2026 Deep Dive Mock Draft 2.0: Three First Round Picks

Deep analysis for each pick with scouting notes, film, and more.

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Welp, we are back at it. Edition 2.0 feels different this time around because the board has genuinely shifted underneath us in ways I wasn’t fully anticipating coming out of the combine cycle. Free agency has done its thing, some needs have been addressed, some have been ignored entirely, and now it’s time to take another hard look at how the Browns should approach one of the more important drafts this franchise has had in recent memory.

The big news here, as you’ll see right away, is a trade. The Browns are going to be aggressive in their pursuit of a trade down and here we got the Cowboys to strike a deal. They wanted to move in this simulation for a pass rusher so we obliged. What came back in this deal is the kind of return that reshapes an entire draft class.

Before we get started, I want to remind you how I do these deep dives. I don’t like ignoring simulators because then I am just picking whoever I want in perceived slots but I also don’t want to be held down by those same simulators when I can’t always make trades or react in real-time the way I would like. So, my working process here is using PFF’s mock draft tool and then slotting up to five picks before the pick I am making to grab a prospect. It keeps ranges fair but also lets me share with you who fits best inside that range.

We have the big trade right up front. Nothing too crazy in the back end. Let’s pour a brew together and do some drafting. Join me.

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Trade

Browns receive R1:12, R1:20, R4:112

Cowboys receive R1:6, R3:70, R7:248

It’s hard to envision a scenario where a team sitting at six isn’t getting calls. Dallas wanted a specific player and the Browns were the barrier. When that desperation is real, you extract. Cleveland slides six spots, picks up a second first-round pick and a late fourth, and surrenders a third and a seventh in return. The value works. The picks you come away with do a lot more for this roster than staying at six and taking one player ever could. This is the right call.

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Pick No. 12: (JR) Monroe Freeling, OT, Georgia

CFB Production: 1,667 snaps, 81.6 Pass Blocking Grade, 61.7 Run Blocking Grade, 2 sacks allowed, 8 pressures

Age: 21.6

Role: Future Starting Left Tackle

PFF Big Board: #13

Notes: Freeling is the pick here and it isn’t particularly complicated. When you move back to twelve and the highest upside left tackle offensive lineman in the class is sitting there waiting for you, you write the card. He’s technically sound in his pass sets, plays with good pad level, and has the length you need to handle speed-to-power rushers at the NFL level. The run game utility is there too — he’s far from a finished product in this phase but he’s shown more just a finesse/positioning blocking tackle, he gets after it at the point of attack and started to move people by the end of the year. This is a swing at a real foundational piece for an offensive line that has needed an anchor at the left tackle spot for far too long after Joe Thomas. Freeling will need patience and development but he is worth the investment, especially when moving back a few picks as we see here.

Others Considered: Jordan Tyson, Spencer Fano, Kenyon Sadiq