The NFL draft is not too far away. While the interest around it has lost some steam for Cleveland Browns fans after trading away the 13th pick, with looming salary cap concerns it is vital the team hits on as many selections as possible.
Thanks to the third-round compensatory pick for Kwesi Adofo-Mensah taking over the Minnesota Vikings, Andrew Berry still has three picks in the top 100 to add important players for the 2022 season. While pick #44 seems low, a starter should be expected from that pick and solid contributors from the next two as well.
Taking a look at mock drafts, especially those with multiple rounds, helps give a feel for how a team could be built when the actual draft rolls around. It can also give fans a chance to learn about players that they may not have heard of.
Tuesday, Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay posted a shared three-round mock draft on ESPN (subscriber, $). In it, the two ended up sharing the Browns three selections with Kiper having two of them and McShay the other. All and all, the two failed to meet a high-quality draft for the team.
Kiper added DT Travis Jones from UConn and WR Khalil Shakir from Boise State while McShay tacked on TE Isaiah Likely from Coastal Carolina.
While the three selections hit on positions of need for the team, the group lands with a thud. Jones is the best of the bunch but is already 22 years old and succeeded in a smaller conference.
As noted by Kiper, Shakir is seen as the Jarvis Landry replacement. With his toughness, middle of the field work and limited explosiveness, the comparison fits but may not be the best use of the team’s limited draft resources.
With the first two picks, both by Kiper, the Browns may have been better off drafting George Pickens or Skyy Moore in the second round then coming back with Matthew Butler with their first third-round selection.
McShay’s addition of Likely makes sense given Austin Hooper’s departure and David Njoku still hoping for a long-term deal but another 22-year-old prospect with the need to develop as described by Lance Zierlein:
Likely a year or two to find his footing against stronger, faster coverage, but he has the tools to uncover against NFL coverage as an “F” tight end.
For Cleveland, an older prospect that needs a year or two to develop in the league doesn’t fit their timeline. If they evaluate him differently and see his ability to be a big receiving threat immediately, it would be different.
Pass rusher Myjai Sanders, selected by the Baltimore Ravens one pick later, would be a more interesting developmental player who needs to fill in his lighter frame.
Jones, Shakir and Likely versus Pickens, Butler and Sanders seem like a mismatch of draft hauls but the ESPN duo does give us another set of prospects to think about.
What do you think of Kiper and McShay’s additions for the Browns?