Three significant draft day trades made by Cleveland Browns’ John Dorsey
By Dan Justik
2017 NFL Draft – Dorsey lands the 2018 NFL MVP
Although trading up and drafting the player who led the league in rushing in 2017 was a successful move by Dorsey, it was not the best move he made in the 2017 NFL Draft. Instead, it was the trade he made on the first night of the draft.
Kansas City was sitting late in the first round with the 27th overall selection. With Alex Smith’s career starting to wind down, Dorsey felt he needed to find a franchise quarterback. In order to do so, he mortgaged the future to jump into the top ten to select that quarterback.
Dorsey traded the 27th overall selection, the 91st selection, and a 2018 first-round pick to land the 10th overall selection. With that pick, Dorsey selected quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Now two years later, Kansas City has one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL because of this trade.
Mahomes sat behind Smith for almost the entire 2017 season before starting the final game of the regular season. He showed glimpses of the player he could be in that game, completing 62.9 percent of his passes for 284 yards and an interception and led the Chiefs to a win.
After the Chiefs traded Smith, Mahomes was given the reigns as the starting quarterback in 2018 and did not disappoint. He completed 66 percent of his passes for 5,097 yards, 50 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions and became the league’s MVP. The explosive offense led by Mahomes carried the Chiefs to the AFC Championship, but lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots.
Next. Three players who would be worth the Browns trading up for. dark
These moves help highlight the success Dorsey has had in the draft. Not only has he found talented players, but he is not afraid to make trades in order to add the players he wants. If Dorsey does move up in the 2019 NFL Draft, Browns fans should be confident in his history of trading up in the draft.