Don’t forget about the second-round picks

The Browns’ second-round picks — Nos. 33, 35 and 64 overall — will be as vital to their draft success as John Dorsey’s picks at Nos. 1 and 4, Jeff Schudel writes.

Naturally, the primary focus on what the Browns will do in the three-day NFL draft beginning April 26 is on how they will use the first and fourth pick in the first round.

General Manager John Dorsey has been on the job since Dec. 7, and even if one of the quarterbacks he doesn’t select with the first pick has a more successful career than the one he does, it is going to be difficult for him to mess up the first two picks. It should be, at any rate.

But what happens after that? The second round is critical to the Browns making dramatic improvement, even with the upgrades already made through trades and free agency signings.

Dorsey gets a gold star for making deals to get wide receiver Jarvis Landry, quarterback Tyrod Taylor and safety Damarious Randall while holding onto picks 33, 35 and 64 in the second round.

Dorsey can use one of those three second-round picks to find a left tackle. That is now the position in most critical need of an upgrade. One of the better wide receivers should also be available with the 33rd or 35th pick. The Browns also need a free safety, despite trading for Randall, and they can use a defensive tackle after trading Danny Shelton.

Teams always talk about taking the best player on their draft board rather than reaching to fill a need, but it isn’t like the gaps among a certain group of players is so wide that going off course just a little to find a tackle or a safety if both are closely ranked is straying from the plan.

ESPN draft analysts Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay have the Browns taking an offensive tackle with the 33rd pick in their tworound mock draft. Kiper has them choosing Geron Christian of Louisville and Kiper has them selecting Connor Williams of Texas.

NFLDraftscout.com ranks Williams as the best tackle in the draft, but projects Christian going in the fourth round.

CBSsports.com ranks Williams 30th overall among players in the 2018 draft and third among tackles behind Orlando Brown Jr. of Oklahoma (26) and Kolton Miller of UCLA (28).

• Johnny Manziel made the news recently when he went on the “Dan Patrick Show” to say had the Browns done their homework prior to the 2014 draft, they would have Tyrod Taylor throws a pass last season as a member of the Buffalo Bills. Taylor’s signing with the Browns this offseason means the Browns don’t have to rush a young quarterback into the system should they draft one, which they are expected to do.

known he didn’t study film and that he wasn’t an Xs and Os quarterback. Without naming him, Manziel trashed former Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer by saying Hoyer didn’t help him when Manziel was a rookie.

I agree with Manziel about the Browns not doing their homework. They were the only team in the league unaware Manziel was an irresponsible, immature, spoiled substance abuser.

“We knew (he had problems),” former Browns coach Mike Pettine said in 2015. “We just didn’t know how bad it was.”

Manziel has been out of football since the Browns released him on March 11, 2016. He is trying to convince 31 teams he is sober and deserves another chance.

Maybe he has cleaned up his act. I’m not going to judge him on that. But what is indisputable is he was a lousy quarterback in his time with the Browns. He was 2-6 as a starter, completed only 57 percent of his passes and threw seven touchdown passes and seven interceptions. His teammates thought he was a jerk.

Any team signing Manziel, even to be a third quarterback, is taking on a headache it doesn’t need.

• Fans still wonder how Hue Jackson managed to keep his job as head coach despite his 1-31 record.

The fact all three quarterbacks Jackson had on his roster last year are now on different teams shows Dorsey knows Jackson was in an impossible situation. DeShone Kizer, 0-15 as a Browns rookie, was shipped to Green Bay for starting safety Randall.

Kizer is in a good place because he can sit behind Aaron Rodgers and learn to be an NFL quarterback. He might eventually be an above average starter, but the Browns could not afford

to wait two years and suffer what they did last year.

Cody Kessler was traded to Jacksonville for a conditional seventh-round pick in 2019. Kevin Hogan and pick 205 were traded to the Redskins for pick 188.

Like Kessler, Hogan is a good guy to have around as long as he doesn’t have to start. Hogan played as a backup three times last season with three touchdown passes and two interceptions.

He was a disaster when he started against Houston; he threw one touchdown pass, three interceptions and posted a 38.1 passer rating.

Jackson was in a no-win situation at quarterback, and he didn’t win.

Chasing Philly

The Cavaliers lead the Central Division but they find themselves in fourth place in the NBA East. The Raptors and Celtics have first and second place in the conference locked up respectively.

The Cavs, 49-31, are a half-game behind Philadelphia, 49-30, after losing to the 76ers, 132-130, on April 6. The Cavaliers finish by playing the Knicks in Madison Square Garden on April 9 and meet the Knicks again on April 11 at Quicken Loans Arena.

The Sixers host the Dallas Mavericks on April 8, play in Atlanta on April 10 and host the Milwaukee Bucks on April 11 to finish the season.

The Sixers would obviously finish third if they win their final three games, but what happens if both teams finish with the same record? The answer is the Cavaliers will be seeded third.

The first tiebreaker is head-to-head. The Cavs and Sixers split their two games. You might think the next tiebreaker would be conference record since the Cavs (Central) and Sixers

(Atlantic) play in different divisions, but it isn’t. The Cavaliers need one more win or one Indiana loss to win the Central Division. A division winner wins a tie over a team that doesn’t win its division.

The standings are too bunched up to determine first-round matchups. Notwithstanding their success against Toronto, the advantage to finishing third instead of fourth is theoretically not facing the Raptors until the conference finals.

“You got to go through whoever it is anyway,” Coach Tyronn Lue told reporters after losing to the Sixers.

“The best team is going to win their matchup, so play them first round, second round, third round, you still got to get through ’em, so it really doesn’t matter. As long as we’re healthy, find our rhythm, we’ll be fine.”

Point guard George Hill has been out with a sprained ankle. The injury prevented him from playing against the Sixers in Philadelphia.

An Achilles injury forced guard Rodney Hill to leave the game with the Sixers. His status has not been updated.

I didn’t know that

…Until I read my Snapple bottle cap

The Bible is the world’s most shoplifted book. … Among North Atlantic lobsters, one in about 5,000 is born bright blue. … A dentist named William Morrison invented the cotton candy machine in 1897 . ... Before 1867, clocks were made with only an hour hand. … The average dog can understand more than 150 words. … Pluto takes about 248 years to orbit the sun once.

Schudel can be reached at jschudel@news-herald. com; @jsproinsider on Twitter.

GARY WIEPERT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS