Cleveland Browns: Redrafting the past five first-rounds

We can all look back and say “I wish we drafted that guy”! Well, now we can see what could have been by re-drafting the past five seasons of Cleveland Browns first-round picks.

Looking back at the past five drafts at who the Cleveland Browns did select and who they should have selected in the first-round

The Cleveland Browns have obviously passed on some talent in the last 5 years of the draft, who hasn’t. But, the Browns are under a microscope because of the quarterbacks they have passed on such as Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson.

Here we are going to look at who they should have taken with these first round picks. Keep in mind that these are post-trades, so if they traded up or down, these are the picks we are evaluating, not the original picks held by the Browns.

Let’s start in 2013.

2013, Round 1, Pick 6

Original Pick: Barkevious Mingo, Outside Linebacker, LSU

Updated Pick: DeAndre Hopkins, Wide Receiver, Clemson

Besides Josh Gordon (who has missed a ton of time with off the field issues) the Browns have not had a true number one receiver. Hopkins would have made a great target for the many quarterbacks who took snaps for Cleveland in the past five seasons.

2014, Round 1, Pick 8

Original Pick: Justin Gilbert, Cornerback, Oklahoma State

Updated Pick: Aaron Donald, Defensive Tackle, Pittsburgh

Donald is known as one of, if not the greatest defensive tackle in the NFL. Drafting him would have made the Brown’s run defense over the years extremely difficult to game plan for.