The Browns 2022 Draft

04/18/2022

With one week until the 2022 Draft the Cleveland Browns still have some holes to fill on their roster- if they're hoping to have the luxury of picking Best Player Available in the early rounds of the Draft. As it stands they still need another Wide Receiver, another Edge Defender and more than one Defensive Tackle. The Browns are known to have made an offer to DE Jadeveon Clowney for $24 million over two years, but they could also try and tie up either Melvin Ingram and/or Jerry Hughes. The cost of getting these two together would be the same as one Clowney so this would be quite the coup from the Browns Front Office if they managed to achieve this. Ingram had a better season than Clowney in both pass rush and run defense last season and Hughes is an explosive player. It's believed that the Browns are interested in WR Will Fuller who played with Deshaun Watson at the Texans, and having already brought in Amari Cooper this would ease the pressure to draft a WR early on. DT remains a significant problem for the Browns, but they could relieve this if they signed Sheldon Richardson and Sheldon Day, both of whom are experienced Defensive Tackles and have played for the Browns before.

As it stands the Browns are going in to the Draft with 7 Draft picks at:

2nd Round 44
3rd Round 78 & 99
4th Round 118
6th Round 202
7th Round 223, 246

Despite losing their 1st round pick in the trade for Watson the Browns still have 4 picks in the top 150 and at both the WR and DE position there is a lot of depth and good value. They could easily afford to pick a very good run stopping DT at 44 and still acquire a good DE and WR at 78 & 99. Personally I think they'll go BPA at 44 from the WR & DE positions with DE most likely as the WR position is very deep in the top 100.

Defensive Edge

The best DE players that could be still around at 44 and possibly 78 are:

Nick Bonitto from Oklahoma who had a pass rush grade of 93.6 in 2020 and 92.5 in 2021. He's 6.3 and 240lbs so slightly lighter than the Browns Front Office tend to prefer.
Arnold Ebiketie from Penn State who had a 90.5 pass rush grade in 2021 with 52 pressures. He is also 6.3 and is 256lbs.
Kingsley Enagbare from South Carolina who had a pass rush grade of 89.2 in 2020 and 92.5 in 2021. Kingsley is 6.4 and 265lbs so is very close to the weight the Browns like from their Defensive Ends and almost identical in height and weight to Jadeveon Clowney.
John Paschal from Kentucky who is 6.3 and 278lbs who was the leading Power 5 run stopper in 2021 with a 12.5% run stop rate.

Wide Receiver

I think it's unlikely the Browns pick a WR at 44 given the depth of the position. However, they may pick two in their top 4 choices and I think they're looking for a deep threat. I'm assuming Chris Olave from OSU doesn't fall to 44, in which case I can see the Browns Front Office picking two from this list:

Skyy Moore from Western Michigan who had 26 broken tackles last season- the highest in the FBS.
Treylon Burks from Arkansas who is 6.3, 225lbs and a deep threat menace with 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Jalen Tolbert from South Alabama who had 15 deep receptions which was the 5th is all of College football. He's 6.1, 195lbs with a 4.49 40 yard dash.
Alec Pierce from Cincinnati who is 6.3, 208lbs and had 13 deep receptions last year.
Justin Ross from Clemson who led the nation in yards/reception as a freshman in 2021.
John Metchie III from Alabama who had 96 catches fro 1,142 yards and 8 touchdowns in 2021, but he did tear his ACL in the SEC Championship game.
Romeo Doubs from Nevada who is 6.2 200lbs and who has had 2x 1000+ yards receiving for the last two seasons. His 40 yard dash time will see him fall, but I have always preferred to judge players by what they do in the regular season and Doubs could be an excellent pick up.

Defensive Tackle

This position isn't deep in the 2022 Draft so don't be surprised f the Browns pick a run stopper early. Their likely choices are between:

Travis Jones from Uconn who is 6.5 333lbs, but who also had 25 pressures last season with 21 run stops.
Logan Hall from Houston who is 6.6 and 260lbs, but although is more of a 3 Tech he still had a 78.0 run stop grade last season.
If Jordan Davis from Georgia drops to 44 then the Browns could be very tempted. He's 6.6 and 360lbs!
If they pick a DT at 118 it's likely between:
Phidarian Mathis from Alabama
Matthew Butler from Tennessee
Neil Farrell Jr from LSU

The order of preference for the Browns going in to the Draft will change depending on the business they do this week. The Browns have a very complete roster and have the chance to add real quality in the upcoming Draft to their remaining positions of need. It's going to be exciting to see what happens.