Grading the Cleveland Browns draft class for 2022

Round 3, Pick 99 – WR David Bell (Purdue)

David Bell is a fine prospect, but he’s at best a third or fourth receiver on an NFL team. The Cleveland Browns are not set at receiver, they’re not even close to being set, and trading down out of the second round is insanity, especially if Bell is the receiver you think is going to make the Browns a better offense.

I’m not sold on Amari Cooper. The Dallas Cowboys got rid of him for a fifth-round pick for a reason. It wasn’t just his contract either. The NFL as a whole didn’t want him. They were going to release him before the Browns threw a fifth-round pick at the Cowboys. There are reasons for that. He declined in 2021 and had a significantly bad season.

I don’t dispute he’s an upgrade for the Browns, but the Browns had terrible receivers in 2021. Tom Grossi would’ve been an upgrade at that point. There was serious talent available in the second round and the Browns passed on all of them. Why, because the Browns know better? Two years of dramatically uneven drafting would say otherwise.

Keep in mind, Berry picked Wills over Wirfs. That has not gone the Browns’ way. So no, I’m not going to give Berry the benefit of the doubt; he hasn’t earned it. Yes, Bell caught everything thrown to him, but in the NFL, speed matters. He lacks that.

He could be a good slot guy, but he’s not what the Browns needed which was a number one/number two option. Bell is a number three guy, and on a team like Tampa Bay or San Diego, would really stand out. Yet, the Browns receiving corp is still lacking that big-time playmaker, because Cooper isn’t it.

So that means, unfairly, Bell takes a hit here. The Browns needed a prospect with better attributes.

Grade: C-