One of the many knocks on the current Cleveland Browns regime is that they seem to tend toward analytical data over actual production on the field. That hasn’t actually been true most of the time, but they have struggled to overcome “the smartest guys in the room” moniker with most Browns fans for a variety of reasons.
The relative failures of GM Andrew Berry’s draft classes only add to those concerns but, in 2025, Cleveland added some highly athletic players who were also highly productive and decorated. Last year alone, the newest Browns were:
MAC Offensive Player of the Year – TE Harold Fannin Jr.
Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year – QB Dillon Gabriel
SEC Offensive Player of the Year – RB Dylan Sampson
Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year – QB Shedeur Sanders
(Hat tip to “Max” on social media)
Adding on, the other offensive player drafted by Cleveland this year, RB Quinshon Judkins, was first-team All-SEC in 2023 before transferring to The Ohio State University.
Not only was the Browns draft class highly decorated but, according to the NFL’s own Next Gen Stats, it was the most productive draft class of any this year:
For those wondering what a “production score” is:
We assign each player a Production Score, which is how productive you were at the college level, and an Athleticism Score, an athletic performance metric. And then, we merge everything into our other models to create an overall score.
The 2025 NFL draft has players coming to Cleveland full of production, athleticism and trophies. Not a bad group of reasons to be impressed by the Browns seven-man draft class.
Do you think the awards, athletic testing and production metrics mean much when it comes to the NFL draft or should the Browns be focused on something else when selecting players?