by CLEVELAND, OH – Heading into Thursday night, all eyes were on the Cleveland Browns who sat with the number 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft. University of Miami QB Cam Ward was the sure-fire pick at number 1, so who were the Browns going to draft?
Was it Travis Hunter, the two-way star out of Colorado? Maybe edge-rushing phenom out of Penn State Abdul Carter. Many also felt Hunter’s teammate and son of NFL Legend Deion Sanders, QB Shedeur Sanders could go to the Browns at number 2.
Here are the selections the Browns ended up making in this year’s draft along with my grades (1.5 indicates 5th pick overall in the first round, 2.33 is 33rd overall pick in 2nd round etc.):
1.5 Mason Graham, DT Michigan: Grade B+
The Browns ended up trading out of the #2 overall pick in exchange for Jacksonville’s #5 overall pick, a 2025 2nd-round pick, a 2025 4th-round pick, and their 2026 1st-round pick.
In his senior season at Michigan, Graham tallied 45 total tackles, 7 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks in an All-American season. The Browns allowed over 2200 rushing yards a year ago which ranked them 27th overall. The addition of Graham will help clog up those holes for opposing offenses alongside former DPOY Myles Garrett.
Taking Graham with the 5th overall selection helps fill a dire need on the defensive line after last year’s trade of Za’Darius Smith and off-season departure from Dalvin Tomlinson. The 6’3.5” nearly 300-pound Graham will at minimum create a physical force for opposing offensive lines.
2.33 Carson Schwesinger, LB UCLA: Grade A-
With a defensive need already filled in the first round and a lot of questions on the offensive side of the ball, I felt the Browns would go heavy offensively on Day 2. However, that’s not how they started as they selected 1st Team All-American LB Carson Schwesinger with the first pick of the 2nd round.
Many analysts and scouts raved about the ability Schwesinger showed while at UCLA. Many had him being taken in the first round of their mock drafts. The 6’2.5” and 240-pound LB started his career as a walk-on at UCLA where he worked his way up every year. By his redshirt-junior season, he was the Nation’s leading tackler with 90 solos, 3rd overall with 136 total tackles, a 1st Team All-American, and a finalist for the Butkus Award (Nation’s best LB).
His awareness on tape is what jumps out the most. His ability to identify a run play before the RB gets to the line of scrimmage is among the best in the class as he racked in 9 tackles for loss from his LB position. With the uncertainty of Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and when he may be able to return from his neck injury, if ever, the Browns needed top-end talent at the position.
With the addition, Schwesinger joins Cleveland native Jerome Baker and former TB Buccaneer Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, among others, as off-season additions in the now deep linebacker room in Cleveland.
2.36 Quinshon Judkins, RB THE Ohio State: Grade A-
Buckeye fans rejoice! Quinshon Judkins is a Cleveland Brown! Judkins, a transfer in from Ole Miss, led the Buckeyes to victory in the National Championship Game over Notre Dame back in January. He tallied 11 carries for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns while adding 21 yards receiving with a 3rd total touchdown. His season totals, while splitting carries with now New England Patriots RB TreVeyon Henderson, in his final collegiate season were 194 carries for 1,060 yards, and 2 touchdowns. He also hauled in 22 receptions for 161 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Judkins brings a style of running like that of Nick Chubb in the sense that he is a physical, between-the-tackles runner with sneaky speed in the open field. His 4.48 40-yard dash at the combine ranked 7th best at the running back position. Pairing that with his ability to break arm tackles or simply run through you with his size and strength, will make for a tough time on opposing defenses in the future.
With Nick Chubb still being a free agent, this adds security to a running back room that features Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong Jr. Judkins could very well make a push to be the main running back for a Browns offense that finished 29th in rushing last season.
His pass pro ability as well as the ability to catch the ball at the running back position adds another special quality to his game. Look for Quinshon to be a big staple of the Brown’s offense under Kevin Stefanski for years to come.
3.67 Harold Fannin Jr., TE Bowling Green: Grade A+
I know there is no such thing as a perfect pick before stepping foot on an NFL field but if there was one, this would be it for me. The 6’3” 240-pound Fannin set multiple single-season FBS TE records in his final season at BG. These included single-season receptions, receiving yards, yards per game, receptions per game, and many more. While his size would put him as a below-average NFL tight end, Fannin can be used in multiple ways in an offense like Kevin Stefanski’s.
