The Cleveland Browns next big offseason move could be an extension with CB Denzel Ward but most likely will come with the opening of the league year with free agency and trades. Prior to that, most of the focus will be on the upcoming 2022 NFL draft.
March will bring the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, perhaps for the last time, with the draft late in April. In between those two events (at least officially because many free-agent deals are negotiated during the Combine) is when the league year opens.
Free agency and trades could totally change both the Browns needs as well as what draft picks they will have in April’s draft. While we know where Cleveland will draft in the first round, their entire set of selections does not become official until compensatory picks are assigned. Most of those picks will go to teams who lost more players in 2021 free agency than they brought in.
A couple of picks will go to teams who have minority candidates hired off of their team into general manager or head coaching positions. Last year, four of those picks were handed out. For the 2022 draft, a lot is still up in the air with very few head coaches hired and Las Vegas still deciding on their front-office position.
The Browns are in line to get a third-round compensatory pick after the Minnesota Vikings hired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to be their GM. With that in mind, a quick look (and estimate) of where the team’s selections will be in the upcoming 2022 NFL draft:
- 1st Round – Pick #13
- 2nd Round – Pick #44
- 3rd Round – Pick #78
- 3rd Round – Pick #102 (Compensatory Pick)
- 4th Round – Pick #114 (Lions Trade)
- 4th Round – Pick #124
- 5th Round – Pick #171
- 6th Round – Pick #218
- 7th Round – Pick #257
If you use any mock draft simulators, they currently will not have the compensatory picks assigned. That does two things when looking at where Cleveland is picking: 1) Pick #102 won’t be assigned to them and 2) Picks in the fourth round and beyond will be assigned higher positions before the NFL assigns the compensatory picks and drops later picks down.
As an estimate, this gives a great look at where the Browns sit prior to the official announcement of compensatory picks. Four picks of the top 102 players in the upcoming draft should help stock the talent or give them ammunition to make moves.