fill some of these holes with more draft picks, the Browns on Wednesday morning traded the No. 2 overall pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for five additional NFL Draft picks over three seasons. First-year Eagles head coach Doug Pederson covets North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz, while new Browns head coach Hue Jackson thinks this was the best move for the Browns organization to make.
Jackson told Steve Doerschuk of the Canton Repository that he “had a big smile on his face” and “was ecstatic about” the draft picks Cleveland would receive from the Eagles. The Browns received the No. 8 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, the Eagles’ third-round pick in 2016, the Eagles’ first-round pick in 2017, and the Eagles’ third-round pick in 2018.
While consensus No. 1 and No. 2 overall picks in the 2016 NFL Draft, Wentz and California’s Jared Goff, could potentially become franchise quarterbacks, Jackson said “they’re going to have fine careers in the NFL…but I feel very comfortable about what we did and where we’re headed.”
When asked about what Cleveland will do at quarterback, Jackson said, “no one said we don’t have a quarterback. And I never said we will not add a quarterback. We’ll see how the draft will unfold.”
Jackson already has former No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft in recently acquired Robert Griffin III as the presumed starter for the 2016 Browns. Perhaps Cleveland could use the No. 8 overall pick on Memphis Tigers quarterback Paxton Lynch or hope that Michigan State Spartans quarterback Connor Cook falls to No. 32.
Cleveland may even reach for Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Christian Hackenberg with that No. 32 overall pick should the top four quarterbacks already be off the board by the first pick of the second round. That would mean the San Francisco 49ers will have nabbed Lynch with the No. 7 overall pick and Cook will have gone to someone like the Arizona Cardinals or the Denver Broncos late in the first round.
Either way, Jackson is beside himself with the trade Browns general manager Sashi Brown pulled off with the Eagles, who were desperate for their next franchise quarterback.
For more posts on the 2016 NFL Draft, please check out our NFL Draft hub page.