What would the Browns’ re-do in the 2017 NFL Draft look like (second round)?

A couple of weeks ago, we posted about the re-do of the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft that SB Nation bloggers conducted. In that re-draft, I selected QB Patrick Mahomes at No. 1 overall and WR Chris Godwin at No. 12 overall.

The second round of the re-draft is now complete. The Browns had two more picks: No. 33 and No. 52 overall. What I found in this exercise is that it actually became really tough to draft in the second round, despite the hindsight. That is because in most drafts, there are so many misses in the first round: but in the re-draft, the best of the best 32 players were already taken, so there is no such thing as finding a gem any more.

First Round Picks

As a reminder, here is how the first down went down — and then my second round picks for the Browns will follow:

1. Cleveland Browns - QB Patrick Mahomes
2. San Francisco 49ers - QB Deshaun Watson
3. Chicago Bears - TE George Kittle
4. Jacksonville Jaguars - RB Christian McCaffrey
5. Tennessee Titans - DE Myles Garrett
6. New York Jets - S Jamal Adams
7. Los Angeles Chargers - CB Tre’Davious White
8. Carolina Panthers - CB Marshon Lattimore
9. Cincinnati Bengals - OT Ryan Ramczyk
10. Buffalo Bills - LB T.J. Watt
11. New Orleans Saints - CB Marlon Humphrey
12. Cleveland Browns - WR Chris Godwin
13. Arizona Cardinals - RB Alvin Kamara
14. Philadelphia Eagles - S Eddie Jackson
15. Indianapolis Colts - WR Kenny Golladay
16. Baltimore Ravens - WR JuJu Smith-Schuster
17. Washington Redskins - DE Jonathan Allen
18. Tennessee Titans - CB Adoree Jackson
19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - RB Dalvin Cook
20. Denver Broncos - S Budda Baker
21. Detroit Lions - WR Cooper Kupp
22. Miami Dolphins - S Malik Hooker
23. New York Giants - OG Taylor Moton
24. Las Vegas Raiders - WR Mike Williams
25. Houston Texans - CB Desmond King
26. Seattle Seahawks - DT D.J. Jones
27. Kansas City Chiefs CB - Shaquill Griffin
28. Dallas Cowboys - S Marcus Williams
29. Green Bay Packers - RB Aaron Jones
30. Pittsburgh Steelers - TE O.J. Howard
31. Atlanta Falcons - OG Dion Dawkins
32. New Orleans Saints - TE Evan Engram

2nd Round Picks

One of my first thoughts was to look at some of the players the Browns actually drafted in 2017 (sorry, not referring to QB DeShone Kizer) who were still available. That included SS Jabrill Peppers, TE David Njoku, and DL Larry Ogunjobi. The thought of RB Kareem Hunt also jumped into my mind. Hunt was a tricky one — from a talent perspective, he could easily be a second round pick. However, we saw that the Browns placed a second round tender on him this offseason, and no one bit for it with that off-the-field incident still in perspective.

I looked elsewhere at No. 33 overall, and wanted to focus on the defensive side of the ball after going QB-WR in the first round:

Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images

No. 33 Overall: S John Johnson - Johnson had two solid seasons with the Rams in 2017 and 2018. This past season, he was limited to 6 games due to injury — but he was well on his way to a 100+ tackle season before that. Given Cleveland’s shakiness at the safety position in the years that followed, Johnson would’ve been a nice asset to have.

33. Cleveland Browns - S John Johnson
34. San Francisco 49ers - WR Curtis Samuel
35. Jacksonville Jaguars - CB Chidobe Awuzie
36. Chicago Bears - DE Derek Barnett
37. Los Angeles Rams - LB Zach Cunningham
38. Los Angeles Chargers - DL Larry Ogunjobi
39. New York Jets - S Marcus Maye
40. Carolina Panthers - RB Joe Mixon
41. Cincinnati Bengals - LB Jayon Brown
42. New Orleans Saints - QB Taysom Hill
43. Philadelphia Eagles - RB Tarik Cohen
44. Buffalo Bills - LB Matt Milano
45. Arizona Cardinals - DT Dalvin Tomlinson
46. Indianapolis Colts - LB Anthony Walker
47. Baltimore Ravens - LB Tyus Bowser
48. Minnesota Vikings - RB Austin Ekeler
49. Washington - RB Leonard Fournette
50. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - CB Kevin King
51. Denver Broncos - CB Jourdan Lewis

Ogunjobi was taken by the Chargers at No. 38 overall, a big boost in his stock. Njoku and Peppers were still available from Cleveland’s original picks, but I already drafted a safety, and Njoku has still not reached the type of level I thought he could play at. Not having Myles Garrett in favor of Mahomes, I again wanted to compensate with some help for the defense:

Photo by Rob Leiter/Getty Images

No. 52 Overall: LB Haason Reddick - Originally the 13th overall pick of the draft, Reddick has been a decent player at the NFL level, but has unfortunately had to play a different position in each of his first three years in Arizona. Not that Cleveland would’ve offered more stability in that regard, but from a talent perspective, I think Reddick could be an above average linebacker, a position Cleveland is lacking at even heading into 2020.

Here is how the rest of round two went down:

52. Cleveland Browns - LB Haason Reddick
53. Detroit Lions - LB Raekwon McMillan
54. Miami Dolphins - TE David Njoku
55. New York Giants - S Jabrill Peppers
56. Las Vegas Raiders - CB Sidney Jones
57. Houston Texans - OT Cam Robinson
58. Seattle Seahawks - RB Chris Carson
59. Kansas City Chiefs - RB Marlon Mack
60. Dallas Cowboys - DE Carl Lawson
61. Green Bay Packers - S Xavier Woods
62. Pittsburgh Steelers - RB Kareem Hunt
63. Atlanta Falcons - DE Takkarist McKinley
64. Carolina Panthers - S Josh Jones

I felt that the first round went great for my picks, but the exercise was a bit rough in round two. Should I have gone with another pair of players? Should I have taken Hunt with one of the two picks? Let us know in the comments section who you would have drafted, given the players available.