List of Cleveland Browns first-round draft picks

This is a list of first-round draft picks made by the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. The Browns joined the 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 selections were Joe Thomas, an offensive tackle from Wisconsin; and Brady Quinn, a quarterback from Notre Dame.

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 the worst record picking first, and the second worst picking second and so on. The two exceptions to this order are made for teams that appeared in the previous Super Bowl; the Super Bowl champion "always" picks 32nd, and the Super Bowl loser "always" picks 31st. 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 moved the team to Baltimore, Maryland. However, the NFL mandated that the Browns' name, colors, and franchise history remain in Cleveland, while Modell's Baltimore team would essentially be regarded as a new expansion team. The Baltimore Ravens were thus created, with the Browns having suspended operations from 1996 to 1998. In 1999, the Browns selected number one overall, drafting University of Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch.

The Browns have selected number one overall three times: Bobby Garrett, Tim Couch, and Courtney Brown. The team has also selected number two overall only once and number three overall five times. The Browns have selected players from the University of Michigan five times, the University of Southern California four times, and the Ohio State University three times. Four eventual Hall of Famers were selected by the Browns: Doug Atkins, Jim Brown, Paul Warfield, and Ozzie Newsome.

Player selections

Footnotes

References

*cite web|url=http://football.about.com/od/miscinformation/a/detdraftorder.htm| last = Alder | first = James | title = "NFL Draft Basics:Determining Order of Selection" | work = football.about.com | accessdate=2007-01-21
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