Browns Draft: Evaluating the Sporting News 2021 NFL mock draft

The Conclusion

The Browns draft from the Sporting News was not good, at all. We’ve broken down the criteria and why each player got the grade they got. So now what we’re doing to do is revert the letter grade back to the corresponding point value that they were awarded.

Now we’re going to add them all up, divide by the number of picks (nine) and that’s going to be your overall grade for the Sporting News projected Browns’ draft class of 2021.

That number is 15 out of a potential 36 (four points per pick, nine picks in total).

That gives this draft class a 1.67 average, good enough for a D+.

It’s hard to argue against that grade either. This draft ignores better-touted prospects and ignores facts and stats. In fact, several evaluations by Iyer are contradicted by draft pros; namely Osa Odighizuwa and Charles Snowden, two players who are described in a way that actually flies in the face of their general draft profiles.

Odighizuwa is described as someone who can get in the backfield and disrupt but that’s actually his biggest problem; besides his speed. He only had 11 career sacks, and when you realize he got most of his tackles for a loss against weaker opponents, it’s pretty telling that he isn’t the guy. Nor is Snowden, who many think may run nearly a 5.0 40-yard dash, and is big, but lacking power. One expert said that despite his size he was in fact lacking power at the point of contact.

That doesn’t mean I don’t think Odighizuwa can’t be a good player; but his evaluation of him was pretty wrong, considering the consensus on him. Maybe the consensus is wrong; who knows? It is a sign though that Iyer thinks and sees things differently and that could be a good or bad thing.

Since we’re only evaluating them off of their production, physical stats, and potential, it’s hard to know for sure. So a D+ goes to the sporting news; for now.