{"id":546254,"date":"2026-03-17T13:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T13:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/546254\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T13:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T13:25:11","slug":"mel-kiper-jr-predicts-browns-2-first-round-picks-in-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/546254\/","title":{"rendered":"Mel Kiper Jr. predicts Browns’ 2 first-round picks in 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mel Kiper Jr. predicts Browns’ 2 first-round picks in 2026 NFL Draft<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cleveland Browns<\/a> were likely thinking the other first-round pick would be higher up the board.<\/p>\n

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When they got it from the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> in the Travis Hunter trade, it seemed like it had the potential to be a top-10 choice. Then, the Jags had a hugely successful season.<\/p>\n

That means that now, in addition to their own No. 6 pick, the Browns’ have the Jags’ pick at No. 24.<\/p>\n

That still can be plenty useful, though.<\/p>\n

In a new mock draft by ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. unveiled<\/a> on Tuesday, he lays out how the Browns can use their two choices.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Why the Kansas City Chiefs traded for Justin Fields<\/a><\/p>\n

Mel Kiper Jr. on Browns’ No. 6 pick<\/p>\n

Kiper has them start with an offensive lineman.<\/p>\n

The Browns in this mock take Monroe Freeling, a tackle from Georgia, as the first O-lineman off the board.<\/p>\n

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“The Browns are hitting the reset button on their offensive line,” Kiper writes. “First, they\u00a0traded\u00a0for\u00a0Tytus Howard. Then they\u00a0signed\u00a0Zion Johnson\u00a0and\u00a0Elgton Jenkins, and re-signed\u00a0Teven Jenkins\u00a0on the interior. Toss in getting\u00a0Dawand Jones\u00a0back from a\u00a0season-ending knee injury, and this is a completely different unit from what we saw late in 2025. Freeling could be the final piece of the puzzle. His decision to declare for this class was originally a little bit of a surprise, considering he had 18 college starts. But I see franchise left tackle traits; he’s quick and alert in pass pro, using his long 34\u00be-inch arms to his advantage.”<\/p>\n

If Freeling is indeed a franchise left tackle, this pick is a win.<\/p>\n

Mel Kiper Jr. on Browns’ No. 24 pick<\/p>\n

Kiper has the Browns stick offense here and go with USC WR Makai Lemon.<\/p>\n

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“I’m a huge fan of Lemon, and he could go earlier than 24th,” Kiper writes. “The board just sort of fell this way in this mock draft. Cleveland wouldn’t be complaining, though. It currently has\u00a0Jerry Jeudy,\u00a0Cedric Tillman\u00a0and\u00a0Isaiah Bond\u00a0atop its depth chart — meaning no real changes to a wide receivers room that had a league-low 1,467 yards last season. Lemon nearly met that himself with 1,156 receiving yards over 12 games at USC. He has a slot receiver’s build at 5-foot-11 and 192 pounds, but he plays as if he’s much bigger, with a fierce approach to the game. Coupled with Monroe Freeling at No. 6, this would be a good first round for the Browns.”<\/p>\n

As Kiper writes, this would be a bit of a steal if Lemon makes it all the way to the 24th pick. The Browns would want to pounce if that happens.<\/p>\n

More NFL news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mel Kiper Jr. predicts Browns’ 2 first-round picks in 2026 NFL Draft originally appeared on The Sporting News.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,67212,1238,92992,9840,60184,1237,28666,5368,1240,226401,241700,593,85,185026,8543,1285,213915,242716],"class_list":["post-546254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cedric-tillman","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-dawand-jones","tag-elgton-jenkins","tag-isaiah-bond","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-jerry-jeudy","tag-justin-fields","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-mel-kiper-jr","tag-monroe-freeling","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-teven-jenkins","tag-the-browns","tag-travis-hunter","tag-tytus-howard","tag-zion-johnson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}