Every Cleveland Browns 2020 draft pick and their rookie contract

Third round, 88th overall pick: Jordan Elliott

In what was a heavy SEC draft class for the Cleveland Browns, Jordan Elliott was the Browns sole pick on the defensive line. The defensive tackle from Missouri signed a four-year, $4,588,430 contract with his entire signing bonus, $897,040 guaranteed.

Elliott’s contract is the first of the rookies that becomes pretty expendable after the first season of the deal. If Elliott doesn’t pan out, the Browns won’t suffer a dead cap amount above $897,040, which will be his rookie season. This is typical of late-day two to day three contracts. Usually, the first and second-round contracts are decent sized investments into the players.

For the Cleveland Browns to become a playoff team, they need to start hitting on these types of draft picks consistently. Larry Ogunjobi was a great selection by the team back in 2017, and he was the last defensive tackle the Browns selected with a day two draft pick.

The 88th draft pick has not really panned out for franchises in recent years who have had the pick. The last three 88th overall picks have been linebacker Cody Barton to the Seahawks, linebacker Oren Burks to the Packers, and defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes to the Raiders. None of these players have shown much, if any promise so far in their NFL careers. Vanderdoes started 13 games his rookie year, but didn’t do anything in 2019.

For comparison, Barton, 2019’s 88th overall draft pick, signed a four year, $3,626,124 contract with the Seattle Seahawks. Hopefully, Elliot can buck the trend of unsuccessful 88th overall draft picks.