Browns play it straight with Garrett
PHILADELPHIA — The Cleveland Browns, for once, followed conventional wisdom.
Despite rumors in the final 24 hours before the draft that they would take quarterback Mitch Trubisky — the Bears traded up and drafted Trubisky second overall — the Browns took the presumptive top player, Texas A& M edge rusher Myles Garrett, with the No. 1 overall pick Thursday night.
Garrett, who wowed scouts with his otherworldly skills at the NFL Scouting Combine, had 8 ½ sacks last season, starting nine games because of a knee injury. He became just the third defensive player selected first overall since 2001; the Houston Texans took Mario Williams in 2006 and Jadeveon Clowney in 2014.
Garrett wasn’t on the stage outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art to witness more than 70,000 fans cheering; he stayed near home and held a watch party in Arlington, Texas.
Goodell: Cities are watching
After 49 straight years in New York, the draft is being held outside New York for the second time in three years. And next year could make it three in four.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said representatives from 14 cities are visiting Philadelphia to research the draft and could be preparing bids to host in 2018.
“I think everybody really loves the draft and sees the opportunity here,” Goodell said Thursday morning. “There’s a lot of competition. Philadelphia is raising the bar. One of the reasons why we want to do this experience is to see what went well, see what went wrong, see what we can improve on.
“Other cities are obviously watching — those 14 there, and they’re going to raise the bar. I think the bids will change.”
After two years of holding the draft in Chicago, the NFL said ( and local officials believed) it would return eventually, even for a one- off. Dallas is the reported favorite to host next year.
This and that
The 49ers didn’t keep the Bears’ fourth- round pick for long.
After acquiring it as part of their four- pick haul, they used the No. 111 pick to move back into the first round. They added it to their second- round pick, No. 34 overall, to get the Seahawks No. 31 selection. With it, they picked one of the most talented — and, perhaps, troubled — players in the draft, linebacker Reuben Foster. He starred at Alabama but left the combine early after an altercation with medical staff and reportedly was busted for a diluted drug test at the combine. The Bears were one of three teams to trade up into the top 12, and all did it to pick a quarterback.
◆ Former Bears center Jay Hilgenberg and former St. Jude patient Kate Foster, 17, will announce the Bears’ secondround pick Friday in Philadelphia. Foster, a Rockford native, lost her left leg in complications from leukemia treatment at age 12 but continued to excel at gymnastics with a prosthetic.