Aug 28, 2014; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Utes defensive end Nate Orchard (8) pushes Idaho State Bengals offensive linesman Jim Bagley (78) into Idaho State Bengals quarterback Justin Arias (18) during the first quarter at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports
The Cleveland Browns may not be winners on the field just yet, but that may be changing soon if NFL.com’s draft rankings are correct.
The Browns finished second in the site’s NFL Draft class power rankings, behind only the Minnesota Vikings. Using NFL Media senior analyst Gil Brandt’s Hot 100 prospects list as the guiding force, the site assigned point totals to each player drafted based on where Brandt had the player ranked (100 points to the No. 1 player, 99 to the No. 2 player all the way down to one point for the No. 100 player on the list).
Cleveland’s undisputed No. 1 team finished with 248 points — trailing the Vikings by a healthy margin of 42 points — after selecting five players on Brandt’s list.
According to the article, first-round selections Danny Shelton and Cameron Erving were both in Brandt’s top 26, and each of the club’s first five draft picks were Hot 100 players.
The Browns’ selections, along with their point totals, were:
- No. 13 NT Danny Shelton, Washington (88)
- No. 26 C Cameron Erving, Florida State (75)
- No. 61 RB Duke Johnson, Miami (40)
- No. 65 DE Nate Orchard, Utah (36)
- No. 92 DT Xavier Cooper, Washington State (9)
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While the Browns were a bit behind Minnesota for the top spot, they easily outpaced their division rivals in the rankings, as Baltimore came in ranked No. 11 with four players (Breshad Perriman, Maxx Williams, Carl Davis and Za’Darius Smith) and 191 points; Cincinnati was 21st with three players (Jake Fisher, Cedric Ogbuehi and Josh Shaw) and 136 points; and Pittsburgh was at No. 24 with just two players on Brandt’s Hot 100 list (Bud Dupree and Sammie Coates) and 109 points.
It’s nice to see the hard work put in by general manager Ray Farmer and the scouting staff receive some national recognition, but until the players selected actually get on the field and start producing, it is all just fun and games.
What do you think of the ranking of the Browns’ draft class?