The Cleveland Browns come into the NFL Draft with the 10th overall pick, but that’s not where they may end up making their first-round selection.
According to Peter King of NBC Sports, the Browns have been “actively trying to trade down” in the NFL Draft.
Here’s what King had to say in his Monday morning column that featured his Mock Draft::
Andrew Thomas is the preferred player here, and the Browns have been actively trying to trade down, which they could do. That’s the thing about the Browns: They crave picks, and if, say, Miami wants come up from 18 because of the major need at tackle, I could see the Browns being happy to move down eight slots and find some equitable value from the Miami treasure trove of high picks (26, 39, 56, 70, plus two first and two second-round picks in 2021).”
Wills is a more natural right tackle as opposed to Thomas being a two-year left tackle at Georgia. There are some teams that have Wills the top-rated tackle in a good class of them, so if Cleveland gets him, it’s a good pick. He allowed one sack over the past two seasons at Alabama.
King talks about the possibility of the Dolphins trading up with the Browns, given the amount of assets they have in the draft.
Miami has 3-first round picks and owns 6 picks in the top 70 selections.
King has the Browns taking Jedrick Wills if he’s available, but many draft projections have him as the first offensive lineman to be drafted.
There also have been recent rumors of the Browns trading down with the Denver Broncos, as they are reportedly looking to draft a wide receiver.
Per The Athletic’s Michael Lombardi, the Broncos are talking to the Cleveland Browns for the No. 10 overall pick.
Denver is trying to make a deal with Cleveland–which seems like the target team to get ahead of two teams that need a wideout, Jets and Las Vegas. https://t.co/PlQWICcIfw
— Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) April 16, 2020
Lombardi mentions that Cleveland is the ideal team for the Broncos because they are looking to get in front of the Jets (No 11) and Raiders (No.12) who will most likely be looking at receivers.
Currently, the Broncos hold the No.15 pick the draft.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer also reported Monday that the Broncos could be looking to move up and draft one of the top offensive linemen in the draft.
O.K., so who is looking at trading up? Three teams that seem to be investigating it pretty pointedly: Tampa, Denver and Atlanta. The Bucs and Broncos, I’ve heard, could be going up for one of the top four linemen (Becton, Jedrick Wills, Tristan Wirfs and Andrew Thomas), making Jacksonville’s slot, at No. 9, a potential hotspot, given the needs the Browns and Jets have at 10 and 11.
Who might the Browns target if they move back in the draft?
Peter King mentioned last week, the Browns have ‘real interest’ in Boise State OT Ezra Cleveland.
NEXT: Steve Harvey Makes Bold Prediction After Seeing New Uniforms#Browns @RossRugger This is what I was talking about this afternoon.
Ezra Cleveland is 100% in play for the Browns and it’s not at 10 pic.twitter.com/GidTHY7Ygm— ChadP71 @BrownsAccess (@chadp71) March 2, 2020
