CBS Mock Draft has the Cleveland Browns taking the wrong defensive end

Cleveland Browns are linked to Jermaine Johnson II in this latest CBS mock draft.

The Cleveland Browns are more than likely to take a wide receiver in the first round, that is unless they land more than one big receiver name in free agency. If the Browns land an Amari Cooper and Chris Godwin, then you can see the Browns drafting someone else in the first round. If the receiver(s) the team wants aren’t there, they could go defensive end/tackle in the first round.

Yet, Jermaine Johnson II is not a name the Browns have been attached to and isn’t even a player that has a lot of hype around him. He recently ran his 40-yard dash at the combine and posted a  nice 4.58, but he only had one great year in college.

In fact, he’s likely a second-round pick, but that didn’t stop Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports from having the Browns select the defensive end from Florida State.

"Cleveland’s defensive line, especially on the edge, is incredibly thin after Myles Garrett, and while the Browns could go in many directions here, with two top-flight edge rushers still on the board they grab one. No one had a better Senior Bowl week than Jermaine Johnson. We liked his 2021 tape a lot, but thought of him as a fringe first/second-rounder. He put any such doubts to rest with a dominating practice week in Mobile."

Rule of thumb kids, don’t ever draft someone because they had a “good week of practice” against guys who range from being first-rounders, or a starter in the USFL next year. That’s how you get fired.

Cleveland Browns shouldn’t be foolish to draft Jeremiah Johnson III in the first

Listen, if the Browns are in the second round and see Johnson on the board; take a flyer on him and find out. The Browns need pressure and depth. Yet, in Wilson’s draft, only two receivers had gone by the time the Browns picked at No. 13, and they were Garrett Wilson and Treylon Burks

Johnson is not going to be taken over Drake London (No. 21), Jameson Williams (No. 28), and Chris Olave (No. 32). That idea is lunacy. Pure, unadulterated lunacy.

If the Browns pass on London, Williams, or Olave for Johnson, an unproven defensive end with no real ability to get deep on the line, then Andrew Berry should be fired the moment the pick is in. It would be the most illogical pick imaginable.

Especially if you want a defensive and George George Karlaftis is on the board still. Sure, Johnson had one season of more sacks than Karlaftis, but Karlaftis is a tackling machine who routinely gets deep on the offensive line.

Case in point, Johnson had 24 tackles for a loss in his career at Florida. Karlaftis had 17; his first year playing. He finished with 27 for his career but was hampered by injuries his sophomore season.  He’s a double-digit tackles-for-a-loss guy every year he plays. The Browns need that just as much as they need fancy sack stats.

After all, the Browns got most of their sacks last year through defensive coverages, and if you have a guy who can get depth regardless of down, he can get to the quarterback.