The Cleveland Browns have been one of the laughing stocks of the NFL for decades, thanks to a number of awful draft picks that have led to some abysmal seasons, but there is a lot to love about the 2025 class so far.
Hopefully, this new class has brought in a handful of foundational stars, but since it’s the slowest time on the NFL calendar, it’s a good time to look back at past missteps that the team has hopefully learned from.
Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder recently wrote an article where he re-drafted every team’s worst draft pick over the last five years, and Cleveland’s misstep wasn’t nearly as bad as many other teams.
“OT Jedrick Wills Jr. at No. 10 (2020),” Holder wrote as the Browns’ worst draft pick over the last five years. “Since the Browns didn’t have a first-round pick from 2022 to 2024 and the other option is cornerback Greg Newsome II, Wills is an easy choice. He was just average during years one to three and then struggled to stay on the field over the last two seasons. As a result, he’s currently unsigned as a 26-year-old free agent and recently announced he won’t be playing this fall.”
Wills wasn’t seen as a bad draft pick until the knee injury robbed him of his last two seasons, and the damage done by that missed pick can be heavily negated if Dawand Jones can develop into this team’s next franchise left tackle.
Holder selected Tristan Wirfs instead of Wills in his re-draft, who went 13th to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has developed into one of the best tackles in the NFL after helping lead the team to a Super Bowl a few years ago.
Wills is taking this season off to get fully healthy and ideally, make himself an attractive asset in next offseason’s free agent market.
Cleveland has so many painful draft memories from long ago, but if Wills is the worst it has done in the last five years, things might be getting better.
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