[SATURDAY / DAY 3 LIVE BLOG THREAD IS HERE] Day 2 of the 2019 NFL Draft is today, and the Cleveland Browns will actually be on the clock, unlike Day 1 of the draft. We will have all of your Browns-related coverage on the draft here at Dawgs By Nature throughout the weekend. There will be individual posts about each draft pick that Cleveland makes, or any other significant news. This thread will act as a “live blog” of sorts, with short one-liners about the latest small rumors, picks, or trades involving Cleveland or other NFL teams. You should also use the comments section as your NFL Draft open thread! (Newest updates will be at the top of the live blog below) Browns NFL Draft Live Blog [SATURDAY / DAY 3 LIVE BLOG THREAD IS HERE] 11:30 PM: Day 2 is over! Tune back in for Day 3 of the Browns’ draft Saturday starting at noon. 11:02 PM: Here is the Browns’ phone call to their newest linebacker: 10:24 PM: OK, so this one was more of a reach, as Dane Brugler graded him a 6th-round pick. Nonetheless, with the 80th pick, the Browns took LB Sione Takitaki. Our post on him is here. 10:15 PM: The Browns are up next, after the Rams! And there are still some defensive backs remaining on our big board, among other players the team has to like. 9:38 PM: Here is Browns GM John Dorsey making the call to CB Greedy Williams earlier: 9:32 PM: The second round is now over, and the last ten picks or so saw a depletion of the remaining talent on our big board who fans coveted. Here are the players who remain: CB Justin Layne S C. Gardner-Johnson LB Mack Wilson CB Julian Love DL Dre’Mont Jones CB Amani Oruwariye EDGE Jachai Polite EDGE Chase Winovich 8:20 PM: Now that we’ve had a few minutes to decompress, here are the trade parameters: the Browns moved up to No. 46, giving the Colts No. 49 and one of their fifth-round picks (No. 144 overall). 8:16 PM: The Browns got their guy! CB Greedy Williams is the pick at No. 46; our post on him is here, where you can grade it too. The pick is going over very, very well: If the Browns kept the 17th overall pick and selected Greedy Williams it would be an A grade. — Ryan McCrystal (@Ryan_McCrystal) April 27, 2019 8:06 PM: The Patriots beat out the Browns to trade up to No. 45, where they selected CB JoeJuan Williams! Apparently, that wasn’t GM John Dorsey’s pick, because right afterward, Lane Adkins of The OBR tweeted “sigh of relief.” And now the Browns have traded up to No. 46 to be on the clock! 8:00 PM: There we go — our FIRST Browns rumor of this year’s draft! The #Patriots and #Browns are among the teams having discussions about trading up... — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 27, 2019 7:55 PM: The Browns are coming up in about six picks, so here’s an update of the top players left on our big board: CB Greedy Williams WR D.K. Metcalf CB Justin Layne S Nasir Adderley S C. Gardner-Johnson S Taylor Rapp S Juan Thornhill LB Mack Wilson WR A.J. Brown WR Parris Campbell CB Julian Love DL Dre’Mont Jones CB Amani Oruwariye EDGE Jachai Polite EDGE Chase Winovich 7:24 PM: All of the Browns’ prospects are going! CB Rock Ya-Sin to the Colts at No. 34, then OT Jawaan Taylor to the Jaguars at No. 35 (via a trade up). 7:14 PM: Because of the number of picks today, we won’t be covering every one in the live blog — only a select few, like the Cardinals kicking off No. 33 by taking CB Byron Murphy. As Cleveland’s selection gets closer, we’ll update our big board to see who Cleveland “should take,” per the community. 7:08 PM: Day 2 of the NFL Draft is under way! A reminder that Jim Brown is scheduled to announce the Browns’ second round pick, while Christian Kirksey will do the third round pick. 6:10 PM: We are less than an hour from the start of round two! Teams will have seven minutes to pick in the second round. 5:08 PM: Uh-oh, something is brewing! Lane Adkins of The OBR had these cryptic tweets. What it means yet, we don’t know! 4:18 PM: We are kind of just twiddling our thumbs, waiting until the second round starts at 7:00 PM. Here is a funny video, though, of reactions to the first-round picks — and Cleveland makes a cameo at the end: NFL Fans During the First Round pic.twitter.com/zv6FRkJK0i — Cameron Magruder (@ScooterMagruder) April 26, 2019 2:15 PM: The Miami Dolphins are acquiring QB Josh Rosen from the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for No. 48 overall. Multiple sources say the Dolphins are close to a deal for QB Josh Rosen, and that a deal may actually be tentatively done. Arizona would get pick No. 48 from Miami. — ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 26, 2019 1:11 PM: Dane Brugler of The Athletic (subscription) posted his second- and third-round mock draft today. At No. 49 overall, he has the Browns taking CB Sean Bunting. Then at No. 80, he has Cleveland taking edge rusher Jachai Polite. 