List of Cleveland Browns first-round draft picks

The Cleveland Browns joined the National Football League (NFL) in 1950 with the Baltimore Colts and San Francisco 49ers after having spent four seasons with the All-America Football Conference. The Browns' first selection as an NFL team was Ken Carpenter, a wide receiver from Oregon State. The team's most recent first round selection was Greg Newsome II, a cornerback from Northwestern.

Every year during April, each NFL franchise seeks to add new players to its roster through a collegiate draft known as "the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", which is more commonly known as the NFL Draft. Teams are ranked in inverse order based on the previous season's record, with teams missing the playoffs picking first, and then playoff teams in the inverse order of elimination. Teams have the option of trading away their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or a combination thereof. Thus, it is not uncommon for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have extra or no draft picks in any round due to these trades.

The Browns did not have any draft choices from 1996 to 1998, because then-owner Art Modell took all the team's players to Baltimore, Maryland, effectively stopping the franchise. However, the NFL mandated that the Browns' name, colors, and franchise history remain in Cleveland and that the team would reactivate by 1999. In 1999, the Browns selected number one overall, drafting University of Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch.

The Browns have selected number one overall five times: Bobby Garrett (1954), Tim Couch (1999), Courtney Brown (2000), Myles Garrett (2017) and Baker Mayfield (2018). The team has also selected number two overall only once and number three overall six times. The Browns have selected players from the University of Michigan five times, Ohio State University and the University of Southern California four times, and the University of Florida three times. Five eventual Hall of Famers were selected by the Browns: Doug Atkins, Jim Brown, Paul Warfield, Ozzie Newsome and Joe Thomas.

Player selections

Selected number one overall *	Enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame †

National Football League, Early Era (1950–1969)
Year	Pick	Player name	Position	College	Notes
1950	13	Ken Carpenter	RB	Oregon State
1951	14	Kenny Konz	DB	LSU
1952	10	Bert Rechichar	DB/K	Tennessee	^[1]
1952	12	Harry Agganis	QB	Boston	^[2]
1953	11	Doug Atkins †	DE	Tennessee
1954	1	Bobby Garrett *	QB	Stanford	^[3]
1954	12	John Bauer	OG/OT	Illinois
1955	13	Kurt Burris	C	Oklahoma
1956	13	Preston Carpenter	E/RB/TE	Arkansas
1957	6	Jim Brown †	FB	Syracuse
1958	13	Jim Shofner	DB	TCU
1959	11	Rich Kreitling	WR	Illinois
1960	8	Jim Houston	DE/LB	Ohio State
1961	10	Bobby Crespino	TE	Mississippi	^[4]
1962	4	Gary Collins	WR/P	Maryland	^[5]
1962	11	Leroy Jackson	RB	Western Illinois	^[6]
1963	9	Tom Hutchinson	WR	Kentucky
1964	11	Paul Warfield †	WR	Ohio State
1965	13th pick traded to San Francisco, used to select George Donnelly				^[7]
1966	14	Milt Morin	TE	Massachusetts
1967	18	Bob Matheson	LB	Duke
1968	21	Marv Upshaw	DL	Trinity
1969	20	Ron Johnson	RB	Michigan

