Cleveland Browns: 2017 draft rankings show plan is working
By Joel W. Cade
The Cleveland Browns struggles over the past two years are stuff of legend. But did Sashi Brown lead the Browns to the light at the end of the tunnel?
The Cleveland Browns did not draft well under the former executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown’s watch. Or at least that is what the latest buzz around the Browns would have us to believe.
The narrative that general manager John Dorsey has swooped in and turned this franchise around seems to have won the day.
But that narrative is too simplistic to be true. The truth is much more complex than black and white narratives. Brown is not the bad guy who created a losing team (although that will be his legacy). Dorsey did not ride into town on a white horse to save the day. The reality is in the gray area that lies between black and white.
Recently, Maurice Moton of Bleacher Report ranked each NFL teams draft classes. If the black and white narrative holds, then the Browns should have a terrible draft class. But the gray reality shines through in Moton’s piece. He ranks the Browns as having the No. 5 overall draft class from 2017.
A lot can be spoken against ranking draft classes one year later. Players need time to develop, etc. Moton also places an undue emphasis upon quarterback play when ranking the classes.
Moton even goes so far as to spend a paragraph talking up the play of former Browns quarterback DeShone Kizer. It comes as no surprise that the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans are both ranked ahead of the Browns based on quarterback play.
Why are the Browns ranked at No. 5?