Cleveland Browns: Just how bad have first-round picks been?

General manager John Dorsey said the previous Cleveland Browns regime failed to get real players, let’s look at recent first-round picks to see what he means

After the Cleveland Browns shipped off wide receiver Corey Coleman to the Buffalo Bills for a seventh-round pick in 2020, it officially signaled the end for every first-round pick this team has made between 2012 and 2016.

That’s a pretty tough pill to swallow, but in reality, we all know that those players weren’t as advertised. It’s the reason this team has struggled so bad to the point that they became the second franchise in NFL history to hit the dreaded 0-16 mark in a season.

It’s also why new general manager John Dorsey came in and had some harsh statements regarding the work done before his arrival.

"“You know what? You’ve got to get (Hue Jackson) players,” Dorsey told the “Really Big Show” with Aaron Goldhammer on WKNR 850 — via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “And you know what? I’ll come straight out with it. The guys who were here before, that system, they didn’t get real players.”"

He then went on about how he was going to get real players so that head coach Hue Jackson could prove he’s not a terrible coach. While it has yet to be seen if the players Dorsey got are ‘real,’ we do know he’s rid the team of all their first-round picks prior to 2017.

Let’s take a quick look at those guys and just how bad the moves were.