It’s the season of smokescreens and horsesh-t, so why not throw some more of it onto the pile?
Browns executive V.P. of football operations Sashi Brown tells Mike Silver of NFL Network that the Browns know who they’ll be taking with the No. 1 overall pick, and that they’ve known it for two weeks.
This contradicts recent reports that the Browns were still debating whether to take defensive end Myles Garrett or quarterback Mitchell Trubisky with the first pick, and it makes the effort by ESPN to trumpet Warren Sapp’s opinion that Garrett shouldn’t be the pick a waste of time, in hindsight.
This all assumes that Brown is telling the truth at a time when few do. The reason for something other than the truth is obvious; if the Browns keep the pick, they need to create the impression that everyone was and is on the same page, even if they recently weren’t.
Look for the Browns to conceal the identity of the pick for as long as possible, in the event that they trade the selection. If they do, and if no one knows who they wanted at No. 1, they can claim with a semi-straight face that they got at a lower spot the guy they would have taken at No. 1.