The newest Browns quarterback does not lack confidence. (Associated Press)
Last-minute trade ends Browns' long draft day
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Snapshots of Browns draft picks from Rounds 4 through 6 …
It came down to the wire, but GM Andrew Berry was able to pull off a trade and end his draft.
With the Browns on the clock for their last pick in the seventh round, 229th overall, Berry found a taker in the Baltimore Ravens. The Browns received the Ravens’ sixth-round pick in 2024.
The Ravens used the pick to select USC offensive lineman Andrew Vorheesn. He’s the player who tore an ACL at the NFL combine and won’t be available until next year.
So Berry wound up choosing seven players overall. Here’s a look at the five he selected on Saturday.
Round 4
No. 111 overall, offensive tackle Dawand Jones, Ohio State
Buckeye teammate Paris Johnson got the accolades. Jones got the shock and awe.
Dan Saganey, Browns director of player personnel, came back from scouting the Buckeyes’ 2021 season-opener in Oregon and said, “This happens to be the biggest human being I’ve ever seen.”
At the NFL combine, Jones measured 6-8 ¼, 374 pounds. He’s remarkably nimble and agile for a behemoth because of his background playing basketball. He was recruited by several MAC schools and almost committed to Kent State before football scholarships came rolling in on the last day of his high school senior season.
Jones developed over his two years starting at right tackle at Ohio State and put up enough good tape against powerhouses like Georgia to convince the Browns he had the necessary mobility to compete in line coach Bill Callahan’s zone-blocking scheme.
“Really, you give a guy like this to Bill and Scott [Peters, assistant line coach], work our process here, [and] we’re pretty excited about where he can be as a player," Saganey said.
No. 126, defensive end Isaiah McGuire, Missouri
I touted him at No. 74 in the third round when the Browns took receiver Cedric Tillman instead. So he fell to them 52 notches later. He could compete as the much-needed third edge rusher in a rotation with starters Myles Garrett and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo.
McGuire (6-4 3/8, 268, 4.76 40 time) “is a long defensive end with some good pass rush upside,” Saganey said.
“We’re going to be [an] attacking up-the-field defense and [we’re] looking forward to seeing him rush off the edge. We do think he eventually has the ability to rush inside, as well,” Saganey added.
McGuire is ecstatic to join Garrett as a teammate. He said he’s been watching him “ever since he was at Texas A&M.”
McGuire had 16.5 sacks in 33 starts his last three years at Missouri. As a freshman, he was a teammate of Browns defensive tackle Jordan Elliott.
McGuire is the 10th player from the SEC selected by Berry among a total of 31 picks in four drafts.
Round 5
No. 140, cornerback Cameron Mitchell, Northwestern
Mitchell followed his boyhood friend Greg Newsome to Northwestern and now to the Browns. They were on the same 7-on-7 team when Mitchell was 11 and Newsome helped recruit Mitchell to Northwestern. Mitchell filled in when Newsome was injured in the 2020 B1G Ten season.
“Now I’m here in Cleveland [with him]. It seems like I can’t get away from him,” Mitchell said with a laugh.
Unlike Newsome, Mitchell did turn in a couple interceptions at Northwestern, but he said he suffered from lack of throws aimed his way.
“You go on YouTube and type in Cam Mitchell highlights and you’re not going to see too much,” he said. “There’s games out there where I’m just making tackles and just not getting thrown at.”
Mitchell visited Newsome last season in Cleveland and is very aware of Newsome’s frustration playing inside as a slot cornerback. Mitchell is a potential candidate to compete there, though it would be a tall task for a rookie.
“Well, I know that the [Browns] defense is going to be a little bit different than it was last year,” Mitchell said from inside knowledge shared by Newsome. “I just know Greg will mostly be able to affect the game [this year]. He obviously didn’t feel like he could affect the game as much on the inside. I played slot a little bit in my career, so that’s a role that I’m not new to.”
No. 142, quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA
Adding a fourth quarterback to “the room” with similar skill-sets to Deshaun Watson, Josh Dobbs and Kellen Mond was one of the safest bets of the Browns’ draft.
Thompson-Robinson (6-1 5/8, 203, 4.56 40 time) used a fifth year of eligibility to set several UCLA career records, including touchdown passes (88) and total touchdowns (116). He ran for 1,827 yards in his 50 career games.
Thompson-Robinson has trained with Watson in Southern California. To give you an idea of his self-confidence, he says that experience will not only help his development but also Watson’s.
“I think I can help him out, too, giving him an extra set of eyes and ears just from everything I’ve learned in college so far,” DTR said.
Then there’s this:
“Obviously, you guys have Deshaun and he’s going to do wonderful things this year, so for me to be able to learn from him and then ultimately be able to take the reins later on, I think will be very beneficial for me.”
One more:
“Everything that you see us running on Saturdays at UCLA has been shown in a cut-up tape or some type of example from when Coach [Chip] Kelly was in the NFL. So I’ve been running an NFL system for quite some time now.”
We’d be remiss not to include this one:
“Deshaun is a very unique and special player in his own right. I think I do have some very similar traits of my own. I think the one thing that me and Deshaun really have in common is how we play the game from the neck up. He’s a real smart dude, really knows how to study a playbook and break it down. I try to come with the same approach, so I think that’s kind of where we’re similar.”
Ok, fine.
Thompson-Robinson was a Las Vegas (NV) Bishop Gorman High School teammate of Tennessee receiver Cedric Tillman, who was taken by the Browns in the third round.
“I was a little frustrated that I didn’t go [off the draft board] yesterday, so he gave me some words of encouragement there,” Thompson-Robinson said.
Round 6
No. 190, center Luke Wypler, Ohio State
Unable to trade out, Berry returned to past form in trying to find a future center in the far recesses of the draft.
Wypler was a highly-recruited center coming out of Montvale (NJ) St. Joseph Regional High School. He wound up snapping the ball in every one of quarterback C.J. Stroud’s 25 starts the past two seasons.
His undesirable physical characteristics for the position are offset by his mobility, which gives him a chance in the Browns’ zone scheme.
Wypler follows late-round stabs at center by Berry. In 2020, Berry took Nick Harris in the fifth round, and in 2022, he selected Dawson Deaton in the seventh round.
Meantime, the Browns re-signed 2022 free agent Ethan Pocic with a $10 million guarantee, virtually assuring him the job for the next two years.
This marks the first time since 1965 the Browns have chosen two Ohio State players in the same draft. Wypler and Jones bring the number of Buckeyes drafted in the expansion era to six.
