WalterFootball’s first 2023 NFL Mock draft for the Cleveland Browns
By Chad Porto
"Round 4, Pick 9 (No. 111) Browns: Chase Brown-RB-Illinois Kareem Hunt and D’Ernest Johnson are free agents, so the Browns will need another running back."
The Cleveland Browns don’t need to be drafting a running back with everything going on. They have more than enough talent at the position that wasting a fourth-rounder on a player not likely to play makes little sense. Sixth round, sure. That’s when you’re just drafting the best available, but in the fourth, you’re still hoping for a starter.
That said, if the Browns did pick Chase Brown, they’d be getting a late-round gem. He’s listed at 6’2, 225, and has a 4.43 40-yard dash. Not only that but he’s broken the 1,000-yard mark in each of his last two seasons at Illinois. He racked up over 2,600 yards, and 18 touchdowns in that span, and is someone considered to have “elite” speed according to The Football Network’s draft review of him.
His criticisms are fixable too, like a low point of attack and not driving piles further. That changes with better linemen moving things.
PFF has him earning higher and higher scores over his last three seasons. Going from 75 in 2020 to 81.0 in 2021 and 81.5 in 2022. During that time, he maintained a five-yard average per rush in each of his prior three seasons. He isn’t a bad player, he just doesn’t fit what the Browns need.
Would I Draft Him?: If he fell to me in the sixth or seventh round, yes. Otherwise, no. The Browns need to be spending valuable picks on a guy at his position this early in the draft.