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.
Round 3, Pick 68 – CB Martin Emerson (Mississippi State)
I didn’t like the pick then, I don’t like the pick now. You can say “see, they traded Troy Hill, they NEEDED another corner” all you want, but 1) they didn’t need to trade Hill in the first place, and 2) they needed a number two receiver more than they needed a fourth or fifth cornerback. They didn’t need to take one in the third and they damn sure didn’t need to trade out of the second round to get a corner, who would’ve still been there in the fourth.
Not all talent in the NFL Draft is the same talent. Guys taken in the first two rounds are usually much better than those taken in the fourth and later. Trading out of the second to get fourth-round picks isn’t “getting value”, as these players aren’t all guaranteed to be good. The higher the pick, the better chance you get of getting someone worth having. Those fourth, fifth, and seventh-round picks they were so eager to get are only great if you’re able to get gems with them. So far, that’s not Andrew Berry’s forte.
In a bubble, is Martin Emerson a fine pick? Sure, he’s a C+ pick at a position the Browns did not need. They needed a defensive tackle, defensive end, and receiver. Not in that order. And yes, I’m aware that they got all of those three eventually. The problem is, they passed up on potentially better talent available in the second round, to address those needs nearly a round+ later.
So we’ll give Emerson a C+, but we’re giving the trade that permeated him being the first pick of 2022 an F.
Grade: C+
Round 3, Pick 78 – DE Alex Wright (UAB)
The Browns got a defensive end that only had 11.5 career sacks. In Conference USA. He couldn’t even dominate the C-tier college football conference. Yet, the Cleveland Browns think he’s going to have the ability to get depth and produce pressure against the best the NFL has to offer? Even as a backup this isn’t a great look.
You can quote his PFF stats for their pressure rats and pass-rush win rates all you want, but that’s just talking about how close a player came to almost doing something. Wright is going to be a backup coming into the NFL and there’s a good reason why he wasn’t a higher pick. He is 6’7 and that’s not nothing, but the Browns sacrificed receivers and defensive tackles for a corner and an end.
I know he’s PFF’s C-USA Defensive Player of the year, but their offensive player of the year, Bailey Zappe is a career backup waiting to happen; in the XFL. So let’s not put too much stock into Chris Collinsworth’s pet project. It’s good for adding context to a performance, it’s not the only tool you should be using in your evaluation toolbag.
He’s an average athlete, with subpar numbers, against inferior competition. This is not looking like a good pick. Prove me wrong.
Grade: D+
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-
Round 4, Pick 108 – DT Perrion Winfrey (Oklahoma)
Perrion Winfrey is someone I had mocked for the Browns in the second round. I’m glad the team got him, I think that’s the first player I had wanted the Browns to get and they actually got in three years. So, that’s pretty cool but also worrisome.
Why did he fall? He had first-round talent and was a steal in the second for most mocks, but he fell to the Browns to the fourth? Is it because he’s only seen as a pass-rusher? I mean, you could just move him to the defensive end spot if he’s really too small. Right? That’s not a big deal.
I do like the player and I love where the Browns got him, but that doesn’t mean I’m not worried about the reason for his fall in the draft. I think Winfrey is still the best prospect the team got in the draft, however.
He’s shown incredible speed inside and has the moves to make it to the quarterback. He’s faced top talent in the Big XII, and clearly, the Oklahoma staff knew what they were doing developing talent; as the Browns drafted three of their players.
Now, all we have to do is wait and see if Winfrey can make the team and earn a starting job.
Grade: B+
Round 4, Pick 124 – K Cade York (LSU)
Everyone keeps talking about how the Cinncinatti Bengals drafted a kicker and how they were in the Super Bowl, so clearly, that’s the answer, right? No, the Rams signed a guy who was heading into his third team, drafting a kicker this high or at all, was just a boneheaded move.
Historically, the Browns have taken 11 kickers, none named Phil Dawson or Lour Gorza. It kind of makes you wonder why they keep trying? They took Austin Seibert in 2019 and Zane Gonzales in 2017.
