The Browns inglorious history of Round 7 draft picks

Ravens unorthodox drafting still yields impressive results

The Baltimore Ravens only drafted five players in Round 7 in the past 10 years. Their strategy has been to accumulate draft picks but they tend to trade away Round 7 picks.

Apparently, the Ravens believe that seventh-round picks are relatively low value compared to the sixth round, or the alternative of working with an empty roster spot to audition more than one player over the course of the season.

Nevertheless, from the Fab Five the Ravens have selected safety Geno Stone (2022), who has accumulated eight starts compared to the Browns with only five for the entire decade. Stone is listed as a second-string safety on the depth chart behind Marcus Williams this season, however.

Michael Campanero was a wide receiver and special teams player who enjoyed a four-year career with the Ravens. Following his Baltimore career, he was signed by the Tennessee Titans but injuries put a halt to his time there.

Zach Sieler played two seasons for Baltimore and four more with the Miami Dolphins, where he became a starting defensive tackle. Last season he had 70 tackles and 3.5 sacks. For his career he has played in 59 NFL games and has 33 starts.

In total, the Ravens five Round 7 draftees have played in 13 NFL seasons, with 117 games and 41 starts. It's completely ridiculous that the Browns have had twice as many draftees and yet only six starts to show for all that activity.

So how are the Browns going to win if they can't draft? That is why the Browns decided that they would have to save up cap space, overspend for a few years and put off the day of reckoning for as long as possible.

Going back further in time, the Browns did have some slightly better success with defensive back Eric Hagg (2011, two years, 22 games, four starts), linebacker Alex Hall (2008, two years, 30 games, two starts), tackle Joaquin Gonzalez (2002, three years, 41 games, 14 starts), guard Paul Zukauskas (2001, four years, 43 games,18 starts) and wide receiver Andre King (2001, four years, 42 games, three starts).

Butch Davis made some reaches at the top of the draft, but he knew college players pretty well at the back end of the draft.

Have the Browns improved their college scouting enough to make a decent investment in Round 7 in the 2023 draft? Or should they respect the historical data which implies that they're not going to win by outsmarting the opposition in Round 7?

Perhaps they would be well served to trade out; i.e., by bundling a player or draft pick plus Round 7 pick in order to move up to at least Round 5 where they have a better chance to make a safer pick.