Cleveland has moved on from Corey Coleman, which means the team no longer has any of its first-round draft picks made from 2010–16. How bad is that compared to the rest of the NFL? The Cleveland Browns traded 2016 first-round pick Corey Coleman to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night, officially wiping away every single first-round draft pick the franchise has made from ’10–16. And they’ve had quite a few. First, a look at where they’ve all ended up… Year: 2010 Player: Joe Haden Still in the league? Yes With who? Pittsburgh Steelers Year: 2011 Player: Phil Taylor Still in the league? Yes With who? Washington Year: 2012 Player: Trent Richardson Still in the league? NO Year: 2012 Player: Brandon Weeden Still in the league? Yes With who? Houston Texans Year: 2013 Player: Barkevious Mingo Still in the league? Yes With who? Seattle Seahawks Year: 2014 Player: Justin Gilbert Still in the league? NO Year: 2014 Player: Johnny Manziel Still in the league? Kind of With who? CFL’s Montreal Alouettes (more here on his lackluster—to put it nicely—debut) Year: 2015 Player: Danny Shelton Still in the league? Yes With who? New England Patriots Year: 2015 Player: Cameron Erving Still in the league? Yes With who? Kansas City Chiefs Year: 2016 Player: Corey Coleman Still in the league? Yes With who? Buffalo Bills The Browns Really, Really Are Tyrod Taylor’s Team. Really How bad is it by comparison? This is definitely one end of the bell curve. The Browns are notorious for rapid changes at the executive level, which lead to unusually large alterations in organizational philosophy. Here are the numbers from eight randomly selected teams across the NFL: Jets: 2 of 8 first-round draft picks from 2010–16 (Leonard Williams and Darron Lee) Ravens: 4 of 5 (Jimmy Smith, C.J. Mosely, Breshad Perriman, Ronnie Stanley) Seahawks: 2 of 5 (Earl Thomas, Germain Ifedi) 49ers: 4 of 9 (Jimmie Ward, Arik Armstead, Joshua Garnett, DeForest Buckner) Patriots: 1 of 6 (Devin McCourty) Titans: 4 of 7 (Derrick Morgan, Jack Conklin, Taylor Lewan, Marcus Mariota) Falcons: 5 of 6 (Julio Jones, Desmond Trufant, Jake Matthews, Vic Beasley, Keanu Neal) Lions: 2 of 7 (Ezekiel Ansah, Taylor Decker) So, yes, the Browns are bad and their scattershot organizational approach has cost them dearly in the foundation-building department. However if this exercise teaches us anything it’s how weird the draft is and how good teams can remain good teams without much success in the first round. It also shows us that some teams are willing to hang onto projects longer than others. Cleveland is only going to get better by maintaining some kind of identity for a sustained period of time. The John Dorsey regime, which inspired the organization to finally come out of the shadows and embrace its rebuild, seems like the most spirited attempt yet at putting a competitive team on the field. Should owner Jimmy Haslam change his mind again, though, Baker Mayfield and Denzel Ward better start looking for a good real-estate agent. Question or comment? Email us at talkback@themmqb.com.<doc-sep>Ron Schwane/Associated Press The Cleveland Browns threw shade at Corey Coleman after Jarvis Landry and Co. made the organization see the light. The Browns hope Coleman's departure is addition by subtraction and will give other receivers more of an opportunity. Otherwise, why would the team trade its 2016 first-round pick for a 2020 seventh-round selection? Inconsistency plagued his game. The coaching staff, meanwhile, grew tired of his approach, according to SI.com's Andy Benoit: The Browns couldn't wait any longer for the talented, albeit underperforming, receiver to experience a breakthrough. So, general manager John Dorsey dumped Coleman to the Buffalo Bills—who have their own issues at wide receiver—for the NFL equivalent of a bag of balls. "I think that is the urgency, period—we want to win," head coach Hue Jackson said, per the Browns Zone's Scott Petrak. Cleveland's history of failed first-round picks borders on mythological. Not a single opening-round selection the team made before the 2017 draft is still with the club. Yet positives can be found after Coleman's removal. Landry is now the alpha male in the offense. His offseason acquisition, alongside that of quarterback Tyrod Taylor, helped establish a new culture within a locker room after a 0-16 campaign. The Browns' recent trade may have caught some players off guard, but Landry said the unit can move on. Video Play Button Videos you might like "Having Corey in the room, it helps us out, but at the same time, now that he's not here, we have to move past it," Landry said, per Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot. "We have to move on. We can't dwell on losing a guy, so I don't see it having any effect on the team." Instead, the team will lean heavily on Landry, who signed a five-year, $75.5 million contract this offseason. The 25-year-old had been the NFL's best slot receiver since he was drafted in 2014, notching a league-leading 267 slot receptions, according to Pro Football Focus. And his role will expand with the Browns, per SI.com's Ben Baskin. Last season, Landry became the first wide receiver in NFL history to record 100 or more receptions without eclipsing 1,000 receiving yards. Two arguments are often made about why this happened: Either Landry doesn't have enough straight-line speed to be a vertical threat, or the Miami Dolphins system limited his capabilities. Cleveland must believe the latter is true, and last year's league leader with 112 receptions doesn't mince words. "I probably caught a thousand bubble screens," Landry stated. "I did all I could do with what I had." Todd Haley's vertical-strike offense should help boost the receiver's 8.8 yards-per-catch average from last season. Plus, the staff won't pigeonhole him. "I'm not just a slot receiver," Landry said. The three-time Pro Bowler will play inside and outside the formation and currently lines up as team's starting Z receiver. His consistency is what Cleveland lacked for an extended