Bleacher Report names their Best-Value Selection for the Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns’ best-value pick is certainly interesting.

The Cleveland Browns had an iffy draft, it could end up being very good or very bad depending on how the 2022 season, and beyond, pans out. We don’t know much about the Browns’ 2022 season as of right now. The word is that the run-first offense is going to be retooled, and there are hints of that happening with the team not looking to carry four tight ends anymore. This could also mean fewer rushing plays per game as well, which makes Bleacher Report’s selection of Jerome Ford.

The Browns will likely carry David Njoku, Harrison Bryant, and Stephen Carlson for the year, but the idea is to run more three and four-wide receiver sets. That won’t help guys like Nick Chubb or Kareem Hunt get yards, and considering Ford is the fifth running back on the depth chart, it makes very little sense why Ford, who likely won’t see more than special teams actions this season, makes the list.

David Bell, the Browns’ second third-round pick, makes far more sense. Bleacher Report seemingly selected Ford for two reasons. The first is how they personally ranked him as a third-round talent. The second is the Browns’ supposed rushing attack. With The Browns clearly intending to pass more, that means fewer carries. With Chubb, Hunt, D’Ernest Johnson, and Demetric Felton all on the board ahead of Ford, it doesn’t seem likely that Ford will get any action.

There’s no guarantee Jerome Ford gets any action in 2023 either

If the Browns do in fact move on from Kareem Hunt and even D’Ernest Johnson between 2022 and 2023, that would put Ford in line for some reps eventually, right? Not really. The Browns have proven that they’ll keep drafting a position they’re already fine at, or have spent a lot of picks on (corner/defensive tackle) in consecutive drafts, there’s no promise that the Browns don’t just draft another running back next year.

They already took Felton and Ford in back-to-back drafts, so what’s to stop them from doing it again?

Since Bell is the one player from this draft class who’s expected to play minutes, at a position of need, it makes sense that he gets the nod. Sure, other guys got picked who may help out at a position of need, or even start, but they’re heading into the season needing to prove their value.

Bell, right or wrong, will be thrust into the thick of it fast. So yeah, Bell should’ve been the pick over Ford.