The recent surge of most NFL mock drafts having the Cleveland Browns selecting Georgia tackle Andrew Thomas is quite familiar.
Josh Edwards, Charlie Casserly, R.J. White, Ryan Wilson, Chris Trapasso, and countless others have made the connection between the Cleveland Browns and Georgia offensive tackle Andrew Thomas. Even though the number of tackles taken ahead and after him change, Thomas to Cleveland remains a constant. This is something that feels quite familiar, almost like I’ve seen it before. Mock drafts connecting Cleveland to one specific player when they do not have the top pick in the draft. It was bugging me for awhile, then I remembered where I have seen this before.
The 2015 NFL Draft
Cleveland’s first pick was 12th overall and up to a certain point the opinions changed over who they would take. As the draft drew nearer, most mock drafts came down to one option, Danny Shelton. It was a very popular choice among those who put mock drafts together, Danny Shelton to the Browns was destined to happen.
SB Nation put together a consensus of the all the mock drafts and a staggering 60% had the Browns taking Danny Shelton. Shelton was tied with Trae Waynes to Minnesota as the third-highest consensus. These two were the only picks outside side of the first two selections to be this high. Only Jameis Winston to Tampa Bay (100%) and Marcus Mariota to Tennessee (65%) were higher. Shelton even got 10% to Cleveland at 19th overall, (the Browns ended up taking Cameron Erving with that selection who did not appear as an option).
Does this increased momentum toward the Cleveland Browns drafting Andrew Thomas really mean anything? Not really. This is just an interesting parallel that I observed with what is happening now and what happened five years ago. The fact that so many people are confident that Cleveland will take one specific player when nine other selections are ahead of them is quite interesting. Will history repeat itself? Only time will tell.
