The Cleveland Browns have so much draft capital for this year that it’s absolutely ridiculous. Of course, they have more holes than any other team, and were hilariously bad last year, but if there ever was an opportunity to improve things, it’s the 2018 NFL Draft. Most should be aware of the popular Jimmy Johnson draft value chart, and most should also be aware of the updated model from Chase Stuart in 2012.
The model assigns value to draft picks based on their positioning, giving each team a set number of “draft points,” dictating how much capital they have in any given draft. The San Francisco 49ers typically do pretty well in this area, but this year’s Browns are off the charts.
Figuratively speaking, of course, but they’re so far ahead on the chart that they might as well be off of them. Warren Sharp took a look at the draft points for this year, and he posted a chart that is downright comical due to how far ahead the Browns are than everyone else.
"Gaze up at the tall, green tower of a bar that is Cleveland's 2018 draft commodity. Envision Sashi Brown standing atop the high tower, his cape flapping in the breeze, looking down on the rest of the NFL. Like the Dark Knight himself." pic.twitter.com/AYXpoF3fAI
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) March 6, 2018
The Browns have 117.5 draft points, which is more than any team in the modern era (since 1993), and the third-most of all time. Then again, the Browns also had 96.7 draft points in 2017, and after trades finished with 86.9 draft points, as Sharp noted in his piece. That was also the most in the modern period, and Sashi Brown is no longer running that front office.
Of course, a lot of this has to do with the fact that the Browns are bad, and that the higher selections are weighted more heavily. It makes sense. At their core, these numbers are incredibly simple, but the way it’s all displayed in the chart is staggering in such a way I thought it was worth talking about.
The 49ers rank seventh in draft capital this year, with 52.0 points, behind the Browns, Broncos, Giants, Bills, Jets and Colts, and ahead of all of their NFC West rivals.