Neither are on the team, and neither lasted that long on the team. Will Cade York buck the trend? No reason to think so, after all, kickers are not really given time to get used to their settings anymore. If a kicker struggles for a few games or even a season, they’re likely gone.
As impressive as York’s leg is, the Browns stadium is less about leg strength and more about being knowledgeable about how wind affects the area. Dawson didn’t have the league’s strongest leg but he knew how wind affected the endzones, and how to account for that.
Unless York is used to kicking in blizzards, then his leg strength really doesn’t matter in Cleveland.
Grade: D-
Round 5, Pick 155 – RB Jerome Ford (Cincinnati)
This is an interesting pick, as Jerome Ford was a workhorse in Cincinnati. For one year. That’s actually the trend with this draft, most of these guys had just one year of solid to good play. Ford isn’t that fast and he isn’t the duel threat that adds to a running game. Ford really just feels like a long-term replacement.
To whom, though? He’s not here to replace Demetric Felton, moving on from him after one year would be disastrous for Andrew Berry’s reputation, especially after how hyped fans were for him. The Browns can’t cut bait with D’Ernest Johnson, he’s the second-best pure runner on the team. He’s not the duel treat Kareem Hunt is supposed to be but as a pure replacement for Nick Chubb, Johnson is the obvious choice.
As for Hunt, no one running back has his skillset and diversity but when the Browns don’t use his pass-catching consistently and just rely on him as a runner, he’s arguably the worst of the three top guys on the team. Unlike Chubb and Johnson, Hunt has a nasty habit of slamming into opposing players and bringing his footwork to a complete halt. He doesn’t run through guys like Chubb and Johnson do.
Yet, he also is the best receiver in the entire backfield. So who do you move on from? My guess is that it’s Hunt, as the Browns seem content with moving on from veterans this year.
Grade: C+
Round 6, Pick 202 – WR Michael Woods II (Oklahoma)
Whether it was in Arkansas or Oklahoma, Michael Woods II didn’t show much. He’s not a burner, just a 4.55 40-yard time, and he doesn’t have a historically prolific collegiate career. He has just 1,442 yards and 11 touchdowns for his career. I’m struggling to see what Woods brings to the team.
Some people are pointing to the similarities to Donovan Peoples-Jones but isn’t that the problem? You can like whoever you want, but if Peoples-Jones was a better receiver, the Browns would need to draft two receivers in the 2022 draft. They also wouldn’t have to be in such a desperate mode to find a second starter at receiver. Peoples-Jones has not proven to be reliable enough to be a number two.
Considering Amari Cooper isn’t really a number one anymore, the Browns were in need to at least leave the draft with two quality number two guys on the roster; one in Cooper and one from the second round. That didn’t happen.
Instead, we now have two sixth-round picks that we’ll be asking way too much out of. The pressure on David Bell to exceed his draft stock and perform at a high level has been ratcheted up.
Grade: F
Round 7, Pick 223 – DE Isaiah Thomas (Oklahoma)
Despite the lateness in the draft selection, picking Isaiah Thomas was a fine pick. The 6’1 point guard out of Indiana, wait…(checks notes). Sorry, wrong Isaiah Thomas. The 5’9 point guard out of Washi…nope still the wrong one.
The 6’5 defensive end out of Oklahoma (nailed it) isn’t anything special. His combine numbers are all middle of the road for a defensive end. He’s got a 4.7 40-yard dash, he only put up 23 reps on the bench press and his vertical leap numbers are better than average for his position (31.5”), his most impressive athletic feet is his long-jump, 117”, which I just don’t see much of a need for.
What he is, however, is consistent. In two years as a full-time starter with the Sooners, Thomas put up near-identical seasons. He had 30+ tackles, 10+ of which for a loss, and at least 7 sacks in both seasons.
He’s not impressive, he isn’t someone to expect anything out of, and he may not even make the team out of camp, but he’ll likely hang around for a while. He’s the kind of guy you can probably get a decade out of as a budget backup and spot-starter.
