The Cleveland Browns and the NFL are ready for the draft to start Thursday. While the Browns don't pick until the third round this year, that won't stop the questions and speculations on who the team is targeting or their strategies going into this draft.
Cleveland has some flexibility with all of this as they prepare for the busy three-day affair. They've made some good deals with free agent signings including defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson and they made a trade for wide receiver Elijah Moore.
Their roster is rounding out pretty well on all fronts so they can hopefully find a few really talented players in this year's draft that will only make the squad better. However, there are still some big questions that are out there so let's look at a few of them.
Question No. 1: Do the Browns hold tight at No. 74?
In last year's NFL Draft, the Browns didn't hold onto their first pick and instead gave traded back, making their first selection at No. 68. That's where they took Martin Enerson, a cornerback from Mississippi State.
In this year's draft, they own the No. 74 pick. Will the Browns hold tight and make a selection? Could they identify a player or two that they would be willing to move up? There are a few players like Trenton Simpson, a linebacker from Clemson and Jack Campbell, a linebacker from Iowa that could be intriguing selections if indeed they look to move up.
Cleveland could do what they did a year ago and give up their first selection of the draft at the No. 74 pick to fall back a bit. There are so many talented players and so much depth at certain positions that the Browns might believe they can wait a bit longer and still get a quality type of player. At the same time they'd be accumulating future draft picks either to use in this draft or for later ones.
Question No. 2: Do the Browns hold onto all eight picks?
The Browns hold eight picks in this year's draft. They may use them all but more than likely they could make a few trades with some of these picks. The team has built a pretty solid 53-man roster coming into this draft already via free agency and trades this offseason.
There will be a few players currently on the squad that will likely be on the move prior to the season just to make room for whoever is selected. Those players could include running back Demetric Felton, wide receiver Anthony Schwartz and even defensive tackle Jordan Elliott.
The Browns will likely try and focus on a few players early on in the draft that they have had an eye on through this run-up. Cleveland's general manager Andrew Berry has suggested that his team would likely not try and move up to the first round on Thursday. However, they may look at a few players in the second or early third round that could be available to them if they were to try and move up.
A few prospects that have been linked to the Browns and might require the team to make a play would include edge rusher Tuli Tuipulotu of USC and defensive tackle Keeanu Benton from Wisconsin.
Question No. 3: Will the Browns make any trades of current players during the draft?
It'll be interesting to see how things play out with the Browns in this draft and if they'd part ways with any current veterans in a trade. The wide receiver prospects in this year's draft aren't the best group compared to recent years so Anthony Schwartz could be an attractive player to add in a package deal.
There's Browns offensive lineman Jedrick Wills, who's entering year four. There's an option for the team to pick up the fifth year but that hasn't been done yet. While Wills has played well in stretches, he's not been consistent over his first three seasons.
Cleveland would likely have to have a prospect in this draft that they would be intrigued by to make a switch at this point. It's hard to find good left tackles and while Wills isn't the best, he's not the worst in the league.
There's also tight end Harrison Bryant who might be a player the Browns try to toss in with a trade of picks to move around in the draft. He's put up some consistent numbers in Cleveland as primarily the second or third option at the position.
The Browns decided to sign free agent tight end Jordan Akins recently and he'd been the teammate of Deshaun Watson while they were both in Houston. With that move, it might be an indication that the team might part ways with Bryant at some point.