2022 Cleveland Browns draft: The good, bad, and unknown
By Greg Newland
After a ton of movement in the NFL draft for the Cleveland Browns, they ended the draft with far more talent than they started. See how each pick grades.
With the 2022 NFL draft now behind us, the Cleveland Browns will begin to fine-tune their roster and prepare for the full offseason program. While there’s still time for free agent signings and late undrafted players being brought in, a bulk of the roster is in place.
While there were a couple of surprises from this weekend’s draft, overall, it feels like Andrew Berry addressed many of the needs for the current roster, and the team feels like it’s in a better position.
I am starting to wonder if any team will be willing to play ball on a trade for Baker Mayfield. He was clearly the best quarterback available this weekend, yet no one was willing to give up even a late-round pick to take on his fully guaranteed $18.9 million contract for 2022.
It felt like a deal was close with the Carolina Panthers, but when the Browns weren’t willing to take on enough of the salary themselves, the deal fell apart and the team drafted Matt Corral instead. The one team out there that still makes sense is the Seattle Seahawks, but every day that passes is another day closer to Mayfield being released.
Another slight surprise was the trade of Troy Hill. It did help make the pick of Martin Emerson in round three make more sense, but given the structure of his contract, it would have been cheaper to just keep him on the roster. It will be interesting to see how that situation all plays out.
The Browns made nine total picks over the three days of the draft. Let’s take a quick initial look at how each player grades out.