CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns know it seemed they planned to do nothing but trade down in the draft, but that wasn't the case.

Their goal as the draft came close was to add picks in 2016 and 2017, but still be in position to select the first receiver in the draft.

The Browns projected receivers would start being picked by No. 22, which belonged to Washington. After two trades, they had the No. 15 pick. They had another offer to trade down -- I'm not sure how far. But they decided not to take any chances. The Browns had targeted Corey Coleman, the big-play wide receiver from Baylor.

Here's what happened:

1. The Browns picked Coleman at No. 15.

2. The next wide receiver selected was Notre Dame's Will Fuller, selected at No. 21 by Houston.

3. Washington picked TCU receiver Josh Doctson at No. 22.

4. Minnesota took Mississippi receiver Laquon Treadwell at No. 23.

At the end of the first round, the Browns had about 20 hours to decide what to do with the No. 32 pick. That was the first selection of the second round.

They had a few offers to trade down. They heard at least one team wanted to trade up near the top of the second round for Oklahoma State pass rusher Emmanuel Ogbah. The Browns had a middle first-round grade on Ogbah, and really wanted the 6-foot-4, 275-pounder.

The same thinking came into play with Ogbah as it did with Coleman. Yes, they could make another trade and add some picks ... and perhaps still be in position to draft the player they wanted.

Or maybe not. They decided to take the risk out of the equation and opened the second round by drafting Ogbah.

The top part of this draft won't be judged on the decisions about trading down as much as by the players picked by the Browns.

Can Coleman and Ogbah become impact players? That's the real bottom line.

But it's also worth knowing how the Browns decided to make the moves that they did ... and the trades they didn't make.





ABOUT COLLABORATION: SETH DeVALVE

An example of how the Browns' analytics-based front office and the football coaching staff worked together was the decision to draft Seth DeValve in the fourth round.

DeValve was a 6-4, 245-pound wide receiver at Princeton. He caught 33 passes despite missing parts of four games to foot injuries.

The Browns offensive staff was studying tapes of different prospects, tight ends and wide receivers. Several became intrigued with DeValve.

While it's not pure analytics, DeValve fits the profile of what the Browns want. He has the right size and speed at tight end. The Princeton engineering student also checked the good character box.

The big question is his injury history. He played only seven games in the last two years -- catching 42 passes. The problems were foot injuries that required two surgeries.

"The condition was an unclosed growth plate at the base of the fifth metatarsal of my foot, which is my pinky toe on each side," DeValve said on the conference call after he was drafted. "When I was done growing, which was right around two years ago, those growth plates could not close. Because of that, it caused a lot of pain and discomfort. I needed corrective surgery on both sides, but they were non-football related.

"What happened was they happened to occur while I was playing football so people assumed they were sports injuries whereas in reality, they were corrective surgeries I was going to need to have regardless of whether or not I was playing football."

Here is the advantage of having 14 draft picks. Consider the following:

1. DeValve was the FOURTH pick of the FOURTH round by the Browns. He was the 138th pick overall.

2. DeValve was the NINTH pick of the draft for the Browns, and they had five more coming. The point is they could gamble on DeValve, who intrigued the coaches. If he keeps getting hurt, it's not a big deal when a team can take the Big Volume approach with middle-round picks.

3. Think back to the 2011 draft when the Browns picked a tight end named Jordan Cameron in the fourth round. He was a former BYU basketball player who played only one season at USC -- catching 16 passes. Former Browns general manager Tom Heckert projected him to play the NFL, and Cameron developed into a starting tight end.





BIG VOLUME APPROACH

Because they had three picks in the third round, four picks in the fourth round, four picks in the fifth round...

The Browns could shop for a variety of receivers to supplement the pick of Coleman. The eight picks in the fourth and fifth rounds allowed them to use three for receivers.

Here's the breakdown:

1. In the fifth round, they picked Rashard Higgins from Colorado State. He caught 75 passes last season and is CSU's all-time receiving leader in everything from receptions to touchdowns. He is the opposite of Ricardo Louis in that he's not especially fast, but is a polished receiver. He has excellent hands, makes tough catches over the middle with the defense closing in. Dane Brugler (CBS sports.com) projected Higgins as a "second round prospect and NFL starter."

2. In the fourth round, they went for speed with Louis. He was in Auburn's run-first offense, so it was not an ideal showcase. He's 6-2, 215 and ran a 4.43 in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. Some scouting reports questioned his hands. The Browns like his speed and size, knowing he is still raw as a receiver. He's the kind of guy who could develop into a deep threat -- or not. But he's worth a fourth-round pick to find out. Brugler didn't like Louis, calling him a "late round size/speed developmental project who might benefit from a position switch to the secondary."

3. In the fifth round, they also selected Jordan Payton, UCLA's all-time receiving leader. He is like Higgins, a savvy, experienced possession receiver. Brugler wrote Payton has the size and hands "to be a trustworthy possession target."

4. This is the advantage of multiple picks in the middle round. Odds are at least one from this group -- Higgins, Payton and Louis -- will become a viable NFL receiver. Maybe two reach that level. Rather than making one bet on a single receiver in the middle rounds, the Browns could grab three. And they could go for one with big-time speed, two others with lots of experience at the position.

ABOUT CODY KESSLER

The USC quarterback is another example of where coaching and analytics really worked together. The stats guy likes quarterbacks with a high completion percentage who play in a pro-style offense. Head coach Hue Jackson absolutely loves quarterbacks "who throw the ball straight."

Kessler does exactly that. He completed 67 percent of his passes in USC's pro style offense. He also has excellent character and leadership skills.

You can argue the Browns took him too high. He was a third-round pick. But he also was their THIRD pick in the third round.

Jackson was enamored by Kessler. He probably would have been available in the fourth round, but the Browns had multiple picks. Part of the reason the Browns hired Jackson is his expertise with quarterbacks and his history of developing them.

We'll see if the Browns were wise to take Kessler over some quarterbacks picked later: Connor Cook, Dak Prescott, Kevin Hogan and Cardale Jones. But a late third round pick on a quarterback who fascinates the head coach made sense for the Browns because they had 14 picks in this draft.