The Cleveland Browns got things started in the 2018 NFL Draft by selecting PFF's No. 1 overall player in Baker Mayfield and they continued a strong push to rebuilding a team that finished winless a season ago throughout the draft.
Mayfield enters the Browns organization with three of the highest six seasons we've ever graded at the FBS level, including the two best. Any way the numbers were sliced (and we have a lot of numbers to slice), Mayfield was solely at the top, or among the top two or three. He had the highest passer rating when kept clean from pressure and when pressured among all FBS quarterbacks last season and fielded impressive numbers to every level of the field.
Longstanding as our No. 1 on the PFF Big Board, Mayfield was seen as a long shot to go first overall nearing the season's end, yet PFF Senior Analysts Steve Palazzolo & Sam Monson believe they knocked it out of the park by selecting Mayfield No. 1.
Also joining Mayfield is the fourth overall pick in Denzel Ward, a local talent from Ohio State who can cover among the best of them in the class. He joins the Browns at a time in which defending the pass has become paramount for a defense's success.
With their remaining three Day 2 picks, the Browns selected versatile offensive lineman Austin Corbett from Nevada, who should be part of the replacement plan for the retired Joe Thomas. Nick Chubb joins Carlos Hyde in the backfield after a tumultuous four-year career in Georgia that saw him breakout, go down injured and return from said injury with a bang.
Perhaps the biggest question mark of this draft for the Browns will be their selection of Antonio Callaway, who despite being kicked off the Florida football team last fall, has all the tools to potentially be a steal for Cleveland if he can see the field.
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