The Cleveland Browns had an interesting draft under CEO Joe Banner and general manager Michael Lombardi as the team moves into a new era with owner Jimmy Haslam and the event could have been even more dramatic says one report.
According to NFL.com, the Browns had a blockbuster trade on the table and debated about it before selecting Barkevious Mingo. The report says that the team was willing to trade with the St. Louis Rams if Mingo was off the table and they would have moved down to 16, allowing the Rams to move to six to presumably take Tavon Austin, which they did at eight.
The Browns also may have had a huge deal with a mystery team, maybe the 49ers, who were going to trade the number six pick for a first-round pick in 2014, a first-round pick in 2015 and two other future picks, which would have been a huge deal.
Chuck Klosterman from Grantland.com was near the Browns on draft and reported about the deals. "Before an IT worker is allowed to enter the room and check the connection, Lombardi hastily erases Mingo's name from the white board," Klosterman writes. "This IT worker is a Browns employee who (I assume) works in the facility every single day. He's nobody. Yet he still can't be trusted. It seems a little crazy, but that's how this world operates. It's crazy on purpose. I think they like it that way."
