Teammates Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter are at the center of Browns' draft discussions in Colorado this week.
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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.
The Browns’ up close-and-personal visit with Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter comes at an interesting inflection point in the pre-draft season.
While I have always been opposed to the Browns taking Sanders at No. 2, I have never felt they didn’t like him. Quite the opposite. They do like him. It’s just that I think the Browns felt they weren’t maximizing the value of the No. 2 pick by taking Sanders over Hunter.
But what if they could draft Sanders and add a couple of high draft picks? Say, second-rounders in 2025 and 2026? To me, that would be greater value than Hunter alone.
Maybe there’s an avenue for this, after all.
Viva Las Vegas
On Thursday, while the Browns were meeting with the two offensive college stars in Boulder, CO, on the eve of Prime U.’s pro day, the Las Vegas Raiders agreed to a two-year contract extension with quarterback Geno Smith. The deal, reportedly for $66 million guaranteed, effectively ties Smith, 34, to the Raiders for at least the next two seasons.
I always thought Las Vegas was the most logical destination for Sanders.
Think about it: The Raiders play in an indoor stadium in the most unique NFL market, one that demands star power to compete with everything else going on in it. Sanders could rule Vegas like Elvis once did. And the fact that Raiders minority partner Tom Brady has been a football mentor to Sanders since he was a kid clinched a Sanders-to-Vegas scenario for me.
But the Smith contract changed my mind.
Pete Carroll, his former coach in Seattle who completed a reclamation of Smith’s career, obviously has faith that Smith is the guy to lead his new team in Vegas. Which means, to me, that Sanders is not a candidate to be drafted by the Raiders.
But they still need that A-1 headliner on offense to inject excitement in the team.
That’s where Hunter and the Browns come in.
For the past two weeks, I have mocked Hunter to the Browns at No. 2 for obvious reasons. They are in dire need of offensive playmakers and GM Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski absolutely love the guy, with good reason.
To this day, Berry is the only NFL team executive to publicly state his preference that the two-way Heisman Trophy winner be used as a receiver first and a cornerback second. He said he’d rather have the ball in his hands 100 times a year on offense as opposed to 30 as a part-time receiver.
At NFL meetings this week, Berry said of Hunter, “He's brilliant. He's brilliant from a football standpoint … has a rare intelligence. So, I don't think that there's necessarily a limit in terms of how you can use him. I think he’ll be good at each point.”
Stefanski chipped in, “He's an outstanding player, an outstanding young man, fun to spend time with him. Elite ball skills. I don't know if there's been better. Truly this kid's special when the ball's in the air. He's had a ton of production in the college game and then – oh, by the way -- he's doing it for both sides of the ball. As a receiver, obviously, I think [he has] room to grow, but certainly has elite ball skills.”
So I don’t think the Browns pass on Hunter, unless …
What could they reasonably command in trade?
Draft value charts, which assign point totals for every position in the draft, have changed over the years due to the application of analytics.
The traditional draft value chart, deemed outdated by many NFL teams, assigns 2,600 points to the No. 2 draft position and 1,600 to No. 6. Which would mean the Raiders roughly would have to make up 1,000 points for an equitable trade. Using the old chart, that comes out approximately to a package of second-, third- and fourth-round picks.
A newer chart devised by ProFootballReference uses a wholly different methodology and point system that puts much greater value on picks in the top 10.
The PFR draft value chart assigns 8,233 points for No. 2 and 6,396 for No. 6. That difference of 1,837 points equates to two high second-round picks. So that’s the value I’ll judge for this trade analysis – a second-round pick in 2025 and one in 2026.
I have no idea if the Raiders would be willing to invest two second-rounders to move up for Hunter.
But if they would, I think Shedeur Sanders + two No. 2s would be greater value than Hunter alone.
Again, the Browns like Sanders, just not enough to take him at No. 2. But they would like him a lot more along with the Raiders’ second-round pick this year, No. 37 overall, plus another second-rounder in 2026.
So imagine this scenario: The Browns use No. 6 on Sanders to compete with Kenny Pickett for their starting QB job. With No. 33 and No. 37, they can fill pressing needs at running back and offensive tackle. Then they still have two third-rounders, No. 67 and No. 94, to address other positions.
And the Raiders’ second-rounder adds to the Browns’ 2026 stockpile.
So while everybody seems to be getting off the Browns selecting Sanders, I think it’s very much alive. Just not with the No. 2 overall pick.
To me, this is much better than trading up from No. 33 to catch Sanders if he falls in the first round.
Now here's the kicker: To assure no other team swoops in and steals Sanders before the Browns can take him at No. 6, the Browns select Hunter at No. 2, the Raiders select Sanders at No. 6, and then the trade is consummated -- Sanders and two No. 2s to the Browns for Hunter.
Ultimately, the two Colorado teammates would be traded for each other. Deion would get such a kick out of that.