I feel that he will be able to be used in 2 TE sets, as a primary TE, or even a big wide receiver on certain plays. His Swiss army knife ability to potentially play TE/WR adds a lot of value to this pick for the Browns. Especially since the wide receiver room had yet to be directly addressed, this can mean Fannin may be prioritized as such in the coming years.
I did not see Harold Fannin dropping out of the 2nd round of this year’s draft because of his pure catching ability and willingness to play where teams need him. That being said, I feel like this is one of the best value picks of any team the entire draft.
3.94 Dillon Gabriel, QB Oregon: Grade D+
One of Andrew Berry’s goals of this draft was to “maximize the value of every pick”. That was not done with the pick of Dillon Gabriel in the 3rd round. I had personally projected Gabriel to fall into the late 4th to early 5th round range of the draft where a team may take a flyer on him. With a player like Gabriel being able to fall at least one more round, I feel like this pick was not made with the pure value in mind.
While Dillon Gabriel was successful at every college he played, from UCF, to Oklahoma, and finally Oregon, his age and size could be a concern. The 5’11” southpaw is coming off a season at Oregon in which he won the BIG 10’s Offensive Player of the Year award, and led Oregon to a BIG 10 title, as well as the number one overall seed in the CFP.
With the success of Gabriel in his college career, there are also concerns about him. His height is what gives immediate concern as he stands at just 5’11” tall. Small QBs in the NFL do not have a good track record of success, although it is possible, it is not likely. His deep ball accuracy is a cause for concern as well. While he is extremely accurate on short and moderate throws, his accuracy gets quite shaky once he goes out of his typical range.
Although this pick addresses the need for the most important position on the football field, I feel if they wanted Gabriel all along, the Browns could have waited at least until the 4th round.
4.126 Dylan Sampson, RB Tennessee: Grade B-
After the selection of Quinshon Judkins in the 2nd round, this selection of Dylan Sampson confused me quite a bit. However, the value of the pick is still very solid. Sampson is coming off a record-breaking season at Tennessee in which he set a new single-season TD record with 22. He also brought home the SEC Offensive Player of the Year honors as well as 2nd Team All-American honors.
Sampson’s speed and elusiveness stand out the most to me. He ran un unofficial 4.42 40-yard dash at Tennessee’s pro day and shows tremendous jump-cut ability on tape to avoid tacklers. With this pick, it seems to me that the Browns will likely not be bringing back Nick Chubb unless it comes at the expense of one of the other running backs in the room. At their peaks, Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson have the ceiling to potentially become a version of Detroit’s running back combination of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery.
5.144 Shedeur Sanders, QB Colorado: Grade A-
Last but certainly not the least, the Browns selected Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders in the 5th round to finish out their draft. If you told me that the Browns would end up with Shedeur Sanders in the draft last week, I would have thought we traded back into the first round to select him. Based off pure talent, I did not see Shedeur sliding past the early 2nd round of the draft and had him as the 3rd best QB in the draft behind Cam Ward and Ole Miss’s Jaxson Dart.
Being able to get a player with the talent of Sanders in Day 3 of the draft is something that does not come around every year. I believe there may have been issues with the way he and/or his camp handled the entirety of the draft process that caused him to slide so far.
Sanders’ accuracy is his obvious strength as he holds the All-Time career completion percentage record with a 71.8% throughout his career. His last season at Colorado saw him throw for over 4100 yards and toss 37 touchdowns while finishing 8th in the Heisman voting.
The pick of Sanders will make for an interesting offseason in the QB room that now holds Joe Flacco, Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel, and Kenny Pickett. I believe that whichever of those four have the worst showing in camp this year has a good chance of being traded before the regular season starts.
Overall Grade: B
I feel that the Browns hit on most of their picks on an individual value level as well as drafting positions of need. My main issue is that they did not address the offensive tackle situation where they have multiple players that constantly deal with injuries. Also, not directly addressing the wide receiver position gave me a little bit of doubt, although I do believe Harold Fannin Jr. could play in as a wide receiver.
