Grading the Cleveland Browns draft class for 2022
By Chad Porto
Grading the Cleveland Browns’ newest draft class for 2022
Yes, it’s absurd to grade rookies when they get drafted, as you never know what you have. That’s fair, you’ve been acknowledged, but Imma still do it; so tough. This is the “way-too-early” draft review for the Cleveland Browns’ newest crop of rookies. I’ve done this every year so far, and I’ve been generally pretty positive in the early breakdowns of the previous years.
In 2020, I gave the Jedrick Wills, Grant Delpit class of rookies an A-. I thought Wills, Delpit, Jordan Elliot, Jacob Phillips, Harrison Bryant, Nick Harris, and Donovan Peoples-Jones had potential. Well, I was wrong there. Wills may not get a second contract with Cleveland and has been out-classed by Triston Wirfs, who was taken after him. Turns out there’s a good reason why you shouldn’t hope for players (Delpit) who tore their Achilles. Jacob Phillips, Nick Harris, and Jordan Elliot are already players the Browns are looking to replace. There’s hope for Harrison Bryant and Donovan Peoples-Jones but they’re not legitimate starters.
Spot starters sure, but they both haven’t shown much.
I was far kinder to the 2021 class, even if I did do a different calculation for the draft. In 2020 I just assigned a grade, in 2021, I came up with a formula to assign a grade. I’ll be doing the same thing in 2022. I gave five players a B or higher, and frankly, only two of them earned it after the fact. Greg Newsome and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah are good players. I don’t see All-Pro potential in either, but I could see them each retiring with a Pro Bowl or two under their hats. The rest?
Anthony Schwartz couldn’t stay on the field, and when he did he dropped everything. James Hudson was awful and many called him a “project”. You don’t draft projects that high, nor do you put them anywhere but on the inactive portion of your 53-man roster. Tommy Togiai proved why he was a backup at Ohio State. Tony Fields was in fact a member of the team. Richard LeCounte was bad and had a hard time staying on the field. Demetric Felton proved you can’t trust PFF’s grades. The man dropped several key passes, and that was his fortay.
Will this year’s Browns class do any better? Well, it’s hard to do worse.