The lead-up to the NFL Draft is maddening mock draft season. While most will forget every pick the experts made when draft day rolls around, we just can't help flocking to each exercise like moths to a flame. What follows almost always goes one of two ways. If we like our team's haul, that expert is the best in the business. If not, he's a hack who knows nothing about the team. There's no in-between.
NFL.com's Lance Zierlein is definitely not a hack by any stretch of the imagination. He's one of the most respected draft experts out there, though that won't save him from Browns fans' fury after his most recent mock draft. We had to double-check that this mock wasn't posted on April 1, because it was seemingly a cruel joke to incite rage from the Dawg Pound.
Alas, it's not a ruse. Let's dive into Zierlein's choices with the Browns' two first-round picks come April 23.
The Browns’ first-round decisions in this mock draft are hard to justify
Round 1, Pick 6: OT Monroe Freeling, Georgia
Ah, the oh-so-predictable, yet flawed slotting of Monroe Freeling to the Browns with their top selection in the draft. The Browns have a need at left tackle. There's no doubt about that. The idea, though, that a player who was curiously absent from the first round of countless February mock drafts is somehow now worthy of a top-10 selection because of combine measurements is asinine.
Zierlein explained the pick thusly:
"With [Carnell] Tate off the board, the Browns are forced to decide between a slight overdraft on a future left tackle or a quality wideout. They go with Option No. 1 here. Freeling needs more polish, but he has the traits, athleticism and upside to be an effective bookend at the next level."
In this mock draft, Carnell Tate goes one spot ahead of the Browns to the New York Giants, which would certainly be a gut punch for Browns fans. The instant panic to select an admitted reach is where things get muddied, however.
USC's Makai Lemon was available, and he ultimately went No. 8 to the Saints. Arizona State's Jordyn Tyson, who has an admittedly worrisome injury history, wound up going No. 13 to the Rams. These players would help fill the Browns' desperate need at wide receiver with blue-chip prospects who some consider better than Tate, anyway.
There's also the fact that offensive tackles Spencer Fano and Francis Mauigoa remain on the board. Each of those players is nearly unanimously considered better prospects than Freeling, with the only downside that they are supposedly pigeonholed to the right side. The Browns' prioritization of versatility in their offseason offensive line acquisitions — namely with Tytus Howard and Elgton Jenkins — makes it less pressing to draft a tackle who can exclusively play on the left.
If Mauigoa or Fano is the pick, they could still fill a significant need on the right side for the next decade-plus, shuffling either Jenkins or Howard to left tackle, a position they've each manned respectably at points in their long NFL careers.
Round 1, Pick 24: EDGE T.J. Parker, Clemson
Now this was a curveball. The concept of the Browns, a team with a variety of needs, selecting an EDGE rusher in the first round is simply impossible to fathom. Zierlein's blurb, however, does a little explaining that won't make fans happy, though it gives a reason for the puzzling selection.
"I'm in the camp of people who believe the Browns could shake up the NFL with a trade of Myles Garrett before the draft — despite brass repeatedly denying the possibility — which could change everything. Parker is a power rushing edge whose 2024 production was off the charts."
The Browns have been steadfast in their refusal to trade Myles Garrett — rightfully so. It is not Cleveland's duty to enrich another team in their quest to the Super Bowl while simultaneously giving away arguably the greatest player to ever don the brown and orange. If the mock had played out the way Zierlein predicted, there were much more enticing options available.
Should the Browns have gone with Freeling, Mauigoa, or Fano with their top selection, they'd be able to address wide receiver at this spot. A pair of Cleveland's 30 visits — KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston — wound up going No. 27 and No. 29 to the 49ers and Chiefs, respectively.
Conversely, had they addressed receiver early on, they'd have been able to choose between Arizona State's Max Ihenachor and Utah's Caleb Lomu with their second first-round pick, still filling the need on their offensive line that has one glaring hole remaining.
At the end of the day, mock drafts are essentially all about passing the time until draft day with fun hypotheticals. While Zierlein's iteration would be the opposite of fun for Browns fans, the reality is that no one knows exactly how the 2026 NFL Draft will unfold.
In roughly three weeks, we'll all have the answers we anxiously await.