National Football League, Modern Era (1970–present)
Year	Pick	Player name	Position	College	Notes
1970	3	Mike Phipps	QB	Purdue	^[8]
1970	21	Bob McKay	OT	Texas
1971	14	Clarence Scott	DB	Kansas
1972	18	Thom Darden	DB	Michigan
1973	16	Steve Holden	WR	Arizona State	^[9]
1973	22	Pete Adams	OG	USC
1974	15th pick traded to San Diego, used to select Don Goode				^[10]
1975	5	Mack Mitchell	DL	Houston
1976	7	Mike Pruitt	FB	Purdue
1977	17	Robert Jackson	LB	Texas A&M
1978	12	Clay Matthews	LB	USC
1978	23	Ozzie Newsome †	TE	Alabama	^[11]
1979	20	Willis Adams	WR	Houston	^[12]
1980	27	Charles White	RB	USC	^[13]
1981	22	Hanford Dixon	CB	Southern Miss
1982	3	Chip Banks	LB	USC
1983	14th pick traded to Buffalo, used to select Jim Kelly				^[14]
1984	18	Don Rogers	S	UCLA
1985	7th pick traded to Green Bay via Buffalo, used to select Ken Ruettgers				^[15]
1986	20th pick traded to Buffalo, used to select Will Wolford				^[16]
1987	5	Mike Junkin	LB	Duke	^[17]
1988	21	Clifford Charlton	LB	Florida
1989	13	Eric Metcalf	RB/WR	Texas	^[18]
1990	18th pick traded to Green Bay, used to select Tony Bennett				^[19]
1991	2	Eric Turner	DB	UCLA
1992	9	Tommy Vardell	FB	Stanford
1993	14	Steve Everitt	C	Michigan	^[20]
1994	9	Antonio Langham	CB	Alabama
1994	29	Derrick Alexander	WR	Michigan	^[21]
1995	30	Craig Powell	LB	Ohio State	^[22]
1996	Franchise deactivated; no team in Cleveland from 1996–1998
1997
1998
1999	1	Tim Couch *	QB	Kentucky
2000	1	Courtney Brown *	DE	Penn State
2001	3	Gerard Warren	DT	Florida
2002	16	William Green	RB	Boston College	^[23]
2003	21	Jeff Faine	C	Notre Dame
2004	6	Kellen Winslow II	TE	Miami	^[24]
2005	3	Braylon Edwards	WR	Michigan
2006	13	Kamerion Wimbley	LB	Florida State	^[25]
2007	3	Joe Thomas †	OT	Wisconsin	^[26]
2007	22	Brady Quinn	QB	Notre Dame	^[27]
2008	22nd pick traded to Dallas, used to select Felix Jones				^[27]
2009	21	— Alex Mack	C	California	^[28]
2010	7	— Joe Haden	CB	Florida
2011	21	— Phil Taylor	DT	Baylor
2012	3	— Trent Richardson	RB	Alabama
2012	22	— Brandon Weeden	QB	Oklahoma State
2013	6	— Barkevious Mingo	OLB	LSU
2014	8	— Justin Gilbert	CB	Oklahoma State
2014	22	— Johnny Manziel	QB	Texas A&M
2015	12	— Danny Shelton	DT	Washington
2015	19	— Cameron Erving	C	Florida State
2016	15	— Corey Coleman	WR	Baylor
2017	1	Myles Garrett *	DE	Texas A&M
	25	Jabrill Peppers	S	Michigan
	29	David Njoku	TE	Miami
2018	1	Baker Mayfield *	QB	Oklahoma
2018	4	Denzel Ward	CB	Ohio State
2019	17th pick traded to NY Giants, used to select Dexter Lawrence				^[29]
2020	10	— Jedrick Wills	OT	Alabama
2021	26	Greg Newsome II	CB	Northwestern
2022	13th pick traded to Philadelphia via Houston, used to select Jordan Davis				^[30]
2023	12th pick traded to Detroit via Houston and Arizona, used to select Jahmyr Gibbs
2024	23rd pick traded to Jacksonville via Houston and Minnesota, used to select Brian Thomas Jr.

Footnotes

References

"Cleveland Browns Draft History". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
Alder, James. "NFL Draft Basics:Determining Order of Selection". football.about.com. Archived from the original on 2007-01-10. Retrieved 2007-01-21.
"Harry Agganis, The Golden Greek". Agganis Arena, Boston University. Archived from the original on 2007-04-04. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
"History: Cleveland Browns Draft History". Cleveland Browns official Web site. Archived from the original on 2006-10-21. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
"databaseFootball.com – Cleveland Browns". databaseFootball.com. Archived from the original on 2007-04-08. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
"Browns win coin flip, pick 16th". National Football League official Web site. Archived from the original on 2007-01-08. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
"Browns win coin toss, third pick in draft". National Football League official Web site. Archived from the original on 2007-03-21. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
"Draft History – Cleveland Browns". National Football League official Web site. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
"Hall of Famers by Franchise". Pro Football Hall of Fame official Web site. Archived from the original on 2007-03-17. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
"Cleveland Browns". Sports E-cyclopedia. Retrieved 2007-04-07.

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