Cleveland Browns land talented wide receiver in Week 18 mock draft

After a disappointing 2021, the Cleveland Browns will look to stock up on talent in the 2022 NFL Draft to make another title run.

After the Cleveland Browns were officially eliminated from the 2021 playoffs on Sunday, it’s time to start looking ahead to the 2022 NFL draft. Yes, the Browns need to focus on the last few games of the season, but there’s no doubt that Andrew Berry has begun looking ahead to the draft.

This is a new scenario for the Browns organization. They have acquired a lot of talent over the last few seasons and now will rely on continuing to keep this roster young and fresh with young talent. With a lot of money tied up in veterans, they’ll need to find a few rookies each year that are able to contribute in order to stay competitive.

The biggest change you’ll see next season is in the wide receiver room. Expect guys like Jarvis Landry and Rashard Higgins to be out and expect the Browns to draft heavy at the position as well as add a free agent.

The defense will be pretty well set other than the question mark on Jadeveon Clowney  The team would love to keep him, but the question will be, what’s the price. Here’s a first look at a seven-round mock for the 2022 Draft.

Round 1: Garrett Wilson, WR, Ohio State

As I mentioned to start this piece, the biggest change you’ll see next season will likely be at wide receiver. After lacking talent for the last two seasons, look for Berry to start fresh. Nothing would make a better start than the team drafting Ohio State’s Garret Wilson in the first round of the 2022 draft.

There’s a chance the guys like Chris Olave and Jameson Williams will still be available, but I think Wilson is the best fit for the Browns. Olave and Williams are more of the home run hitters, while Wilson does it all and is one of the best route runners I’ve witnessed at the college level.

I expect Berry to sign an experience free agent to play the X-receiver, and that will allow Wilson to start his career in the slot with Donovan Peoples-Jones as the other outside receiver.

I think Wilson can be the crutch that Baker Mayfield has desperately looked for since his rookie season.  It looked like Rashard Higgins could be it, then John Dorsey tried to make Odell Beckham the guy, but neither panned out.

Many wanted a wide receiver in 2021 and I thought it was an awful idea, man was I wrong. Look for Berry to get it right in 2022.