Browns close in on top pick … Cleveland’s magic number to clinch the #1 pick at the 2018 draft is down to one after the Browns fell 27-10 at home to Baltimore to drop to 0-14. Bottom line is that if the Browns lose either of their two remaining games – both on the road at Chicago and Pittsburgh or the Giants win one of their final two outings – at Arizona or home to Washington – the Browns will get the first pick overall for the second straight year. In fact, even that might be academic as the Browns may have already locked up the first pick as they now have a somewhat weaker strength of schedule than the Giants, the only team they could catch by winning their final two games, and that gap would actually get wider if Cleveland was to win their final two games. In fact, the first three picks in the proverbial ‘if the draft were held today’ selection order for the upcoming draft remain unchanged as the Giants stayed at #2 after a tough loss to divisional rival Philadelphia, while #3 Indianapolis lost to Denver on Thursday. On the other hand, with San Francisco and Denver, which had been sitting on the 4th and 5th picks respectively, both winning this week, Cleveland, with Houston’s pick, currently would also have the 4th pick, while the 49ers would drop to #5 with Chicago at #6. As usual, the full first round selection order were the 2018 draft held this week will be updated after tomorrow night’s Monday nighter.
