Cleveland Browns NFL Draft Live Blog (Day 2) - Rumors, Picks, and More

Day 2 of the 2020 NFL Draft is tonight at 7:00 PM, and the Cleveland Browns are scheduled to have picks in the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

We will have all of your Browns-related coverage on the draft here at Dawgs By Nature throughout the weekend. This thread will act as a “live blog,” with updates about the latest small rumors, picks, or trades involving Cleveland or other NFL teams. You should also use the comments section as your NFL Draft open thread! (Newest updates will be at the top of the live blog below)

Browns NFL Draft Live Blog

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12:30 AM: Thanks to everyone who tuned in to the Day 2 live blog! We’ll be back Saturday morning for another full day’s worth of draft coverage. That live blog / open thread will auto-post at 7:30 AM Saturday morning.

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11:44 PM: The Browns’ day should be done. But one thing Cleveland fans won’t be happy with about Day 2 is the fact that the Ravens drafted two Ohio State players: RB J.K. Dobbins in the 2nd round, and LB Malik Harrison in the 3rd round.

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11:42 PM: It’s another LSU player! With the 97th pick of the NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns selected LB Jacob Phillips. This was the pick that was originally acquired last offseason by trading RB Duke Johnson away. Our post on the selection is here, and you can vote on it below.

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11:15 PM: I guess it should come as no surprise that the Browns have a front office that loves analytics, and their first three draft picks just happen to all be in Pro Football Focus’ Top 25 Big Board.

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11:07 PM: With the 88th pick of the NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns selected DT Jordan Elliott. Our post on the selection can be found here, and feel free to vote in the poll below. Brent Sobleski likes the addition for long-term depth:

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10:14 PM: Here is an updated snapshot of the picks Cleveland has left this year:

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10:06 PM: The Browns have traded down from No. 74 to No. 88 overall, with the Saints moving up. In exchange, Cleveland will receive the Saints’ 3rd round pick in 2021. The Browns are also giving the Saints their 7th round pick this year. New Orleans used the pick to select LB Zack Baun.

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9:36 PM: The third round is here! The Browns will be picking at No. 74 and No. 97. Here are the only players remaining on our DBN Big Board:

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9:02 PM: Browns fans won’t like this one — the Ravens just drafted RB J.K. Dobbins at No. 55! Also, for your entertainment:

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8:26 PM: The live blog still continues, but this is the point in the draft where we stop covering each pick that is made. The Browns could always move up in a trade, but for now, they are set to pick in the 3rd round later tonight at No. 74 overall. As of this post, we’re still on No. 48 overall in the second round.

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8:24 PM: For reference, Pro Football Focus had S Grant Delpit listed as the No. 15 player on their entire big board, and the top safety of this year’s class. Here is what they said about him pre-draft:

Delpit has coverage ability you just can’t teach. He’s had at least six combined picks and pass breakups in every single year of his career at LSU. Some players on this list have yet to do that for a single season. Even in a “down” year in 2019, Delpit still only allowed 13-21 receiving for 196 yards and one score. At 6-3, 203 pounds, Delpit has great size for a modern safety and can execute pretty much any role asked of him.

It’s what happens after the passes have already been caught though that’s the worry with Delpit. He missed 20 tackles on 78 attempts this past season. That’s a disastrous rate. While an ankle injury is to blame for some of that, Delpit had 16 misses on 81 attempts in 2018 as well. This isn’t a new problem and may just be something you have to accept with Delpit.

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8:22 PM: There is a ton of praise going around for the selection of S Grant Delpit. The knock on him is that he played hurt in 2019, but has solid ball skills and an exceptional 2018 campaign.

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8:19 PM: Here is Draw Play Dave’s character drawing of S Grant Delpit:

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8:00 PM: With the 44th pick, the Cleveland Browns selected S Grant Delpit! He was the top pick remaining on our Browns Big Board, so fans should be pretty happy with the pick. Our write-up on the pick is here, and you can vote on the pick below:

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7:54 PM: The Jaguars drafted WR Laviska Shenault Jr at No. 42. At No. 43, the Bears go with TE Cole Kmet. The BROWNS are on the clock, with the same big board we showed earlier.

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7:48 PM: The Colts drafted RB Jonathan Taylor at No. 41. That makes even more sense for us to trade down if we know they are taking a running back, because it’s not a position of need — so really, we only traded down “two” spots, so to speak.

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7:45 PM: Scratch that — the Indianapolis Colts have moved up and traded with the Browns. Per Ian Rapoport, the Browns traded down three spots to add a 5th round pick at No. 160:

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7:43 PM: Here are the top players remaining on our DBN Browns Big Board heading into the pick.

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7:42 PM: The Dolphins took OL Robert Hunt at No. 39, and the Texans took DT Ross Blacklock at No. 40. The Browns are on the clock.

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7:36 PM: OK, lol, this was funny. When the camera flashed to Bill Belichick’s laptop war room, it was just his dog there instead:

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7:34 PM: At No. 38, the Panthers grab EDGE Yetur Gross-Matos.

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7:33 PM: With the 37th pick, S Kyle Dugger is taken by the Patriots. More players are coming off the Browns Big Board; we’ll have a tight window when Cleveland is on the clock, but we’ll try to post the top players left on the big board heading into the pick.

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7:28 PM: At No. 35, the Detroit Lions took RB D’Andre Swift. Of more interest to the Browns is the fact that the first safety of the draft, S Xavier McKinney, then went to the Giants at No. 36. Could we have another scenario of the Browns being, “Whew, the Giants took the first player at our position of interest, but not the top guy on our board”?

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7:17 PM: The second round is officially underway! Right off the bat, we saw teams go wide receiver heavy: the Bengals took WR Tee Higgins at No. 33, and the Colts took WR Michael Pittman Jr with the 34th pick.

