3 positions the Cleveland Browns can’t afford to waste picks on in the 2023 NFL Draft

The Cleveland Browns have positions they need to worry about in the 2023 NFL Draft and these aren’t them.

Best player available. A surefire draft strategy to get yourself fired in the NFL. A great way to keep your job in the NBA, and almost the rule of thumb in the NHL and MLB. Yet the nuance as to why every league shouldn’t embrace this strategy is lost on a lot of people. NFL has too many positions, with far too many holes to fill each and every year to just draft whoever you want.

If there’s a position of need, it has to be addressed. Now, there are outliers. You can draft a guard to play tackle, a corner to play safety or a linebacker to play defensive end, so in that way the best player available makes some sense, but if you’re looking for a receiver, drafting an offensive tackle doesn’t make sense at all.

So when scrolling through mock drafts, the one thing I’ve noticed from fans, and “fanspert” (fan-expert) alike is his new-wave trend of drafting the best player available, even if the team doesn’t need him.

This is dumb, as this team has a lot of holes still to fill before they start drafting positions they have depth at already. So here are the three positions the Browns can’t afford to draft if they want to actually fix this team.

Three positions the Cleveland Browns have got to avoid in the NFL Draft

Cornerback

For a talent-for-talent, the picks of Greg Newsome and M.J. Emerson made sense. The Browns now have three starting-caliber cornerbacks. Yet, picking Newsome in ’21 kept them from drafting defensive end Gregory Rousseau, a position they needed. The Browns, still need that position. Had they drafted Rousseau, they would be set at defensive end for half a decade. The Browns have three very good corners and can’t afford to keep spending draft picks on them. This is how they keep ending up with the same holes in their team year after year.

Quarterback

I respect that Deshaun Watson’s availability is murky at best with each passing week. His disgusting behavior and injury concerns, coupled with his down play in ’22 all make me uneasy too. But he’s not going anywhere for at least three more years. So why bother drafting a quarterback when Watson’s $60 million-per-year contract will all but guarantee he plays? You have to build around Watson, not prepare for life without him. Don’t waste a pick on a player who plays his position when someone like Josh Dobbs can do the same thing a fifth-round pick can.

Running back

The Browns have two running backs for limited carries already. As with another quarterback, the Browns can just sign someone to be their fourth back if they feel so inclined to carry one. After all, Demetric Felton and Jerome Ford are still on the team to back up Nick Chubb.