Nobody knew what the Cleveland Browns would do with the fourth pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. Suffice to say there were about ten different scenarios which got more seriously discussed than staying put and using it on Denzel Ward. Shows what we know as NFL writers and watchers.

Let’s face it: most teams who take a QB with the first pick, as the Browns did with Baker Mayfield – not the pick most expected either until indirect leaks started to emerge in the final hours, but that’s for another article – use their next pick on helping him with a blocker or skill position player. Saquon Barkley went at 2, so by that logic, Quenton Nelson becomes a run-the-card-in pick.

He did, indeed, become a run-the-card-in pick. To the Colts two picks later.

Obviously, Ward was “their guy” all along. And, to be fair, it’s easy to see why.

Joe Robbins/Getty Images Sport

Few players change games like a shutdown corner. The New Orleans Saints took Marshon Lattimore – who happened to be one of the two players who kept Ward out of the Buckeyes’ base defense in 2016 – and instantly went from a defensive joke to a team that could actually stop teams. Ward can provide much the same package as Lattimore, as he showed with his eerily similar (and deeply impressive) Combine performance.

No position on the field relies more on athletic gifts than outside corner, and Ward proved he’s got those in spades as he outran and out-jumped literally everyone else in Indianapolis. You can say he’s undersized, but he’s barely an inch short of the six-foot mark, and nobody complained about that being too small for a corner when Darrelle Revis rather than Richard Sherman was the prototype. (His relative lack of weight might be a more justifiable concern if only on durability grounds, but players often do gain muscle mass early in their NFL careers.)

Ward’s game is all about denying separation, and the way to beat him is to get physical at the line or the top of the route – the latter of which is a dangerous game for receivers, offensive pass interference having been a recent point of emphasis for NFL officials – or just winning jump balls. If the Browns’ logic behind this pick was to find someone who could shadow Antonio Brown for 60 minutes, they got the right guy. (A.J. Green might have things a bit easier against Ward in those AFC North contests, though.)

Also, don’t underestimate the fact that Ward isn’t having to go very far. He went to high school in Ohio, he played his college ball in Ohio, and now he’s playing his professional ball in Ohio. No cross-country move to worry about in this pro transition.

Tom Pennington/Getty Images Sport

The Verdict: Ward almost certainly makes the Browns better both now and well into the future, so there’s only so much criticism you can offer here.

But I’ve got to ask John Dorsey: you got trade offers back there? And you didn’t accept them? Hurt my feelings!

Do a deal with Buffalo – even the offer they actually paid the Bucs three picks later would have been fair value for the fourth pick, and with Denver on the clock at 5, I imagine the Bills’ offer to move to 4 would have been bigger – and then, heck, see if you can move back up if you love Ward that much. If the Browns took the same package the Bucs did – let’s say for argument’s sake that any additional payment would have been in 2019 picks – the Browns would have been armed with five second-round picks. Just one of those would have been more than enough to move up from 12 to 7, and Ward would have unquestionably still been on the board then.

There are worse things this team could have done – and, indeed, have done in the recent past – but this pick goes down as a missed opportunity to move down and get value. You wouldn’t have seen Sashi Brown squander one of those.

Grade: C