The Cleveland Browns sent their first-round pick to the Houston Texans as a part of the massive deal to acquire QB Deshaun Watson. Before that trade, much of the focus was on which wide receiver the team would select with the 13th overall pick. In a draft with a group of high-quality receivers, the arguments were over which one was the best with that pick.
Outside of receiver, defensive end was the other position that got a lot of attention when the Browns had their first-round pick. David Ojabo and George Karlaftis were two of the big names connected to Cleveland.
Now that the Browns top pick is in Houston, dreams of those top guys seem to have faded… until Monday before the draft. Based on a few pieces of information, it seems Karlaftis could be having a similar fall as Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah did last year.
First, Todd McShay (subscriber, $) noted that he could fall out of the first round:
Three prospects I’ve heard who could fall out of Round 1: Georgia linebacker Nakobe Dean, Purdue defensive end George Karlaftis and Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum. Dean is the most likely of the trio to still be a first-rounder.
Second, Peter King did not include Karlaftis in his first-round mock draft, an indication that he is hearing similar things to McShay.
Finally, a Cleveland focused media member had heard similar rumblings:
Heard rumblings over the weekend that Karlaftis could drop out of round 1. Then PK didn't have him going at all round 1. Andrew Berry will certainly be tempted to move up into the early 2nd if that happens
— TA (@ClevTA) April 25, 2022
As noted at the end of the above tweet, Browns GM Andrew Berry might be very tempted to move up from their pick in the middle of the second round to get a player with the upside of Karlaftis. An athletic marvel, Karlaftis would be a great rotational piece with Myles Garrett and, presumably, Jadeveon Clowney in Cleveland.
If Berry is able to make a move to acquire Karlaftis, two years in a row a player the team was interested in drafting in the first round would become their second-round pick.
