We should have known it was too quiet.
For a good while now, I'd argue we've all been a little to presumptive about the Browns' draft plans. Travis Hunter is a slam-dunk choice for the second overall pick this year, we said. (And we're not wrong.) Taking a player of his caliber is a no-brainer, even if no one's quite sure where he'll play next season. In fact, the fact that we can almost entirely ignore that uncertainty is exactly *why* the Browns should pick him.
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But as it turns out, that was all a well-crafted smokescreen. Or, at the very least, a crafted smokescreen. And actually maybe it was just a smokescreen that had nothing to do with them. We all wasted weeks – months, even! – assuming the Browns weren't going to get chaotic on Thursday night, which, in hindsight, was really dumb. They're the Browns.
So now, with a little over two days before the draft actually starts, we're dealing with the consequences of our assumptions. For instance, I have no idea what to do with this latest nugget of info from ESPN's Pete Schrager, who threw a grenade on the Browns' draft script Tuesday morning.
The Browns are apparently totally fine with moving the #2 pick in the NFL Draft for the right price
"There have been phone calls made to both the Browns at two and the Giants at three, with the intention to move up, from several different sources telling me there are teams looking to get up in this draft to either the two or the three spot," he said. "The assumption is it would be for Abdul Carter, Travis Hunter, or the running back Ashton Jeanty, who everyone expects to go somewhere in that 5-7-8 range. There have been teams making calls, and those teams are not immeidately slamming down the phone. Everyone assumes it's going to be chalk ... not so fast. I think the two spot gets very interesting if the Browns are listening to a godfather deal ... "
I don't know if this report is more about the Browns or the fact that Schrager wants everyone to know that he's plugged into all the right agent group chats, but that's a different, slightly-more-petty argument for another time.
The more important thing to focus on right now is that we might have some real action on Thursday night. In a way, it'd be weirdly appropriate for a team that's been so noticeably absent from the first round in recent years. We're now close to a no-lose situation: either they land a generational prospect in Travis Hunter, or they land a generational haul that can speed up the post-Watson era. And historically the Browns do really well in apparent no-lose situations, so I'm sure it'll all workout great.