Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry did not take too long before he shook up the entire 2025 NFL draft. Cleveland has had a lot of offers on the table for the number two overall pick. Ever since the Tennessee Titans stated that they will take quarterback Cam Ward with the number one overall pick, teams have been calling Cleveland with offers for the number two overall pick. In this case, the Jacksonville Jaguars made an offer that was way too good to refuse.
Cleveland sent the number two overall pick, a fourth-round pick and a sixth-round pick to Jacksonville in return for the number five overall pick this year, a first-round pick next year, and a second-round pick this year. This is an awesome haul for the number two overall pick.
This is the King’s Ransom that Cleveland has long needed. It will royally suck that we cannot draft unicorn Travis Hunter. Travis Hunter would have fit real in on any team. And he would have fit Cleveland’s needs perfectly. But the draft capital that the Jacksonville Jaguars have offered would make trading Pat Mahomes plausible. I do not have the Jimmy Johnson draft chart handy right now to break this down in mathematical terms, but the Browns did good. We gave up our chance to draft a superstar and return for four more chances to draft good players. That is the basic bottom line of this trade.
The funny thing about this trade is that the Chicago Bears were looking to trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars for their number five overall pick. Chicago wanted to take Boise State running back Ashton Jeffrey. But the jaguars really wanted Travis Hunter. And Andrew Berry played on that desire to a tee.
Let’s take a look at the player that Cleveland drafted with the fifth overall pick.
He’s a defensive tackle from Michigan. Possibly the best defensive tackle in the draft. Cleveland has always done best when rotating linemen in and out. And this one can be good enough to be a running mate for Myles Garrett. Which is reason enough to draft the man.
The only knock on Graham is that he had 3.5 sacks at Michigan. The problem with this statistic is that the Michigan Wolverines did not lead a lot of games this year. Teams really did not have to pass. This made sack opportunities rather rare for the Michigan defense. I do not think Graham can be judged because he played on a sucky team last year. I think the production will be there once he is on a team with real talent. And you just don’t get more real talent than when you play beside Myles Garrett.
In conclusion, the draft could not have gone better for Cleveland.
The Browns picked up a whole boatload of premium picks. They picked up a great player. They filled a need. This is a strong start to the NFL draft. Hopefully, we can continue to do this. High five to Andrew Berry for pulling off one of the best trades in Cleveland Browns history.
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