Day 3 Dart Throws: Analyzing Browns’ Late-Round Draft Picks Harrison Bryant, Nick Harris And Donavan Peoples-Jones

The later the NFL Draft continues, the less educated general managers’ guesses become. As a result, Day 3 scouting often separates good teams from bad and great teams from good.

The Browns’ new regime, headed by first-year General Manager Andrew Berry, took their first stab at finding late-round gems on Saturday. Here’s some insight on how they did, and what these picks mean for Cleveland’s future plans.

Harrison Bryant, Tight End, Florida Atlantic

Bryant was an all-state an offensive tackled before converting to tight end in college, which bodes well for his blocking potential. Once he switched to tight end at FAU, he improved each season.

His senior season stands out among the rest. Bryant accumulated 65 of his career 148 receptions, seven of his 16 career receiving touchdowns and 1,004 of his 2,137 career receiving yards in 2019, his last season with the Panthers.

Now he joins a coach in Kevin Stefanski who loves to play multiple tight ends at once. In fact, no team did so more often than Stefanski’s Vikings in 2019.

Bryant’s immediate role in Cleveland probably depends on David Njoku’s future in Cleveland. Browns General Manager Andrew Berry said during Saturday’s post-draft conference call that the Browns still have “a ton” of belief in Njoku, but he’s yet to decide whether he will pick up Njoku’s fifth-year option.

Maybe Bryant is Njoku’s replacement. Maybe the Browns will keep Bryant, Njoku and the highly-paid Austin Hooper. Either way, they boast a talented group of tight ends.

“We feel very good about that room,” Berry said. “We think it is very talented. We said from the start that (our offense) is a very tight end-friendly and a tight end-heavy system.”

Nick Harris, Center/Guard, Washington

Harris started all four seasons at Washington. He played guard during the first two before moving to center in 2018 and 2019.

It makes sense for the Browns to try Harris at guard, both because they don’t have a proven right guard on roster and because JC Tretter, who signed a new three-year contract in November, is firmly entrenched as the team’s starting center.

Berry said Saturday that Harris’ skillset is best suited to play center, but it sounds like Harris will take part in a wide competition for starting right guard.

“We do have a number of interior players that we will cross-train,” Berry said. “Nick’s primary home has been at the center throughout his college career. That doesn’t mean that he is not going to take some guard snaps, but we have a couple of young players – whether it’s Nick, Wyatt Teller, Drew Forbes or we signed (C) Evan Brown recently – and a number of guys who have played both center and guard so it should be good competition in that spot.”

Donovan Peoples-Jones, Wide Receiver, Michigan

Peoples-Jones never lived up to his recruiting billing in college. The top-ranked receiver in the 2017 recruiting class posted zero career 100-yard receiving games and never managed more than 612 receiving yards in three seasons at Michigan.

He did, however, catch 14 touchdowns in his final two seasons. He also returned two punts for touchdowns as a Wolverine. The talent that inspired Jones’ recruiting hype didn’t disappear. It just didn’t translate to elite college production.

With their sixth-round pick, the Browns placed a bet on the idea that they could help that production translate to the pros. Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. might be able to help with that, too.

When you already have two receivers like Landry and Beckham, you can afford to take gambles. It’s possible Peoples-Jones merely became lost amid a historically deep receiver class. But even if he doesn’t pop, using a sixth-round pick on his is not risking much.

“I do think that Donovan is a talented young player,” Berry said. “He has good size. He is athletic, strong and just has a really well-rounded physical skillset. He does have some return ability, and we think he has some flexibility to play outside and inside.”