NFL Draft: Grading the Cleveland Browns and 31 other team’s first round
By Chad Porto
32 picks were made on night one of the NFL Draft but which team truly made the biggest and best moves on the first day of the annual event?
Players from all over (mostly LSU, Alabama, and OSU though) were selected in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Teams hung their hopes for a quick turnaround of fortune on some of these young hopefuls, while others are hoping for sustained success in the future with their picks. Yet, not every team made an impact, and not every team got what they absolutely needed.
In some cases, teams left fans floored with their decision makings, while some other teams made the most of their opportunities. That’s why it’s always fun to look back and see how well these hold up. Will Joe Burrow be an A+ type player in ten years or will he be the biggest bust in history? Only time will tell.
That’s why each pick in day one will be graded just on its individual merit. We’ll do the same with picks in day two and day three as well. Each day will be graded only on how that team did on that specific day. After it’s all said and done on Sunday, we’ll look at the draft in totality. Then we’ll see who had the best overall draft, even if they didn’t have the greatest singular days. Same for the inverse, we’ll see who had a bad draft, even if they nailed night one.
As these are grades maximizing on taking talent across the seven rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft and nothing else, that’s how they’ll be judged. So if someone trades away a first-round pick to bring in a stud receiver, great. That’s still an ‘F’ though because you didn’t have a draft card to turn into the commissioner.
No selection, no pass.