ESPN’s 7-round mock draft has the Browns bulk up the middle of the team only

T’Vondre Sweat is a big start, Trey Benson is a nice piece in a mock draft only of up the middle players

At the NFL Combine, I spoke with a number of media from national outlets about a variety of topics. An interesting theme I heard from those whose publications cover multiple sports is that the NFL, college football and the NFL draft are the three biggest sports that they cover.

Inside of the NFL draft coverage, NFL mock drafts are the biggest piece of the pie. For a variety of reasons, fans love seeing where players might go, how one pick impacts another and to picture what an entire draft class could look like.

ESPN’s most recent mock draft (subscriber, $) included seven rounds. For Cleveland Browns fans, those are much more interesting given the team’s lack of a first-round selection. In an interesting development, Matt Miller (one of the media members I spend time with at the Combine) ended up only giving the Browns middle-of-the-field players.

Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is for the fans to decide.

54. Cleveland Browns

T’Vondre Sweat, DT, Texas

Adding a space-eating defensive tackle for Jim Schwartz’s scheme may not seem like a need, but my goodness, would this cause problems for offenses. How do you give Myles Garrett double-team attention when a 366-pound Outland Award-winning nose tackle is crashing the pocket? Trading for Jerry Jeudy and signing linebackers Devin Bush and Jordan Hicks frees the Browns up to add the big nose tackle here.

Sweat is an interesting pick after Siaki Ika was selected in the third round last year. Sweat is a straight-ahead pass rusher with a lot of size in run defense. Between Sweat and Ika, there may not be enough pass rushing but the interior of the line of the future is not going anywhere.

85. Cleveland Browns

Trey Benson, RB, Florida State

Cleveland has to find a reliable runner behind Nick Chubb, who is coming off a leg injury. Benson has power at 216 pounds, great burst and very good receiving traits out of the backfield.

If you have read a lot of our draft prep, you will know that Benson is one of the only running backs that seems to have the ability to develop into a three-down player. There are a couple of receivers, including Ja’Lynn Polk, that could intrigue Cleveland at this point but Benson should be a steal here.

To finish off the Browns mock, Miller has the team adding LBs Ty’Ron Hopper and Nathaniel Watson along with OG KT Leveston.

What do you think of Sweat and Benson to start the Browns mock draft? Do you mind not adding any players on the outside of the field?