period. Landry's NFL-record 400 receptions in his first four seasons are a testament to his route-running, Velcro-like hands and ability to create after the catch. He's the ultimate security blanket with the ability to be much more. "You know the demand is that much higher now," Landry said after the Coleman trade, per Cabot. "For other guys to step up, for other guys to get opportunities and earn their keep. In the first team meeting, Coach Hue said you've got to earn what you get, and so other guys have opportunities to do that now." Tony Dejak/Associated Press Eventually, Josh Gordon will line up opposite Landry, but he's skipping camp for health and treatment reasons. Antonio Callaway has been a camp standout, and Jackson placed the rookie with the first-team offense as its X receiver, according to Cabot. The fourth-round pick, who didn't play football last season because of a season-long suspension, may have missed out on a significant opportunity, though. Callaway fell to the fourth round—Dorsey traded up to the 105th pick to select him—because of his off-field history. In 2015 while he was at Florida, a female student said he sexually assaulted her. Over a year later, he and eight other Florida players were investigated for credit card fraud. Regarding the former, a Title IX hearing conducted by a Florida booster found him "not responsible" of assault. As for the latter, he reached an agreement to enter a pretrial intervention program. Of lesser concern, he was also cited with marijuana possession and flagged for a diluted sample at the NFL Scouting Combine. Fox 8 Cleveland News reported Tuesday that Strongsville, Ohio, policed cited Callaway for possession of marijuana and driving under a suspended license. The baggage isn't going away, and the issues must be addressed. His natural ability, though, has never been in question. The 21-year-old flashed first-round potential during his limited collegiate experience, and it's been on display during training camp. The 5'11", 200-pound target is quick in and out of his breaks, and defensive backs must also account for his 4.41-second 40-yard-dash speed. Can he stay clean? If Callaway doesn't miss significant time this season, he is well on his way to being one of the Browns' top two or three receiving options. "Regardless if you're a rookie or a 10-year player or whatever, you're expected to come here and perform, and that's what we want out of every single guy, so it's too late to think it's not," Landry said, per Cabot. Tuesday's news wouldn't have changed Cleveland's approach, as NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported Dorsey considered releasing the receiver if a trade couldn't be consummated. Once Gordon joins training camp, the Browns will feature an exciting duo with plenty of potential behind them. Landry is the workaholic, a perfectionist who will drive the rest of the group. But Gordon is something entirely different. Tony Dejak/Associated Press A fully committed and healthy Gordon is a difference-maker. Julio Jones and A.J. Green are the only receivers in the league with similar physical ability. At 6'3" and 225 pounds, Gordon led the league with 1,646 receiving yards during the 2013 campaign even though he said during a 2017 GQ interview he played every game with something in his system. His raw ability is transcendent, and the Browns are being patient with the hope they'll be rewarded. "I think we're the best receiving corps in the league, in my opinion, already," Gordon said during minicamp, per USA Today's Lorenzo Reyes. "Just based off of talent alone." Others remain in the mix for Cleveland. Rashard Higgins has been consistent throughout camp after recording 68 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the 2017 season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jeff Janis adds another veteran presence and will be a key special teams contributor. Damion Ratley became one of the team's sixth-round picks thanks to an impressive physical profile (6'2", 200 lbs with 4.39-second speed and a 38-inch vertical). The Browns could revisit the possibility of signing Dez Bryant as well. What looks great on paper doesn't always translate to the field. More time is still needed for the picture to develop. Yet the Browns' receiving corps has a chance to evolve into something special, even without Coleman. Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @brentsobleski.<doc-sep>
On Sunday evening, the Cleveland Browns sent a former first-round pick packing to the AFC East for the second time this offseason. They traded 2015 first-rounder Danny Shelton to the New England Patriots in March, and on Sunday, finalized a trade to send 2016 first-rounder Corey Coleman to the Buffalo Bills, in exchange for just a seventh-round pick. Coleman was working in a wide receiver room that is quite a bit more crowded this season than it has been in the recent past. The Browns will presumably get Josh Gordon back at some point, and they also drafted Antonio Callaway and traded for Jarvis Landry. That's in addition to signing Jeff Janis and returning several of the receivers they drafted in 2017. So, how much do those receivers think Coleman's absence will affect the team? According to Landry, not much. "Having Corey in the room it helps us out, but at the same time, now that he's not here, we have to move past it," Landry said, per Cleveland.com. "We have to move on. We can't dwell on losing a guy so, I don't see it having any effect on the team." That's some shade from the Browns' new big-money wideout toward the team's former first-round pick, but Coleman did not exactly show a ton during his first two years in the league, given his struggles with injury and inconsistency. He was unlikely to be a primary target over either Landry or Gordon in 2018, and the team has high hopes for Callaway and big passing-game plans for tight end David Njoku and running back Duke Johnson as well. So maybe Landry is right, and the trade really won't have an effect on the 2018 version of the Browns.