12:20 PM: Going off our draft tracker of Browns’ interests, there are a lot of players left, since many of them are sixth or seventh rounders. On Saturday, we’ll update the full tracking list. For now, here is a list of remaining players who were brought to Berea for a visit (but only including some of the local day visits). The parenthesis indicate the projected round they will be drafted in; I excluded anyone worse than a fifth-round grade. WR Andy Isabella (2-3) (2-3) WR Penny Hart (5) (5) OG Michael Jordan (3-4) (3-4) DL Dre’Mont Jones (2) (2) DE John Cominsky (3-4) (3-4) DT Trysten Hill (3-4) (3-4) CB Jimmy Moreland (4-5) (4-5) CB Ka’dar Hollman (4-5) (4-5) CB Stephen Denmark (5-6) (5-6) S Juan Thornhill (2) 11:45 AM: Not including quarterbacks, there are still 21 players left on our community big board for the Cleveland Browns, heading into Day 2 of the draft. Of the 21 players, there are 6 cornerbacks and 4 safeties. That is the direction fans probably feel the team will go — and if not, an offensive lineman is an option, albeit not a sexy one. 11:31 AM: We’re back to the live blog for the rest of the day now. These are the picks that Cleveland has scheduled for today: 2nd Round: No. 49 overall No. 49 overall 3rd Round: No. 80 overall 9:15 AM: Good morning, Browns fans, and welcome to Day 2 of the NFL Draft! This is our day, and we can actually enjoy looking at mock drafts! We will check out our updated big board later, but for now, here is who Dan Kadar of SB Nation has going to the Browns in his second-round mock draft: CB/S Juan Thornhill.<doc-sep>Editor's note: Tony Grossi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN 850 WKNR. Takeaways from the first round of the NFL draft … John Dorsey tried, but he couldn’t do it. The Browns’ GM said he targeted three players to pursue in the first round, but fell short of trading up from No. 49 because of the price tag. “There were about three guys we were looking at that we thought may help us. To get up to the position where they were acquired at that time, I thought the compensation was too rich to move that far," Dorsey said. "I think we are in a position now that maybe you exercise a degree of patience in this thing and just see." Dorsey said he talked to a lot of teams about midway through the first round. Dorsey would not disclose the three players he targeted, but did say all three were off the board by the end of the night. One of them is believed to be Mississippi State tackle Jeffery Simmons, who was taken 19th by the Tennessee Titans. “You try, but it takes two," Dorsey said. "Every time we were trying they would kind of say, ‘Wait, you need to kick in a little bit more,’ and I was not willing to do that.” Dorsey hopes to move up from the 49th overall pick – 17th in the second round. "You explore those options and then you see if you can get up there at the right price, you stay patient or you even kick back," he said. "Now we can really get into the exercise of moving up and moving back. We will be actively be working the phones all day and all evening tomorrow.” The Browns also own the 80th overall pick, 16th in the third round. Steelers move up: At the beginning of the day, there was a real sense that at least one of the draft’s two first round-ranked linebackers could wind up in the AFC North division – if not both. But when Tampa Bay jumped on LSU’s Devin White with the fifth pick, the race was on for Michigan’s Devin Bush. And Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati off the blocks, trading up from No. 20 for Denver’s place at No. 10 – one spot ahead of the Bengals – to nab the linebacker they’ve longed to fill the huge hole left by the career-threatening spinal injury to Ryan Shazier two years ago. The price tag paid by the Steelers for moving up 10 spots in the first round was their second-round pick this year (No. 52) and a third-round selection next year. The Steelers had not traded up in the first round since 2006 when they selected receiver Santonio Holmes. They also moved up in 2003 to take safety Troy Polamalu. In that draft, Steelers legend “Mean” Joe Greene announced the pick. He was back to serve that honor on Thursday. The next Joe: The Bengals, who wanted Bush, rebounded without flinching by selecting Alabama offensive tackle Jonah Williams at No. 11. Williams is said to be the best technician at tackle in this draft, drawing some comparisons in his dedication to technique to Joe Thomas. At the NFL Combine, Williams disclosed he idolized Thomas. It happened that