Cleveland Browns restore optimism in 7-round 2020 NFL mock draft

Few things have gone right for the Cleveland Browns in the 2019 season but a 7-round 2020 NFL mock draft yields results that should restore optimism.

Remember the 2019 offseason when many people were prepared to crown the Cleveland Browns as AFC North champions and potential Super Bowl champions? That truly feels like eons ago as this team has dramatically fallen from grace. At this point, Baker Mayfield and the Browns will be lucky to finish the season at 8-8, a far cry from what’s needed to make it into the playoffs.

Though there are still a handful of games left in the regular season, the topic of conversation for the Browns has now shifted to what they can do to get things back on track. Perhaps that starts with head coach Freddie Kitchens, who has largely been a disastrous hire for Cleveland general manager John Dorsey this season.

But when it comes to the product on the field, there are a few things that the Browns certainly need and the offense is the first thing that comes into focus. This group had all the hype in the world as Mayfield got Odell Beckham Jr. to join Jarvis Landry and Nick Chubb in this offense, seemingly making them unstoppable.

While the second-year quarterback’s play was downright awful early, he’s progressed from that late in the year. The big issues contributing to Mayfield’s struggles, however, have been an abysmal offensive line — most notably tackles Greg Robinson and Chris Hubbard — and a shallow receiver group.

On the other side of the ball, the focus has been on Myles Garrett after the helmet-swinging brawl that left him suspended at least for the rest of the 2019 season. But beyond that, the secondary has shown some issues while the group of linebackers and defensive linemen has also looked in need of depth.

As the Browns are looking at how to improve this, that means the 2020 NFL Draft is already coming into focus for them. So with that in mind, let’s take a mid-December look at how optimism can be restored in Cleveland through the draft with a 7-round mock draft for the Browns.

Note: This mock was compiled using The Draft Network’s Mock Draft Machine.