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The Browns of Cleveland began the drama of the NFL draft by exchanging the choice n ° 2 Thursday evening and acquiring a first round in 2026 of Jacksonville, as well as the n ° 36 in the second round of this year, partly of a package which pushed them to n ° 5, where they selected the defensive plates of Michigan Mason.
Here are five reflections on the night, the big decision of the Browns for the future and why Graham was coveted in the team’s facilities.
Trade
Trade is THE History of the night. After three years of the first round due to the failure of Deshaun Watson’s experience, the Browns need young talents through the list – whatever the position – and were probably wise to look to the future.
If you think that the Browns were stupid to pass the chance to take a blue edge rusher like Abdul Carter or a unique and high ceiling player like Travis Hunter, well, time will say it. The reconstruction of the two lines was to be a priority for the director general Andrew Berry, and Graham should be an immediate contributor and a good long -term complement to the newly extended Myles Garrett.
Obtaining the first round in 2026 was compulsory for Cleveland to accept the agreement, which said that Berry has been discussed in the past two weeks but not finalized until the Browns went to the clock. They publicly evaluated and spoke Hunter but were ready to let the jaguars get it.
I think that a subtle recognition that browns are a solution to two titles and need 2025 to understand things was as necessary as getting the first additional round. For Berry and all the people involved, the need to continue to acquire talents and to advance does not end in a single selection.
About Graham
It is not flashy or a genetic wonder, but Graham is a robust and disruptive defensive line player who should be at worst a solid player for several seasons.
“It is a DNA match for our defense,” said Berry.
Graham was one of the best players of the national team of the Michigan title, and in a very worse team last season, he continued to appear in retro-champs. Graham visited the Browns in early April and said that he left believing that he was able to the way the coordinator Jim Schwartz takes the defense and deploys his lines.
An accomplished high school wrestler, Graham’s rapid hands and the ability to use an appropriate lever effect appear on his highlighting coil. The Browns struggle with their current place in the hierarchy of the NFL, but the defense has good pieces – and added another.
“In our (defensive) front, you must have a little advantage,” said Browns coach Kevin Stefanski. “Mason has a great advantage.”
DAWG Mentality 🐾🦴 pic.twitter.com/qdvi4wpoje
– Cleveland Browns (@browns) April 25, 2025
And this offense?
What the Browns have done was adding an immediate starter and premium choices for this project and next year. What they did not do is take a quarter, negotiate in the first round or approach the offensive on the first night of the project.
The offensive stinks and was the last of the league by scoring in 2024. The quarter position remains unstable. Skills positions all need help and specifically need young game leaders.
But the Browns managed to take Hunter, which would have been mainly a wide receiver in Cleveland. By selecting Graham, Cleveland then transmitted the chance to do another job, to take the Ashton Jeanty balloon or even to add a young offensive tackle. An offensive help certainly arrives later in the project, but it did not come day 1.
Hunter has superstar qualities, but I was not sure that the browns were able to use the choice n ° 2 on a receiver or to develop an appropriate plan to bring a gifted player who wanted to play both sides of the ball.
If Berry had gone with Hunter’s Upsy or with the idea that Carter would have made the South in the Edge Rush group, the Browns would have always looked to the future, and no real answer would have received some choices in the draft. The first project notes are meaningless, and the Browns must still find a quarter-Arrière and take advantage of this first additional round, whether these two end up being linked.
One night, I think they are well suited to make more important additions and to think that Graham will become a player in the cornerstone. We do not suspend the banners, but we give to Berry and his team brands for having seen the overview. Now Berry must just write much better than it has done in recent years.
Move forward
Jacksonville cleaned the house after the season and thinks it will be much better in 2025. The new managing director James Gladstone might have wanted to splash-or maybe just a very coveted hunter.
Berry was ready to listen as long as Gladstone offered this first round choice in 2026.
“This (choice) was a huge part,” said Berry. “(Commercial conversations) would have been a non-starter for anyone without obtaining a future choice n ° 1 to go back because these choices, these resources are so precious.”
If only someone had prevented the browns from giving up three of them and $ 230 million fully guaranteed three years ago for Watson, things would be different. By taking an overall painting, we will see if the Browns can recover from this and take out a much better product in all phases than last season. But the start of this year’s draft gives the impression that Berry and his group think that they can clean what is still completely in disorder.
What’s waiting for us
In numbers 33 and 36, the Browns have two of the first four choices on Friday evening. They saw the offensive plated Josh Conly Jr. and Josh Simmons go late in the first round, and although it is right to assume that at least one of these players would have been at the top of the target list of the Browns Day 2, they did not exchange in the first round.
The New York giants did it, exchanging choice n ° 34 to select the quarter Jaxson Dart at No. 25. The Browns are next in the quarter derby, but can probably wait for n ° 36-or even later. Pittsburgh steelers have no second round choice, and the Saints of New Orleans are at No. 40.
If the Browns really considered Sanders Sanders at any time, they can now get him. If they have always loved Jalen Milroe, they can get it. They could exchange number 33 to add more choices, either this year or this next one. In the end, they need some players who can mark touch. They probably need a player good enough to be to curl soon, and certainly need passes sensors, whatever the type of body.
The quarter’s question persists, and it will continue. The first night of the 2025 draft, we obtained at least one sign that the Browns could be ready to wait a quarter-tree until 2026 as part of an admission that Berry tries to save a long-term project, not stick a quick solution together.
(Photo of Andrew Berry: Jeff Lange / USA Today via Imagn Images)