Thomas did analysis for NFL Network at the combine and he surprised Williams after the offensive line drills by introducing himself. After Williams was selected, Thomas tweeted at him: Congrats @JonahGWilliams on your first round selection in the draft! I’m proud of you! Your commitment and hard work has paid off...but the draft is just the beginning of the journey, not the end! Ravens try again: Former Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome always admitted his blind spot for drafting receivers. He hopes his hand-picked successor, Eric DeCosta, has better luck. DeCosta took over for Newsome this year and his first draft pick, after a trade down of four spots, was Oklahoma receiver Marquise Brown at No. 25. In Newsome’s 23-year glorious reign as Ravens VP and GM, he took numerous swings at the receiver position, including three in the first round, and put one in play. Newsome’s first-round flops included Breshad Perriman (2015), Mark Clayton (2005) and Travis Taylor (2000). The best receiver Newsome selected in 23 Baltimore drafts was Torrey Smith in the second round in 2011. Smith had one 1,000-yard season for the Ravens and then left in free agency after his fourth year. Brown, 5-9 ½ and 166 pounds, had 132 receptions for Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray the past two seasons at Oklahoma. He was the first receiver taken in the first round and the only one until New England selected N'Keal Harry with the 32nd pick.<doc-sep>On Thursday night, three quarterbacks were drafted in the first round of the 2019 NFL draft. Former Oklahoma Kyler Murray was linked to the Arizona Cardinals for months leading up to the draft. The Cardinals made Murray the No. 1 overall pick despite taking Josh Rosen No. 10 overall in 2018. Shortly thereafter, the New York Giants selected former Duke quarterback Daniel Jones as the heir apparent to Eli Manning. That left former Ohio state star Dwayne Haskins wondering. All of the talk heading into the draft surrounded Haskins-to-the-Giants, but general manager Dave Gettleman opted for the David Cutcliffe protege. Immediately after the Washington Redskins selected him with the No. 15 pick, Haskins had a message for the rest of the NFL. “To be honest, I am more motivated now than ever,” he said. “There’s a bigger chip on my shoulder. The league done messed up.” On Friday, Haskins revealed the text he received from Odell Beckham Jr. after the draft. OBJ had just three words for the former Buckeye: “Show em why.” . @obj texted @dh_simba7 three short words after the draft: "Show em why." Inside Dwayne Haskins Jr.'s draft party in Maryland, where the event production rivaled Nashville: https://t.co/4FxftcTIHO — Kalyn Kahler (@kalynkahler) April 26, 2019 Haskins plans to show em why when he takes the field for the Washington Redskins this season. He’ll battle Case Keenum and Colt McCoy for the starting role as Alex Smith recovers from a broken leg.<doc-sep>
The Cleveland Browns could be in the market to draft a linebacker, and there are still good options available on Day 2 of the 2019 NFL Draft. It was a quiet first night of the 2019 NFL Draft for the Cleveland Browns after not making a selection in the first 32 picks. It was the first time since 2008 the Browns did not make a selection in the first round of a draft. Browns general manager John Dorsey said Thursday night there were three players the team tried to trade up for, but the compensation needed to make a potential trade would have cost the organization too much. Dorsey and the rest of the Browns front office will start to get busy on Friday night with the 49th overall selection and the 80th overall selection. But with the reputation of Dorsey, there is a good chance the Browns will make some trades and not select in either of those positions. But wherever the Browns make their selection, it is hard to guess which position the Browns will be targeting. Since the start of the offseason, the front office has done well at filling most of the holes on the roster. However, one of the positions that looks like it still needs to be addressed is linebacker. The Browns made the decision to cut Jamie Collins at the beginning of the offseason, leaving a hole at one of their starting linebacker spots. Cleveland signed Adarius Taylor in free agency, but he is expected to have a bigger role on special teams than on the defense. That would mean Genard Avery would slide into the starting role, but he played better rushing the quarterback instead of being put into coverage. If the Browns feel they need to find a linebacker who can play well in coverage, they will have options during the second day of the 2019 NFL Draft.