By now, everyone is fully aware that the Cleveland Browns decided against drafting all-world cornerback prospect Travis Hunter, and instead shipped the pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a haul of valuable choices in this draft and next year's. The trade ended up looking like this:
Browns Receive | Jaguars Receive |
|---|---|
2025 5th Pick (DT Mason Graham) | 2025 2nd Pick (CB/WR Travis Hunter) |
2025 36th Pick (RB Quinshon Judkins) | 2025 104th Pick (RB Bhayshul Tuten) |
2025 126th Pick (RB Dylan Sampson) | 2025 200th Pick (S Rayuan Lane III) |
2026 1st Round Pick | TBD |
With this move, the Browns were able to bolster their 2025 draft with additional second and fourth round picks, and the pick that has the fans' most excited is the first rounder next year that could end up being fantastic.
It was undoubtedly a difficult decision for Andrew Berry to part with such a premium pick, and the prospect who was selected there. As hard as it may have been, it was the right move. The Browns have their eyes on the prize, which is a franchise QB.
No one knows how the upcoming college season will play out, but the Browns likely hope that one signal caller will have a meteoric rise, and they'll have the ammo to get him.
With this move, you may be wondering: What other 2nd overall picks have been traded, and how did that turn out? I'm here to answer that question today.
History of trading No. 2 overall pick in NFL Draft
In the past decade, the 2nd overall selection has been made by a team other than the one who "earned" it 4 times. The first of which, came in 2012.
The St. Louis Rams, at the time, limped to a 2-14 season which included a season-ending injury to their franchise QB, Sam Bradford. They still had full belief in him, so they put their pick on the market for a team interested in whoever went second between that year's top two prospects, Andrew Luck and future-Cleveland Brown, Robert Griffin III.
They found a taker in Washington, who gave up an absolute haul to get Griffin. This haul is ballooned by the fact that it was for a quarterback, so the Rams took no prisoners in their asking price. The trade ended up looking like this:
Rams Receive | Washington Receives |
|---|---|
2012 6th Pick | 2012 2nd Pick |
2012 39th Pick | |
2013 1st Round Pick (ended up being 22nd) | |
2014 1st Round Pick (ended up being 2nd) |
This trade tree ended up sprouting new branches with additional trades made by the Rams, turning those selections into further selections. The Rams were able to turn that 2nd selection (QB Robert Griffin III) and a few other picks in subsequent trades into DT Michael Brockers, CB Janoris Jenkins, RB Isaiah Pead, OL Rokevious Watkins, LB Alec Ogletree, WR Stedman Bailey, RB Zac Stacy, and OL Greg Robinson.
This trade was enormous, and quite frankly if the Rams would've better used their selections, namely that 2014 2nd overall selection, they might've started a budding dynasty. The big swing-and-a-miss on Greg Robinson dampers this one, but it's still probably the right move in retrospect considering how RG3's career played out.
This trade also covers the 2014 draft, where the 2nd pick ended up with the Rams because of the aforementioned deal. So, not a traditional situation where they traded for the pick, but it shows how lucky a team could be with a future 1st round selection. The Browns hope they can be so lucky.