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

2014 First-Round Pick: Justin Gilbert, Cornerback

Games played with Browns: 23
Where is he now? Still technically suspended by the NFL

The 2014 draft was supposed to change this franchise. First, they drafted cornerback Justin Gilbert at No. 8 and followed that up with Johnny Manziel at No. 22. The Oklahoma State cornerback was supposed to join Joe Haden and give the Browns a duo that was impossible to pass the ball on. That didn’t happen.

Gilbert barely made any starts for Cleveland and was traded for a late-round pick to the Steelers in 2016. He didn’t last long there either and was suspended in June of 2017 for a full season after violating the substance abuse policy. Even if he weren’t suspended, not many teams would be sniffing around Gilbert.

2014 First-Round Pick: Johnny Manziel, Quarterback

Games played with Browns: 15
Where is he now? Throwing picks for the Montreal Alouettes

This was the one that hurt the most. Johnny Football was supposed to be the culture change we needed, but instead, he went down as one of the biggest busts in franchise history. After an exciting career at Texas A&M, Manziel struggled to stay sober and wound up out of the league after just eight starts.

After two seasons away from the NFL, he appears to be clean and is trying to get back to the league. Currently, he’s in the Canadian Football League and just made his first start after being traded from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to the Montreal Alouettes. Maybe he didn’t know he was traded, because his lone start came against Hamilton and he threw four completions to that team — although that’s technically called an interception.