5. Cleveland Browns
Florida State iDL
Marvin Wilson shockingly dropped out of the draft after a poor 2020 season (that in hindsight he just should have opted-out of). Cleveland, in desperate need for interior players after deciding to value-shop on CB
Greg Newsome and LB
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah in the early rounds, moved aggressively to land a prospect that shouldn’t have been available to them in the UDFA ranks. Per the
NFL Network’s Tom Pelisaro, the Browns “won a swift bidding war” by dropping $162,000 in guarantees. That ranked No. 2 among UDFA in guaranteed cash this cycle.
A five-star recruit who posted 42 sacks in high school, Wilson posted elite PFF grades of 90.1 and 90.7 in 2018-2019, ranking No. 6 in the country in iDL pass-rush win rate among qualifiers over that span. Wilson plays every down, and brings his motor to special teams work. He blocked two field goals against Georgia Tech and a punt against UNC last year.
Wilson was in the first round of every single “Too-Early 2021 Mock Draft” published after last April’s draft. He entered the 2020 regular season ranked No. 9 overall on PFF’s draft board. So how did he go undrafted eight months later?
A long injury wrap-sheet, a well-publicized spat with FSU HC
Mike Norvell over the summer regarding Norvell’s depiction to the media of how he spoke to players about George Floyd’s death, and what was in essence three bad games in 2020 before a season-ending leg injury. Wilson was heating up before going down, with his two best games of the six he played coming at the end.
Wilson’s
injury rap sheet is a long one: He tore the meniscus in his right knee during his senior year of high school, suffered a left MCL tear in 2018, a season-ending hand injury in 2019, and the season-ending leg injury last year.
There are questions about how long his career will last. But as a UDFA, that doesn’t really matter anymore -- he's likely to more than return value on his guarantee through his first 10 active NFL games. Wilson’s game is based on power, counter moves and torque -- not raw athleticism. He’s going to make that team, and I think he cracks the rotation sooner rather than later. He’ll be a special teams menace until he does.