And the No. 1 Pick in the NFL Draft Will Be …

A quarterback. Unless the Browns go rogue and take Saquon Barkley or Bradley Chubb.

Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson at the podium during the NFL Scouting Combine on March 2, 2017 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN.  (Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson at the podium during the NFL Scouting Combine on March 2, 2017 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN. (Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The NFL Draft is less than 10 hours away and, really, no one is sure how it is going to play out.

That’s partially by design as NFL teams often spread webs of deception and leak false info about who they are targeting so they’ll have a better shot of landing the player they truly covet.

Which brings us to the No. 1 pick-holding Cleveland Browns, a club that has been linked to all top-four consensus quarterbacks (Josh Allen, Josh Rosen, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold) at one time or another, as well as running back Saquon Barkley and defensive end Bradley Chubb.

At this point in the game, it seems likely Cleveland will take Allen, Mayfield or Darnold with their first pick and then select Chubb to pair with Myles Garrett at No. 4. But, it’s also possible they could take a sure-thing in Barkley at No. 1 and then take whichever quarterback is still on the board out of Allen, Mayfield and Darnold at No. 4.

Cleveland’s possibilities, as well as those of the other 28 teams that are currently set to draft in the first round, are discussed in Sports Illustrated’s latest (and last?) draft piece.

“Something probably is going to happen Thursday night that no one saw coming. And really, that is the idea of the NFL draft,” SI writes. “It doesn’t matter how many phone calls reporters make ahead of Thursday night. There probably will be a couple of those coming that no one is forecasting.”

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