The Browns traded the Eagles two fifth round picks to move up 12 spots to take RB Montario Hardesty with the 59th overall pick (2nd round) out of Tennessee.  Hardesty is 5′11″, 215 pounds and he’s just fast enough to break long runs with little help from his blockers.  He likes to lower his shoulder and run over people.  He will be the perfect complement to Jerome Harrison who ran so well for the Browns down the stretch last season.  Hardesty played in 13 games (all starts) for the Volunteers last season and he carried the ball 282 times for 1,345 yards (4.8 ypc) with 13 TD runs.  He also caught 25 passes for 302 yards (12.1 avg) with 1 TD grab last year.  Hardesty was not heavily used in college until last season so he likely comes to Cleveland with a ton of tread left on his tires.  Hardesty played in 49 games (19 starts) at Tennessee in which he carried the ball 560 times for 2,391 yards (4.3 ypc) with 26 TD carries and he also has caught 38 passes for 405 yards (10.7 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Hardesty will start out sharing the ball with Harrison in 2010 but don’t be surprised if he winds up getting more carries than him as early as 2010.  This was a outstanding pick for the Cleveland Browns.

The Browns have selected safety T.J. Ward out of Oregon with the 38th overall pick (2nd round) of the NFL Draft.  Ward is more of a strong safety which could cause Abram Elam to move to free safety in 2010.  Ward is not the best cover safety out there but in the box there aren’t many better than him as he’s awesome in run support.  Ward played in 8 games (7 starts) for Oregon last season and he finished up with 68 tackles, he broke up 4 passes, had 1 interception and he forced 1 fumble.  He played in 37 games (20 starts) in his four years at Oregon and he finished up with 193 tackles, he broke up 13 passes, had 3 interceptions and he forced 5 fumbles.  Ward is also a solid special teams player which will make the Browns even better in that aspect of the game (which is downright scary).  The Browns might have taken Ward a round or two early but he will help make the defense a more physical unit in 2010.

The Browns have selected CB Joe Haden out of Florida with the 7th pick of the first round of the NFL Draft.  Haden ran a tad slow at the NFL Combine but that was because he had a back injury.  He routinely runs in the 4.4 in the 40 yard dash.  He is a good cover corner who also is a good blitzer and a hitter in run support.  Haden played in 14 games (all starts) for Florida last season in which he made 68 tackles, he broke up 10 passes, intercepted 4 passes and he forced 2 fumbles.  Haden is a playmaker and he will probably start at corner from day #1 opposite Eric Wright with Sheldon Brown moving to safety.  If that is the case I love this pick for the Cleveland Browns.  Haden played in 40 games (all starts) in his three years at Florida in which he finished up with 218 tackles, he broke up 34 passes, had 8 interceptions and he forced 3 fumbles.  This was a outstanding pick for the Browns.

The Cleveland Browns have been busy this off-season which has set them up well for the NFL Draft this weekend.  The Browns have 5 of the top 92 picks and 10 picks overall in the draft giving them the ammo to move up if a player they like is slipping on the board.  The needs of the Browns heading into this draft are WR, S, RB, G and QB probably in that order.  The Browns will be targeting WR Dez Bryant, S Eric Berry, S Earl Thomas and Jimmy Clausen in the first round.

PROJECTED FIRST ROUND PICK:  Eric Berry, S, Tennessee

The Cleveland Browns should have done much better than they did in last April’s NFL Draft as they had 4 of the first 52 picks in it.  But, they only got two productive players in those picks.  First off was center Alex Mack who was picked in the first round (#21 overall) out of California.  He played in 16 games (all starts) for the Browns and after a slow start he turned into one of the big reasons that the Browns’ running game picked up on the inside because the man is a brawler.  The Browns looked like they whiffed with their first pick in the 2nd round (#36 overall) when they picked WR Brian Robiskie out of Ohio State.  He played in 11 games and he caught 7 passes for 106 yards (15.1 avg)  and he also made 3 tackles.  The sad thing about Robiskie is that he couldn’t get on the field despite the team’s troubles at WR.  Mohamed Massaquoi was the other WR the Browns took in the 2nd round (#50 overall) out of Georgia.  He was hit and miss in games but his overall production was not too bad considering who the Browns were playing at QB.  He played in 16 games for the Browns last season and he caught 34 passes for 624 yards (18.4 avg) with 3 TD grabs and he also had 5 tackles.  OLB/DE David Veikune out of Hawaii was also picked in the second round of the draft (#52 overall) and he did nothing to help the Browns.  He played in 10 games for the Browns last season and he made ZERO tackles!  Inside linebacker Kaluka Maiava was a good pick for the Browns in the 4th round (#104 overall) out of USC.  He played in all 16 games for the Browns last season and he made 45 tackles, defensed 2 passes, forced 2 fumbles and he had 2.5  sacks.  At the very least Maiava will be a decent back-up for the Browns in 2010 and beyond.  CB Coye Francies (6th round, #191 overall) out of San Jose State didn’t show much as a rookie last season.  He played in 6 games for the Browns and he made 4 tackles and defensed 1 pass.  RB James Davis (6th round, #195 overall) out of Clemson missed most of the season due to injury after having a fantasic pre-season for the Browns.  He played in 2 games for the Browns last season and he carried the ball 9 times for 15 yards (1.7 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 5 yards (1.3 avg).  CB Don Carey was also selected in the 6th round (#177 overall) out of Norfolk State but he missed his rookie season due to a shoulder injury and he was claimed off waivers by the Jaguars.

GRADE FOR 2009:  C-

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  C