Cleveland Browns NFL Draft Live Blog (Day 1) - Rumors, Picks, and More

[DAY 2 NFL DRAFT LIVE BLOG IS HERE]

The 2022 NFL Draft officially begins for the Cleveland Browns and the rest of the teams in the NFL tonight at 8:00 PM ET. Unfortunately, the Browns don’t have any Day 1 picks and appear unlikely to have the assets to move up into the first round, but we’ll still enjoy the festivities and rumors throughout the day.

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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11:34 PM: We’ll be back at it for Day 2 coverage Friday morning. Here are your remaining players on the DBN Big Board, with the Browns picking at No. 44 in the second round.

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11:30 PM: The first round of the draft is in the books! Karlaftis is one who Browns fans were hoping would’ve slipped down to No. 44 on Day 2.

• No. 30: WR George Karlaftis to the Kansas City Chiefs
• No. 31: S Daxton Hill to the Cincinnati Bengals
• No. 32: S Lewis Cine to the Minnesota Vikings

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11:10 PM: Three more picks in the book, and the Packers continue to refuse to give Aaron Rodgers support on offense.

• No. 27: LB Devin Lloyd to the Jacksonville Jaguars
• No. 28: DT Devonte Wyatt to the Green Bay Packers
• No. 29: OL Cole Strange to the New England Patriots

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10:53 PM: We’re keeping our DBN Big Board up-to-date behind the scenes and will post it to conclude the first round, so we know who is available on Day 2.

• No. 23: CB Kaiir Elam to the Buffalo Bills
• No. 24: OT Tyler Smith to the Dallas Cowboys
• No. 25: C Tyler Linderbaum to the Baltimore Ravens
• No. 26: DE Jermaine Johnson to the New York Jets

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10:30 PM: The Steelers have a new quarterback in Kenny Pickett. That might be good news for the Browns.

• No. 19: OT Trevor Penning to the New Orleans Saints
• No. 20: QB Kenny Pickett to the Pittsburgh Steelers
• No. 21: CB Trent McDuffie to the Kansas City Chiefs
• No. 22: ILB Quay Walker to the Green Bay Packers

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10:06 PM: Wide receivers are cashing in. The Eagles just traded with the Titans to acquire WR A.J. Brown, and are giving Brown a $100 million extension.

• No. 15: OG Kenyon Green to the Houston Texans
• No. 16: WR Jahan Dotson to the Washington Commanders
• No. 17: OG Zion Johnson to the Los Angeles Chargers
• No. 18: WR Treylon Burks to the Tennessee Titans

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9:49 PM: What the heck, the Baltimore Ravens basically just acquired a first-round pick for WR Marquise Brown. As someone else put, is this a sign that they are going after a bigger receiver?

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9:44 PM: We saw back-to-back Buckeye receivers go off the board, as the Saints traded up to take Olave. Our division rival Ravens snagged a safety.

• No. 11: WR Chris Olave to the New Orleans Saints
• No. 12: WR Jameson Williams to the Detroit Lions
• No. 13: DT Jordan Davis to the Philadelphia Eagles
• No. 14: S Kyle Hamilton to the Baltimore Ravens

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9:17 PM: The last five picks saw three offensive tackles go off the board. I picked Wilson to the Jets, but thought it’d be No. 4 overall. That should be a great fit for them.

• No. 6: OT Ikem Ekwonu to the Carolina Panthers
• No. 7: OT Evan Neal to the New York Giants
• No. 8: WR Drake London to the Atlanta Falcons
• No. 9: OT Charles Cross to the Seattle Seahawks
• No. 10: WR Garrett Wilson to the New York Jets

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8:40 PM: Pretty cool magic trick by Chris Angel, predicting the first three picks. Anyway, let’s get to the next two picks: CB Ahmad Gardner at No. 4 to the New York Jets, and then DE Kayvon Thibodeaux to the New York Giants at No. 5.

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8:26 PM: With the No. 3 pick, the Houston Texans (not with their Cleveland pick) selected CB Derek Stingley Jr.

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8:22 PM: With the No. 2 pick, the Detroit Lions selected DE Aidan Hutchinson, arguably the top prospect in the draft.

Looking at the large crowds, I know there are more people than there were in Cleveland, but I’m still proud of how are city hosted the draft last year. We were the first big event in the country since the start of the pandemic; and although it was a freezing cold night for Day 1, our city was showcased proudly.

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8:16 PM: The 2022 NFL Draft is officially underway, as the Jacksonville Jaguars selected DE Travon Walker. He was the No. 4 player on our Browns’ Big Board.

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7:35 PM: We have our first Deshaun Watson mention of the evening, as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell repeats what he said at the recent owners’ meeting, which is that the league is still investigating and that there is no timetable for any disciplinary action.

