CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns did not have a first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft after packaging the No. 17 overall selection in a deal to obtain wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. from the New York Giants on the first day of the new league year last month, and they were unable to strike a trade to move back into the top 32.
Reason being, the asking price was too high for general manager John Dorsey to move up, despite there being players still on the board that he wanted to select.
“There were about three guys we were looking at that we thought may help us,” Dorsey said in a press conference at team headquarters early Friday morning. “To get up to the position where they were acquired at that time, I thought the compensation was too rich to move that far.
“I think we’re in a position now, you know, maybe you exercise a degree of patience in this and just see and we’ll start working tomorrow. We’re always going to work at this thing to see if we can get up there, but the compensation package was just too much for us as an organization.”
Although the Browns did not make a deal to move back into the first round, they still have Beckham Jr. in the fold, which is fine by Dorsey.
“I’m very happy to have Odell Beckham as the 17th pick in the 2019 Draft,” Dorsey said with a smile.
So, without a first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, what did Dorsey do with his evening?
Well, Dorsey took the opportunity to experience the first round in a different way.
“I haven’t had a chance to analyze what the other teams have done, per se,” Dorsey said. “What I was trying to do was kind of watch the board and watch the trends unfold as they did. There were a couple times there where I’d stop and listen to compensation like I never really have done in past drafts.
“I actually walked outside, got a bite to eat, ate some dinner, and I thought that was good. Actually, I went back at about nine o’clock and had a second meal. That was good.”
Because the Browns did not make a deal to move up, they still hold eight selections in the 2019 NFL Draft, starting with the No. 49 overall pick, the 17th choice in the second round, which gets underway Friday evening.
In addition to holding their own selections in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, the Browns have two more fifth-round choices courtesy of trades with the Jacksonville Jaguars for running back Carlos Hyde and New England Patriots for wide receiver Josh Gordon, respectively.
And Dorsey already is working on a plan to maximize the talent the Browns get with their choices.
“We always would hope we’d get a starter with that second-round pick,” Dorsey said.
