Four Cleveland Browns draft picks that turned franchise around

Which draft picks have turned around the Cleveland Browns franchise?

Coming off of a Divisional-Round playoff appearance, the Cleveland Browns may have finally turned 25 plus years of misery around. After many teardowns, failed rebuilds, fired coaches, and general managers, it seems the Browns have finally found the right formula.

It’s no secret to the Browns or their fans that the team hasn’t made many great draft picks, especially in the first round. But recently they have had several successful draft picks that are a major part of the team’s recent upswing.

With the 2021 NFL Draft less than a week away, let’s look back at four picks that have had a major role in the teams’ new success:

4. Joel Bitonio, LG

Not only is Joel Bitonio the longest-tenured Cleveland Brown, but he’s also one of their best players. Bitonio has seen it all in the Dawg Pound and that experience has helped build a positive culture with the current team. Seeing it not work so many times has probably helped Bitonio learn how it can work.

He has seen awful team leaders and awful coaches. Like anyone, you can learn lessons from your negative experiences. If Bitonio is on board with something the rest of the team has no other choice but to be on board as well.

It also helps that our rookie franchise left tackle Jedrick Wills is playing next to Bitonio. It makes learning on the job much easier when you’re playing next to an all-pro guard.

3. Myles Garrett

It’s not going to be a long debate about who the Browns best player is and has been over the last few years. Myles Garrett has been everything the Browns could have imagined when they drafted him first overall in 2017.

Even when the rest of the team was awful and losing games they shouldn’t have, Garrett was always a bright spot on the roster. He is the player other teams have to game plan for and he has single-handedly won a few games for the Browns in 2020.

Garrett is one of the few Browns drafted players to receive a second contract of substance. He’s one of the faces of the Browns franchise and is going to be a stud on the defense for years to come.

2. Baker Mayfield

It’s the position that has plagued the Browns for over 20 years. The Browns have invested pick after pick into the quarterback position and they finally found one who is able to give them solid play on the field.

Baker Mayfield is looked at as the savior of the franchise and with good reason.

He recently passed Ben Roethlisberger as the winningest quarterback in First Energy stadium. He helped lead the Browns to their first playoff victory since returning to Cleveland.

Mayfield is the first Browns quarterback in many fans lifetimes that has had his fifth-year option exercised. He’s given the Browns the stability at the most important position on the field that the team has been desperate to find.

Mayfield seems to be the future of the franchise and is the leader the other Browns players have chosen to follow. If this really is the Browns turning things around, Mayfield will be the quarterback leading the charge.

1. Zane Gonzalez

If this has Browns fans laughing, it wouldn’t be all that surprising. A player who isn’t on the roster anymore and just happens to be a kicker is the most important draft pick the Browns made that helped turn the franchise around.

Zane Gonzalez was taken in the 7th round in 2017 and had many struggles with the Browns, which is exactly why he is the most important player drafted by them.

Week 1 of the 2018 season, Gonzalez had the potential game-winning field goal blocked against the Pittsburgh Steelers. This game ended in a tie instead.

The very next week Gonzalez missed two extra points and two field goals against the New Orleans Saints. This game ended in a loss that the Browns should have won.

Gonzalez was cut that following Monday.

If there is any other kicker on the Browns for those two games in 2018, it’s a very real possibility the Browns win both those games. That would make Hue Jackson’s record start out at 3-1 that year and he may still be in town running the Browns.

If the Browns win those games, there would be no way of telling when the Browns would turn to Baker Mayfield and jump-start the turnaround for the team.

If Hue Jackson is still running the Browns they don’t have Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski. Thus, the Browns don’t turn things around and Baker Mayfield may never have developed into the quarterback we saw in the second half of 2020. Without that, none of these other draft picks really matter in the grand scheme of things.

This is obviously poking some fun at Zane Gonzalez, but with Gonzalez, the Browns may still be the Browns.