Trades, signings and one notable retirement have put the Cleveland Browns 2018 draft into focus, so it’s time to take another look.

The Cleveland Browns have been aggressively reshaping their roster through a handful of trades, signing a number of players and getting an answer from Joe Thomas about his future. That little thing called the NFL Scouting Combine happened.

In no small part due to the moves made by the previous front office, the newest rendition has looked the part of a responsible, big boy organization. They’ve managed to fill a number of holes on their roster and putting themselves where they don’t need to chase after particular issues in the draft, save a quarterback with their top pick.

Even with the retirement of the best Browns player in the past four decades in Joe Thomas, the team was able to take it in stride. Replacing a Hall of Fame caliber player isn’t really doable, but they were ready with a player to come in and man one of their tackle spots.

There’s certainly room to criticize various moves and the players they’ve chosen. It also remains to be seen if any of the players they’ve added will actually play as advertised. Nevertheless, there’s a sense that they can field a team right now and be reasonably competitive and the draft hasn’t even happened yet. That’s an important step forward for this team.

The NFL Scouting Combine was important as well, providing some athletic data, but also allowed teams to poke and prod on prospects for medical evaluations. It was another opportunity to meet with players as they get ready to set up private workouts and team visits. It’s getting down to the home stretch to where projections have more value and there’s a better sense of the direction a team wants to go.