The Continued Stupidity of the Cleveland Browns
- Fred
- 19 hours ago
- 3 min read
The week before the NFL Draft, there were 3 simple rules (from me) for the Cleveland Browns:
Address Your Glaring Needs at WR & OT
Don't Trade Down, Pick the Best Player Available
Don't Take Another Quarterback
This was the final 3 Round Mock Draft for the Browns at ESPN before the Real Draft:
6. (WR) Lemon
24. (OT) Proctor
39. (G) Pregnon
70. (CB) Abney
If the Browns got two O-Linemen, one Wide Receiver, and a Corner at the top of the draft, that would have been considered a success.
So as the National Media collectively applauded as Cleveland wheeled and dealed to land two O-Linemen, two Wide Receivers, and a Safety in the 1st 3 Rounds, I briefly thought that the Browns had figured out the Draft. The 1st 5 picks in rounds 1 through 3 were solid and addressed needs.
But then, as I started to do math, I realized that the Browns did a bunch of nothing.
They started the draft with 9 draft picks.
They finished the draft with 10 draft picks.
They shouldn't get points for addressing glaring needs. At the end of the 2025 season, 6 of their offensive lineman became free agents. They didn't have enough offensive lineman to field a team in 2026, they HAD to pick offensive linemen.
At the end of 2025, statistically, the Cleveland Browns had the worst set of wide receivers in the NFL, gaining only 1,467 yards as a group. Just for comparison, Seattle Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 1,793 individual receiving yards. The Browns HAD to pick wide receivers.
So what did the Browns do with their 1 extra pick?
And this is the point of the article.
Coming into the Draft, the Browns had 3 quarterbacks:
Deshaun Watson, who is nearing the end of his guaranteed quarter-of-a-billion dollar contract.
Dillon Gabriel, chosen in the 3rd round of the draft last year.
Shedeur Sanders, chosen in the 5th round of the draft last year.
After the 2025 Draft, the Browns inexplicably had 5 quarterbacks under contract. Unheard of for an NFL team, when many teams only dress TWO on gameday.
So with the first pick of the 6th round, the Browns chose Arkansas Quarterback Taylen Green. What's wrong with the Browns picking Taylen Green? Everything.
The Cleveland Browns became only the 2nd team in NFL (Modern) History to choose 3 QB's in back-to-back drafts (the other team being the Carolina Panthers in the 2010-2011 Drafts.)
But more specifically to Green, according to ESPN "The 6-foot-5, 227-pound Green had a record-breaking performance for a quarterback at the NFL scouting combine in February. He ran a 4.36-second 40-yard dash, the fastest by a QB since 2003, and also posted position-best marks in the vertical jump (43½ inches) and broad jump (11 feet, 2 inches). Green accounted for 7,247 total yards in two seasons at Arkansas, the second most in the SEC since 2024 and trailing only former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia...."
Last year, Arkansas was DEAD LAST in the SEC. (11th in 2024, 16th in 2025.) The Browns picked a QB that won the Combine? This is not Jerry Jones' and Jimmy Johnsons' Arkansas that won the National Championship in 1964, this generation of Arkansas players haven't had a winning record in the SEC since 2015.
Who did the Browns pass up? The aforementioned Diego Pavia, who racked up stats AND led Vanderbilt to the best record in the school's history. Vanderbilt is currently the losingest football program in SEC history with 671 losses, and Pavia took a perennial doormat and made them a winner. The problem with Pavia? He's too small (by NFL standards) and he's not fast.
Sadly, Pavia went undrafted.
In general, you take a flyer on a quarterback that might not fit with measurements, but knows how to win games.
Since when has winning, or not winning, games in the SEC not mattered????
So the Browns made 6 draft-day trades for a net gain of 1 pick....
And with that pick, they grabbed a guy who shouldn't have even been on their board?
You think I'm being too hard on the Browns? This front office doesn't get the benefit of the doubt anymore.
I'm a jerk that picks on the Browns too much?
In a league built for parity, the Browns have a 37% win percentage, one of the worst in the NFL in the past decade. I shouldn't have to defend my coverage, they should have to defend their record. They would have to go on a 144 game winning streak, just to have a .500 record overall (146-290-1 since 1999).