Anything more than that makes this an all-time pick but we gotta see if he can catch on as a backup first.
Pick: B+
Round 7, Pick 246 – C Dawson Deaton (Texas Tech)
I wasn’t that familiar with Dawson Deaton when he was drafted but after reading several draft articles on him, I’m left wondering how he fell to the seventh round. Most of the outlets that covered him said the same thing, “needs to work on technique but strong and quick enough to play in the NFL.”
Isn’t coaching a thing in the NFL? If that’s the only thing holding back Deaton from being a success in the NFL, then shouldn’t he have gone higher? He’s a dad, he’s a good blocker and he played in a tough conference. Unless there’s something I’m overlooking, and that’s always a possibility, shouldn’t he have gone higher?
That’s concerning but from what I’ve read and what I’ve seen, he seems like a steal. The Browns need a center, as Nick Harris isn’t the answer, and the newly signed Ethan Pocic wasn’t good enough for the offensive line starved Seattle Seahawks to retain.
That’s like a starving man saying no to food. If that’s the case, there’s something very concerning there.
Deaton may have a chance to compete for a starting job in Cleveland with how things look post-draft. Maybe Pocic is Wyatt Teller 2.0 and just needs a good offensive line coach to get the most out of him. Maybe there’s a reason why a second-round pick, on a bad offensive line, got let go of too.
Grade: B+
Overall Grade
Let’s look at what the Browns did in this draft.
- Skipped over better prospects to accumulate mid-round picks, which usually don’t last past their first contract.
- Drafted three defensive linemen to aid depth, but none who jump out as starters.
- Drafted two wide receivers to aid depth, but none who jump out as starters.
- Ignored safety but drafted another corner.
- Traded away the team’s best tackler in the secondary.
- Acquired more mid-to-late round draft picks in the process.
- May have found some late-round gems.
- Drafted a kicker.
I mean, when it’s spelled out it’s not a great draft. It could’ve been. Had the Browns taken Skyy Moore or Alec Pierce at No. 44, then gotten guys like Martin Emerson or Perrion Winfrey, then I would have a much different view on this draft.
Just because you take a player at a position of need doesn’t mean you picked the right player. Let’s think back to 2011. The Browns needed a wide receiver and Julio Jones was on the board. They traded down because, like Andrew Berry, that regime valued draft picks over players. So they traded down and took Greg Little in the second. They knew better than everyone else in the NFL, after all. They had Little higher on their boards than Jones.
Did the Browns just do the same thing with David Bell? Don’t say this isn’t the same situation, as Berry took Jedrick Wills, who is average at best, over Tristan Wirfs, a top 10 linemen. I don’t need another example, as that one was his first pick and is continually being wheeled out to show that Berry isn’t perfect and far from successful at drafting. In fact, the Browns are still trying to find one starter on the defensive line in three drafts.
Berry has taken four defensive linemen in three years, and none of them look to be starters. Will he get a fourth draft to finally find a starter?
In fact, outside of Greg Newsome and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, how many of the guys that Berry picked can you say are looking like second-contract type players? Even those two are unknowns because they could always fall off or become injury-plagued. I’ve been very high on past Berry drafts but the trading down was a mistake in my opinion and since this is purely my opinion, I’m going to flex that.
This draft looks like it sucked. I was wrong about the first two of his drafts, proclaiming how good they looked, and they are anything but. So I’m going to go with my gut and just say this is a disappointing draft.
David Bell may stick around but he was a fourth-round pick and should’ve been a second receiver taken. He should not have been the reason the Browns felt comfortable in trading out of the second and passing on some of the studs still there.
I’m not just going to give them an ‘F’, however. We’re going to do this like you would get a GPA. Each pick was assigned a letter grade and we’re giving each letter grade a point value. Just like in school, A’s are four points, B’s are three, C’s are two, D’s are one, and F’s are zero.
The Browns had nine picks, with 17 points overall when all the grades are added up. That’s a 1.88, which on the GPA scale is a D+. If this grade upsets you, then make sure those players I was hardest on proves me wrong.
Draft Class Grade: D+