Cleveland selects Michigan WR Roman Wilson in latest mock

The Super Bowl on Sunday officially signaled the end of the 2023 NFL season, and now teams will begin in earnest to focus on 2024.

The Cleveland Browns have had a few extra weeks of preparation thanks to an early exit from the playoffs, which can be beneficial given that general manager Andrew Berry has the usual offseason checklist of the NFL Scouting Combine, free agency, coaching hires, and contract restructures to work through in preparation for the 2024 NFL Draft, which takes place April 25-27 in Las Vegas.

This will mark the third and final draft that the Browns do not have a first-round selection as part of the trade compensation in 2022 for quarterback Deshaun Watson. Berry still has eight draft picks currently in his pocket however, starting in Round 2 and running through Round 3, Round 5 (two picks), Round 6 (two picks), and Round 7 (two picks).

That second-round selection, currently slated to be at No. 55 overall, is the lone highlight for the Browns in Trevor Sikkema’s latest mock draft at Pro Football Focus. And with that selection, Sikkema adds some help to the passing game with the selection of Michigan wide receiver Roman Wilson to Cleveland.

The 5-foot-10 and 186-pound Wilson played in 46 games over four seasons with the Wolverines, finishing with 107 career receptions for 1,707 yards and 20 touchdowns. He showed consistent improvement in each season, topping out his senior year with 48 catches, 789 yards, and 12 touchdowns.

Smooth strider with alarming speed once he touches top gear. Wilson primarily focused on attacking the intermediate and deep portions of the field, adding an explosive element to the Wolverines’ ground-and-pound approach. Wilson will be an electric athletic tester, which could push his stock up, but he’ll need to learn to level up his skill getting from Point A to Point B as a route runner. Wilson has good hands and can run after the catch down the field, but he’s not really a catch-and-go option underneath. He has the separation potential to make a quarterback’s life easier and figures to continue his ascension as a starting slot talent.

Zierlein does point out that Wilson needs to work on his route running and that he exhibited “inconsistent elusiveness to avoid route redirection at press or in space,” which sounds like areas where spending a season learning from veteran wide receiver Amari Cooper would be beneficial.

Once Wilson hits the Scouting Combine, his talents may catch the attention of the “analytics community,” which certainly includes the Browns.

Of course, a strong performance could push Wilson up the draft boards of numerous teams, which in turn might put him out of reach of the Browns.