The Cleveland Browns need to stay put and resist the temptation of trading back to acquire more picks in the upoming NFL Draft.
The 2020 NFL Draft is Thursday and the Cleveland Browns are unsurprisingly being talked about as a team who could trade back. In theory this is a good idea. Holes all across the roster and an easy way to fill them is to acquire more picks and make more selections. This is not what they should do. Cleveland needs to stay put and take the best available talent (except quarterback) at 10.
Cleveland has a ton of needs, this is true. Left tackle, safety, multiple linebackers, even a corner or wide receiver could be in the mix at some point. The Browns need to acquire the best available talent, not the highest quantity of players hoping it equals the talent level of the players at 10. The Browns have attempted this strategy before and have only been successful with their pick one time.
It is about being in the position to acquire blue chip players. At 10th overall they are in spot that they could do that. Trading back lessens the chance that the player is top quality and the chance that they could be an instant starter. Unless the Browns are going on a spending spree on available free agents, they need to acquire players in the draft who project to be instant starters. Trading back too far could be a huge problem for the Browns if they employ that strategy. Chad Reuter had Cleveland doing that and if it were to happen it would be a disaster. Trading back to 24 would result passing up on too many good players.
There is only one scenario that trading back would make sense and it is highly unlikely. If the top available players are quarterbacks and defensive lineman. If that happens, sure entertain trading back. What cannot happen is trading back when multiple tackles are still on the board. Same if Isaiah Simmons is still available. Make the pick at 10 and prepare for pick 41. One last thing, moving up from 41 makes a lot more sense than trading down from 10.