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6:10 PM: Could we see some movement when the second round opens? NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports that both the Cincinnati Bengals (pick No. 33) and the Indianapolis Colts (pick No. 34) are exploring trade options:

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5:45 PM: A fun fact that will likely show up on trivia night in the future:

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4:35 PM: Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, at least one league personnel director is calling this “the deepest second round in the last 25 years,” which makes sense, as I wondered why so many of my first-round mock draft projections yesterday didn’t go in the first round.

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4:25 PM: The Browns just released a two-minute video recap of the “exciting” first round of the draft:

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2:50 PM: Dane Brugler at The Athletic posted a mock draft for today’s second and third rounds (subscription required). In the second round he has the Browns selecting safety Jeremy Chinn of Southern Illinois.

In the third round, he has the Browns taking linebacker Willie Gay of Mississippi State with pick No. 74 and wide receiver Lynn Bowden of Kentucky with selection No. 97.

For the Bowden pick, Brugler writes:

A college quarterback who will transition to receiver, Bowden is a northeast Ohio native with position fit concerns, but there aren’t many questions about his athleticism or ball-handling skills. Cleveland’s offensive staff can get creative with his talent.

An interesting choice, to say the least.

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2:05 PM: Here is new Browns OT Jedrick Wills saying hello to Browns fans!

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1:27 PM: As usual, Browns fans (and the state of Ohio) love watching the NFL Draft, as they led the country in TV viewership:

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12:00 PM: There is still a lot of talent available heading into today’s second and third round of the draft, as Mike Renner at Pro Football Focus points out:

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11:15 AM: And then capping off the mini-roundtable for today is our staff looking forward to Day 2 of the draft tonight.

Q (Chris): “Given the players available heading into the second round tonight, who are the Top 3 players you’d love the Browns to get?”

rufio: “Grant Delpit, Ross Blacklock, and Antoine Winfield. Two bonuses: Xavier McKinney and Zach Baun. The board seems to be stacking up nicely for us to grab the best tackle in the draft in the first round, then to add talent on defense in the second. Unless we are prepared to draft a RB (with JK Dobbins and D’Andre Swift still on the board) I’d really think we are looking defense here. I wouldn’t mind Michael Pittman Jr either.”

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Matt Wood: “Winfield, Delpit or McKinney would be an amazing start to the 2020 draft. If for some reason they are all gone then I would flip for Hamler but I realize that isn’t a huge need at this point of the draft.”

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Thomas Moore: “Would think the Browns need to start focusing on defense tonight with safeties Antoine Winfield Jr. and Xavier McKinney, linebacker Zack Baun, and defensive ends A.J. Epenesa or Yetur Gross-Matos as players you would believe that Andrew Berry is keeping an eye on.”

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10:50 AM: We have two mini-roundtable discussions from our staff this morning, starting with a recap of Day 1 of the draft.

Q (Chris): “The Browns landed OT Jedrick Wills on Day 1 of the draft. What is your reaction to the pick, and any other thoughts you had heading into the pick?”

rufio: “I am &^%^&*#$% elated. I have no idea how he fell to us. His footwork is Thomasesque times. He’s got elite power and quickness, and he’s got a nasty streak. He’s maybe the ideal LT in our scheme because he is so quick AND able to maul guys in the running game. I am almost Baker/Ward levels of happy right now. I believe the phrase is “high five and hit the bar”?”

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Matt Wood: “I’m stoked. I didn’t have a real favorite but Wills seemed like the “safest” OT in the draft. This OL needed A LOT of work after the end of last season and the Browns did just that. This OL went from a weak spot last year into a real strength. Oh, and he’s 21.”

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Thomas Moore: “Very happy with the selection of Wills while at the same time being a little bit concerned. There will be a learning curve switching from the right side to the left, and Alabama is such a meat grinder that you don’t always know how their players will hold up physically. Was surprised that both Wills and Wirfs were there for the Browns and would have been happy with either player. Just as long as the Browns don’t get any stupid ideas like moving Wills to left guard and switching Joel Bitonio to tackle everything will be good.”

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9:30 AM: At SB Nation, Dan Kadar has the Browns taking S Antoine Winfield in his second-round mock draft. We’ll be posting a mini-roundtable discussion in a bit from some of our staff members, recapping Day 1 and looking forward to Day 2.

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8:30 AM: This is some interesting “logic” from the Carolina Panthers about why they chose to pass on Clemson linebacker Isaiah Simmons in the first round last night, from ESPN’s David Newton:

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7:20 AM: Here are the Top 21 players remaining on the DBN Browns Big Board. Remember that this is from our pre-draft big board, so even though a player like OT Ezra Cleveland still looks attractive, there is no need for Cleveland to take him now (unless they think they can convert someone to guard).

The big thing that stands out: the number of safeties available, thanks to none of them being drafted in the first round. My eye is still on S Antoine Winfield.

SB Nation’s Dan Kadar also has a much fuller list of the top players available in general (not specific to the Browns’ interests). Kadar also gave the Browns a B- for their pick, because he’s not sure how smooth Wills’ transition from right to left tackle will go.

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7:00 AM: Good morning, Browns fans, and welcome to Day 2 of the NFL Draft! If you missed any of our Day 1 coverage, our entire live blog had tons of fun content. We pick up the fun today, but let’s get you primed with the basics: the picks that Cleveland has.

• 2nd Round: #41 overall (9th pick in the round)
• 3rd Round: #74 overall (10th pick in the round)
• 3rd Round: #97 overall (33rd pick in the round)

Teams will have 7 minutes to make their pick in the 2nd round, and 5 minutes to make their pick in the 3rd round.