Trust me, this one has legs — and the potential to completely reshuffle the NFL draft.
The Cleveland Browns have been checking up on Nicks, reaching back to his days at Indy. Nicks is projected as a late 1st round pick. But the Browns are sitting at #5, albeit with rumors of interest in trading down, provided they can still get help at DE. The Browns also have the 36th pick overall, the 4th in the 2nd, at which Nicks might be available should he somehow fall out of the 1st.
My gut tells me though that with a bunch of WRs expected to go 15 to 25, Cleveland is looking to see what might be available then. The Browns only have five picks overall, tons of holes, and no 3rd rounder. So then…
Maybe the Denver Broncos get worried that USC QB Mark Sanchez will not be around at the #12 spot — hmmm, curious that the Browns were recently rumored to have found him interesting — and resolve to trade the #18 pick they got from Chicago in the Jay Cutler thing for the Browns’ slot at #5 — and throw in one or two of the two 3rd rounders the Broncs have.
That would leave the Browns able to take Nicks at #18 or possibly LSU DE Tyson Jackson while providing real depth to their draft. Don’t forget you read it here first — just like word that Michael Jordan was coming to the Bobcats.
No one believed that one ’til it happened, either.
