John Dorsey’s 5 worst moves as Cleveland Browns general manager

2. Sending off the first-round picks

This is not going to be a knock on Odell Beckham Jr, who is an All Pro player.  It is, however a knock on the process that brought him to Cleveland and the enormous price they have paid.  OBJ had recently signed a contract with the New York Giants at approximately “fair value.”

That is, they were not going to pay much more or they would let him walk.  In fact,shortly thereafter they seem to have concluded that the team was actually better off without him.

How then can he be worth a first round draft pick plus a third round pick plus safety Jabrill Peppers (who is himself a former number one pick)?

The table below compares the signings of Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham, Jr. Landry was vastly less expensive to acquire. The Browns gave up only a fourth and a seventh round pick, and then had to pay his salary. OBJ cost essentially two first round picks, and a third, AND they still are out a net $12 million dollars that could have been used to bring in additional talent.

OBJ is a fantastic  talent but in a different way Jarvis Landry is just as good.  It does not seem reasonable to give up so much more for OBJ, no matter how good he is.

A building team cannot afford to be giving up first round draft picks for a veteran player, even a proven superstar like OBJ.  A playoff team could justify it, but not a young team on the rise.

As it is, a 2-6 team looks very silly for throwing away two consecutive first round picks. The Browns have salary cap space saved up from Sashi Brown’s tenure, but the Browns are seeing that stash quickly disappear and they are so not making the playoffs. If Dorsey continues to trade away first round picks, the team can not improve.

Still if the Browns had had the shot at the playoffs and Super Bowl that we were talking about in the off-season signing OBJ makes perfect sense. But the Browns are nowhere near the playoffs this year.