There is a certain responsibility that comes with owning the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. And as the Browns prepare for a pivotal series of days later this month, that dynamic is becoming increasingly clearer.
"I think you have to really do a great job of making sure what you want to accomplish and how you really want to build your football team because there are several different ways to go," head coach Hue Jackson said last week at the NFL's Annual Meeting in Phoenix.
"I think it, I'm not going to say pressure, but it really makes you streamline your thought process of what you want to do because everybody is not the No. 1 pick in the draft."
So the Browns, owners of the first and 12th overall picks plus five selections in the top 65, will continue to evaluate every possible option when it comes to the night of April 27.
To be sure, the Browns are plenty aware how Texas A&M's Myles Garrett, whom draft analysts unanimously view as the best player in this year's class, could be a game-changing edge rusher. And they're also equally in tune with the need to find a long-term answer at quarterback, something that hampered them through a 1-15 season in 2016.
But the weight of picking first overall, Jackson said, is too important of a decision to rush.
"There's maybe only one or two or three guys that can actually be that. When you draft a guy as the No. 1 pick in the National Football League, you want him to be a very dominant player, you want him to be a cornerstone player, you want him to be a generational player," he said.
"I think that's got to be the focus as we continue to move forward."
And what the Browns find out about players off the field is as important as what they see on it.
"We spend a lot of time watching the film, that's the core of how we evaluate the players," said executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown.
"But the other big piece of this is the character of the person, not only because he has to be a teammate and a great Clevelander but also for us because he's gotta be a competitor and a guy that's not afraid to work hard and a guy that's going to be relied on."
The Browns have 20 more days until they're on the clock.
