Ranking every Cleveland Browns first round draft pick since 1999
By Chad Porto
21. Barkevious Mingo, 2013 – 6th Overall
Like with Brandon Weeden, had Barkevious Mingo been taken in the sixth round, and not the sixth-overall pick, people would remember him fondly. He played in 126 games, racked up 255 tackles and 12.5 sacks? Not bad for a sixth-rounder.
Absolutely dog-garbage for the sixth overall pick. While the draft itself isn’t exactly a great one, with a lot of good, but not great talents, the Browns still missed out on Deandre Hopkins and Zach Ertz in favor of Mingo.
Mingo stayed on in the league for eight years, only starting 10+ games in a season twice, and never becoming the player so many thought he’d be while at LSU. No doubt his arrival helped sink Rod Chudzinski as a head coach in Cleveland, as the team had nothing on offense or defense. They relied on washed-up Jason Campbell and even more washed-up Willis McGahee to carry the offense.
That went poorly.
Defensively they had a solid group, with D’Qwell Jackson, TJ Ward, and Joe Haden, but they had no pass rush to speak of, with Paul Kruger being arguably their better option in that regard; and being such an unimpressive signing.
Mingo was supposed to help with that lack of pass rush, but he never really did. Mingo is now most remembered for being accused of some pretty heinous things.