If the Cleveland Browns plan to wind their way out of darkness, it will come through the draft.
Vice president of football operations Sashi Brown made that plan clear when he swapped the No. 2 overall pick to Philadelphia for a bounty of selections that includes extra picks over the next two years.
"We were pleased with it,"Browns said Saturday during the team's Fan Fest, per Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer. "I was a little surprised we got as much as we did, but some hard negotiating and (vice president of player personnel Andrew Berry) was a big help in that, keeping me at bay and not pulling the trigger too soon.
Said Brown: "We were able to come away with what should be the foundation of the championship team that we're going to build."
The Browns hope an influx of young players will amount to more than what Cleveland could have landed at No. 2: namely, quarterback Carson Wentz. Browns fans -- Eagles supporters, too -- will measure this deal for years to come based largely on what Wentz becomes.
"You always have that second-guessing in the back of your mind that if the player that we would've selected there at two pans out. You're going to be thinking about it for a long time, certainly," Brown said.
Cleveland was far from a quarterback away, though, needing all sorts of help on both sides of the ball.
"When we really sat down and talked with Philly, (and understood) the batch of picks they were wanting to put together, where we sit as a roster today, this was the right decision for us," Brown said. "We felt like we could still get the No. 1 wide receiver on our board (in Corey Coleman), which was coveted by us certainly in the building to support Robert (Griffin III) and what we want to do on offense and the running game that will be the engine of what we want to do on (offense).
"We were able to position ourselves for today to address the roster," Brown said, "but also moving forward in the future to have more flexibility."
