If you were hoping the San Francisco 49ers might be able to land Texas A&M pass rusher Myles Garrett in the 2017 NFL Draft, you might need to hope harder for a Cleveland Browns loss. ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting the Browns are “enamored” with Garrett, and have given him an “astronomical grade.”
There are a couple things to unpack from this report. The first is that this could be a smoke screen of sorts. The Browns could very well have an “astronomical grade” on Garrett, but they could be leaking this information so as to gin up some trade offers. Garrett is viewed by many as the top prospect in the 2017 NFL Draft, and given the many roster issues Cleveland faces, a trade down for a big haul of picks makes sense. And considering they already have the Eagles first round pick as well from last year’s trade, they could really boost their haul moving down from No. 1.
At the same time, if Garrett is the best player on their board, it makes sense to just take him and move on. Considering they have that second first round pick, and it will be pretty high, they could also still move down from that one to add some picks.
Schefter did say the Browns are still doing their due diligence on the many quarterbacks available. Of course, with the Eagles pick that could still end up in the top ten, they could very well get Garrett AND a quarterback without doing any dealing.
Whatever the case, the Browns are currently in the driver’s seat with the No. 1 pick. If they lose to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, they are all but assured of a winless season and the No. 1 pick. After this week, they travel to Buffalo, host San Diego, and close out the season traveling to Pittsburgh. Upsets are always possible, but they seem highly unlikely.