Even though this topic may only be of interest to me, here’s the follow-up now that the 2016 NFL Draft is complete and the Browns have actually traded away their #2 pick. In a series of trades, they first gave the #2 pick to Philadelphia for a king’s ransom of picks that included the #8 pick, then traded that #8 pick to Tennessee for another bounty. Short summary: math won.
| Pick | HOFer | Quality Starter | Starter | Occasional Starter | Substitute | Bench | Never played |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Browns trade: | |||||||
| #2 (1st) | 0.17 | 0 | 0.67 | 0.17 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 4th | 0 | 0 | 0.05 | 0.20 | 0.45 | 0.05 | 0.25 |
| #176 (6th) | 0 | 0 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.22 | 0.39 | 0.30 |
| Total | 0.17 | 0 | 0.76 | 0.41 | 0.67 | 0.44 | 0.55 |
| Browns receive: | |||||||
| #15 (1st) | 0 | 0 | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 1st | 0 | 0 | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 2nd | 0 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.42 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 2nd | 0 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.42 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 |
| #76 (3rd) | 0 | 0 | 0.07 | 0.27 | 0.53 | 0.07 | 0.07 |
| #77 (3rd) | 0 | 0 | 0.07 | 0.27 | 0.53 | 0.07 | 0.07 |
| #100 (4th) | 0 | 0 | 0.05 | 0.20 | 0.45 | 0.05 | 0.25 |
| Total | 0 | 0.50 | 1.69 | 2.58 | 1.67 | 0.19 | 0.39 |
The result above is far better than in the example trade with San Francisco that I previously analyzed, and according to their historical drafting results should give the team two good players, another 2-3 decent players, and 1-2 guys who can occasionally contribute. Given the fact that the football gods hate the Browns, the two players drafted by Philadelphia (Carson Wentz) and Tennessee (Jack Conklin) will probably go on to become the greatest ever at their positions, but until that happens the statistical analysis says this was a really impressive result for the new Moneyball regime.
In addition to the two big trades, the Browns made three smaller trades, and overall turned ten draft picks into sixteen. Obviously quantity does not equal quality, but in this case the math says they got good value and, while they aren’t going to be very competitive for at least a couple more years, there might actually be some reason for optimism in Cleveland again.