Be afraid: The Browns listened to me

Boy, did it get scary on draft day! It was being reported that the Browns were going to select quarterback Mitchell Trubisky with the first pick in the draft and go against all of the advice I had provided to them in this paper. As that day went on, I was thinking of all of the failed first round picks and the obvious choices that were bypassed. Julio Jones and Khalil Mack readily come to mind.

It was a huge relief when the name of the consensus numero uno pick, Myles Garrett, was announced and not Trubisky. Do you realize that not one of the Browns' six first-round picks from 2011 through 2014 is on the team? These selections: Phil Taylor, Trent Richardson, Brandon Weeden, Barkevious Mingo, Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel should be making up the heart, if not the soul, of the team now, but they do not exist. Most fans believe that the Browns got this pick right by simply not screwing it up.

As I wrote in a previous article, it is unfortunate that the Browns needed to treat last season as a "second expansion" year and use their high level pick to trade down and pick up draft capital for this year and next, while avoiding another potential Tim Couch debacle. That article, along with the one from early April that had my draft ideas, has led me to believe that the Browns "brain trust" not only had been reading these articles but also took them to heart! They did almost everything I recommended, aside from letting CJ Beathard get away. However, it appears that at least one other team saw the same passing ability and accuracy that I did and drafted him in the third round; when the "draft experts" had him going in the seventh round or not being drafted at all.

The Browns did, however, select Myles Garrett and Jabrill Peppers, as I proposed. They didn't panic and allowed quarterback DeShone Kizer fall to them at my "wildcard" pick in the second round. I recommended that they take a cornerback or defensive tackle in the third round and they "one-upped" me by taking a tackle in the third and the cornerback in the fourth round.

I had surmised they could select defensive players with four of their first five picks but still look for an opportunity to obtain another first round pick for next year. They did get that pick and came very close still, with four of their top six picks going to improve their defense. It is defense that wins championships. As for Kizer, I still hope that the Browns don't let the media and the fans push them into making him their opening day quarterback ... UNLESS HE EARNS IT!

Obviously, I am happy with what the Browns did. Now, I am left to wonder how it is that I am not getting paid for showing them how to draft! Lastly, thanks to everyone that came out for the first round of the draft. It was great fun to be "high-fiving" everyone when Jabrill Peppers was selected. For the rest of the night I felt like EF Hutton in the old TV commercials – "When EF Hutton talks, people listen"!