[Cactus Jack]

It's easy to rag on the Browns, as a lifelong fan I've done it as much as anyone. But they've made the playoffs twice recently and Stefanski is a 2X COY. Yes they made the worst trade in sports history but I blame that on ownership. I like Stefanski and GM Andrew Berry very much.

Having said all that I think this draft was a home run and could wind up being a grand slam for the Browns. 2 great players on defense - Graham probably the safest pick in the draft and Shweshinger is an all-world tackling machine. Both Alpha dogs. Judkins is a monster and 2nd RB taken was Dylan Sampson the freaking SEC Offensive POY and set TD record at Tennessee that had stood since 1929! Gabriel is first team All-American and threw for a million yards in his career and 30 TDs vs only 6 INT last year. Sanders was a top 10 pick until he and his handlers acted stupid. But all reports say he is already working hard in Cleveland and already doing charity work in the community and has a great attitude. TE Fannin Jr is all-world and set records in college. PLUS an extra 1st round pick next year! Don't mind the Johnson signing at all, every team has second chancers and his upside is big. If his attitude is bad I'm sure he is on a short leash. 

Bottom line great draft, tons of value and upside. And believe me I haven't bragged on a Browns draft in many years.

To the underlined: I can understand the thought process on wanting a QB as talented as Watson at that age. Franchise QBs are hard to come by in the NFL and it's rare that you are going to be able to draft a QB that you know has a high floor and high upside. There are maybe three Andrew Luck, Matthew Stafford, or Arch Manning types in a decade span. Past that, most of the top QBs in a given year might be drafted anywhere from top 10 to early Second Round. The Texans weren't really making great decisions around that time either-- they'd recently traded DeAndre Hopkins for next to nothing. That said, they gave up way too much, which is magnified by Watson's poor play and the picks the Texans were able to parlay that into through other trades (Will Anderson). I love the Texans, but even if you roll it back and give the Browns their #2, I'm thinking that CJ Stroud would not have fared as well in the AFC North as he has in the AFC South-- huge difference in the Ravens, Steelers, and Bengals twice versus the Titans, Colts, and Jaguars.

Love the Judkins pick, think the Graham and Schweisenger picks should work fine, but think they'd be lucky to have two of the remainder (Gabriel, Sanders, Fannin, and Sampson) turn out to be multi-year starters or better. Teams who take a late flyer on a player that they really love usually don't take other flyers on players at the same position. I get that Sampson set a Tennessee record, but he won't see boxes like he saw at Tennessee in the NFL. Until Vols offensive players are proven to be consistently safe picks, I'll reserve judgement. Think the biggest win from this draft will end up being their early pick next season if the Jags aren't good.

Will be interested in seeing if they're finished with roster moves, because you'd have expected an OT or WR at some point. Dionte Johnson isn't a "second chancer", he was a "third chancer" in last season's playoffs alone; if playoff hungry teams couldn't reign him in, I'm not optimistic that the Browns' locker room will.

I'd feel much more confident about their long term plan if able to confirm that they wanted to bail on Flacco early and throw Gabriel & Sanders to the dogs in hopes of tanking for Arch Manning and using the extra first rounder on a lineman or play-maker in the passing game.

Best thing that could happen is someone they aren't really sold on (ideally one of the QBs) blowing up in the preseason or late in the regular season and gets them some type of return but still getting a top pick-- having Gabriel or Sanders look really good in a losses to the Ravens does both. Worst case scenario: Travis Hunter is an All Pro for a decent Jags team and the pu-pu platter of Flacco, Gabriel, Sanders, and Watson flukes their way to four-plus wins and out of contention for a top QB in the 2026 Draft & Watson or one of the young QBs shows just enough to make it tough on the organization to move forward due to the perception that they have something that they don't.

Five wins isn't insane if two of three things happen: 1.) Flacco wins one or two in the first few weeks of the season, which are generally unpredictable; 2.) they get a fluke midseason win or two; 3.) they back into one or two wins late while teams are resting up for the playoffs or others are tanking.