2022 NFL Draft: Cleveland Browns pick Edge Rusher Alex Wright at No. 78

With the 78th pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns selected EDGE Alex Wright (6-5, 271 lbs) from UAB. He is the second of the team’s three third-round picks.

Scouting Reports

Here is a scouting report from The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, who had Wright as his 18th-ranked edge rusher on his board, a projected third round pick, and the No. 98th player overall in the entire draft:

A three-year starter at UAB, Wright played the “Jack” edge rusher role (stand up and hand on the ground) in defensive coordinator David Reeves’ hybrid 3-4 scheme, aligning outside, inside or over the offensive tackle. Despite being late to football in high school and undersized (6-4, 225) when he arrived at UAB, he made an immediate impact for the Blazers and grew into one of the more disruptive pass rushers in college football. A flexible, long-limbed pass rusher, Wright has the reactive athleticism and basic understanding of hand use to separate from blockers in different ways. His first step is average, but he has the long, explosive strides to eat up ground quickly and out-leverage road blocks. Overall, Wright is still a work in progress in several areas, but he has elite length and intriguing movement skills for his size to be disruptive vs. both the pass and run. Although health is a concern, he is an ascending edge player with high-ceiling traits.

From John Kosko of PFF, Wright graded really high (in a good way) in a wide range of categories, showing he has the potential to be a complete player and not one-dimensional:

PFF also graded the pick well:

And here is what Tim Miller thought of the pick:

How He Fits the Browns

I feel like I was inadvertently prepped for this pick, since Wright was picked to the Browns at No. 78 overall in our DBN Community Mock Draft this year. Cleveland is all about Myles Garrett on the edge, and they may bring Jadeveon Clowney back again. Their depth behind the veteran players is very slim, so Wright can be developed as a rotational player for the future. Addressing the defense is the right call.

React Now

What do you think, Browns fans?