Browns NFL draft wrap-up: Takeaways and analysis on Cleveland’s picks and

The Cleveland Browns entered this draft with an eye on the future and to fortify spots in which they’d already invested heavily. They didn’t budge from that position. Over their abbreviated two-day draft, they didn’t budge at all.

For the first time in his five drafts as general manager, Andrew Berry didn’t make a trade. Berry considered the Browns to be in the advantageous spot of drafting for the future and not feeling pressed to make any one move or fill one immediate need. Pass rushing defensive tackles are hard to find, so Berry started and finished the draft with them. The Browns love to collect offensive linemen and know their top ones aren’t going to play forever, so they added Zak Zinter to the collection.

Defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. is a native Clevelander who gets to live out a dream, but the Browns didn’t pick Hall because of geography or familiarity. They think he’s a great fit for Jim Schwartz’s defense and athletic enough to become a disruptive pass rusher for years to come. In November’s Ohio State-Michigan game, Hall took an awkward fall into Zinter that resulted in Zinter’s suffering a broken tibia and fibula. Now, Zinter and Hall are teammates. The Browns view Zinter as a rugged, intelligent and athletic lineman who will be a future starter.

“Mike’s passion and energy and Zak’s steady presence (will) add to our locker room,” Berry said. “I look forward to see them going at it on the practice field.”

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Berry said the Browns explored trades on the draft’s final day, but the Browns chose not to add picks and additional stabs in large part because they have their team for 2024 mostly in place — and they like it. They finished the draft Saturday by selecting wide receiver Jamari Thrash in the fifth round, linebacker Nathaniel Watson in the sixth and two players in the seventh round: cornerback Myles Harden and defensive tackle Jowon Briggs.

Thrash can play his way into the team’s longer-term plans if he can separate the way he did during his college career, and Watson could have a direct path to making the Browns’ special teams units this season. Watson led the SEC in sacks and tackles last fall, but he was arrested on suspicion of DUI in early 2023 and had an earlier felony arrest stemming from a drag-racing incident when he was in high school. Berry said he wouldn’t comment on how other teams might have viewed Watson, but the Browns were comfortable with his character.

Hall is only 20 and was never a full-time starter at Ohio State. But the Browns have come far enough to know what they really covet, to believe Schwartz will be in his role for a long time and to apply long-term thinking to every draft and trade decision they did and didn’t make. The next step for the Browns remains turning stability, organizational competence and competitiveness into long-term success and postseason wins. That’s a realistic…