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6:40 PM: The Browns posted a photo on their Twitter feed of their draft room. Candidly, it looks like a room that has sadly been shut down for the night.

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4:40 PM: It is all speculation at this point, but since the topic of quarterback Baker Mayfield’s next destination will be discussed over the next few days, The Athletic’s Jeff Howe reports that the Houston Texans are not expected to use one of their two first-round selections on a quarterback tonight, which could then put them in play for Mayfield, along with the Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers - but not until after the draft.

It seems like if the Texans wanted Mayfield the Browns would have been more than happy to include him in the trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson, but the Texans are an odd franchise, so anything is possible with a team run by general manager Nick Caserio.

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3:03 PM: I can confirm that much like 2019, it sucks not having a first-round draft pick as far as covering the NFL Draft goes. And it’s going to be like this for the next couple of years too? Booooo! Let’s check out some more fun things happening on the Las Vegas Strip. First, instead of the big helmets, there are 6,000 mini helmets on display (including college teams):

Also, if you were in Vegas, there are a few casinos doing a “Find the Football” challenge with prizes (such as two free tickets on the big wheel).

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1:50 PM: It likely will not impact their draft plans, but the New York Giants are reportedly declining the fifth-year option on quarterback Daniel Jones, the team’s first-round selection in the 2019 NFL Draft, according to NFL Network’s Judy Battista.

The Giants reportedly still like Jones and just want to “wait and see” if can improve after playing just 38 games in three seasons. But it rarely ends well when a team does not pick up a player’s fifth-year option, so the Giants could be a team to keep an eye on in the quarterback market.

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12:30 PM: Tonight is shaping up to be just the fifth time since 2007 that the No. 1 overall selection is not a quarterback, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The last two non-quarterbacks selected No. 1 overall were current Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett in 2017 and (hopefully) soon-once-again Browns defensive end Jadeveon Clowney in 2014.

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11:55 AM: Here is a really neat touch from a night time shot: a light show against the Bellagio fountains:

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11:34 AM: We have an NFL Reacts update for everyone, related to the NFL Draft. Fans were asked which position group Andrew Berry and company should address first.

Obviously this is a Day 2 question, as things stand right now, but the defensive line category received the most votes at 40%. That was followed up by wide receiver (28%), offensive line (20%), and linebacker (12%). I would agree with the defensive line being the top position to address, particularly the defensive tackle position. Cleveland also has a question mark at the other defensive end position, since Jadeveon Clowney returning is not a guarantee.

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11:20 AM: There is nothing fresh to report today on Baker Mayfield rumors, but it’s probably the top Browns’ story to keep an eye on for Day 1. The latest was that as a few days ago, the Browns could try to leverage the draft as the time to maximize their opportunity to trade Mayfield, considering this is a weak quarterback class. The Seahawks continue to be the team most often mentioned regarding their interest in him.

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11:08 AM: Thanks to everyone who took part in the DBN Community Mock Draft this year, with some even pulling double and triple duty! We finished the first round the other day, but we just posted the Browns’ mocked picks in rounds 2-3 here.

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9:35 AM: Here is your final DBN Big Board (40 players) for the Cleveland Browns, as voted on by the community.

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8:42 AM: Here is some more on the design of the playing cards, which look great. The picture on the left is a montage of the cards on a fence covering, while the right side has the cards in the hallway that draft picks will walk when called to the stage. I saw other pictures indicating that there were decks of cards people could buy with these logos.

I haven’t caught a glimpse of an in-person picture of a Browns card yet, but the team’s Twitter account highlighted Cleveland’s hot design yesterday:

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8:35 AM: Sadly, I have not seen the big NFL Draft helmets anywhere yet, which are always such a great photo opportunity in any city. We’ll see if they are tucked away in some type of conference center that hasn’t been unveiled yet. As far as your other annual NFL helmet decorations, here is “The Gallery.”

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8:28 AM: The draft theater, which is the big thing that was set up on Cleveland’s lakefront last year, is going to be behind the High Roller Ferris Wheel next to the Linq. If you were to look the opposite direction of the picture below (facing away from the stage), you would see the big wheel.

Cleveland went with unique music albums for each NFL team in the spirit of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, but Vegas is going with playing cards.

Here is a full map of the draft theater area:

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8:10 AM: Good morning, Browns fans, and welcome to our annual 2022 NFL Draft live blog! This year’s draft is a lot different than the 2021 NFL Draft, when the city of Cleveland got to host the draft and I took part in a lot of video coverage around the city. This year, the draft is in Las Vegas — I would have loved to have flown out and enjoyed the weekend there, but for personal reasons I was unable to.

Our first couple of posts in today’s live blog will focus on the scene in Vegas, starting with the red carpet draft stage, which was indeed constructed on the water of the Bellagio fountains: