Browns Lead AFC North at 3-1 — and Still Hold Two First-Round Picks in the 2027 NFL Draft

The short version: The Cleveland Browns are 3-1, tied for first place in the AFC North after a Thursday night thriller against the Steelers — and they still own two first-round picks in the 2027 NFL draft. Winning usually costs you draft position. Cleveland is winning and keeping the picks anyway.

Start with the scoreboard, because it's the part that still doesn't feel real. Thursday night, Browns 27, Steelers 24. Andre Szmyt, the kicker nobody was talking about a month ago, drilling a 56-yard field goal with 10 seconds left to win it. That put Cleveland at 3-1, tied with the Baltimore Ravens for the AFC North lead — the Browns sitting on a 3-1 record with an 81-to-95 point differential, winning games ugly while the Ravens win them loud.

Now look at the other board. Per Dawgs By Nature's update after Sunday's Week 4 games, the Browns head into Week 5 holding the 18th and 22nd picks in the 2027 NFL draft. Their own pick sits at 18. The Rams' pick, sitting at 22, also belongs to Cleveland.

That's the strange math of this season. The team winning the division race is also one of the few contenders holding two first-rounders. And the second one exists because of the deal that was supposed to be a white flag.

Rewind to June 1. The Browns traded defensive end Myles Garrett — a franchise icon, a generational pass rusher, the face of the defense — to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for defensive end Jared Verse and three draft picks. At the time it read like the beginning of a rebuild. You don't trade Myles Garrett in June if you think you're winning the AFC North in October.

Then the Rams kept winning, which is the one thing that could go wrong with the plan — except it isn't going wrong at all. Los Angeles pulled out a Week 4 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles even after running back Saquon Barkley left the game early with an injury, and the Rams didn't even have defensive tackle Aaron Donald available while they wait on Garrett's return. The Rams winning keeps their pick low. The Browns winning keeps their pick low too. Both teams winning is, paradoxically, the best-case scenario for Cleveland's draft position only if you squint at it sideways.

Here's the honest accounting: No. 18 and No. 22 are not the premium slots Cleveland has grown used to. This franchise has spent most of the modern era picking in the top ten, sometimes at the very top. Mid-round picks are where you build depth, not where you find franchise quarterbacks. But mid-round picks held by a team that's winning are a completely different asset than mid-round picks held by a team that's tanking. Contenders use picks 18 and 22 to get better at the margins — a starting tackle, a pass rusher to pair with the new one, a receiver who can actually separate. And when you hold two of them, you can package them and go get something real.

The rest of the division isn't standing still, either. The Ravens sit at 3-1 right alongside Cleveland, outscoring opponents 116-95 while the Browns have been outscored 95-81 — a reminder that records this early are built as much on timing as dominance. The Steelers and Bengals are both 2-2, lurking. Nobody in the AFC North is running away with anything, which is exactly why the draft board matters: in a division this bunched, the difference between picking 12th and picking 22nd could be one swing game in December.

The rest of the league is watching this with binoculars. A 3-1 team with two first-round picks is the kind of thing that breaks the usual trade-deadline math. If Cleveland is still leading the division in November, those picks become the currency of a team going for it — not the currency of a team starting over.

Pro Football Network's latest 2027 mock draft illustrated the disconnect perfectly. The mock slotted Cleveland at No. 4 — and at No. 32, the Rams' pick — which drew immediate fire from Browns fans who pointed out the obvious: the team is 3-1 and playing the Jets next. You can't mock a team picking fourth when it's tied for its division lead. The draft order is a projection, and projections are built on records. Cleveland keeps winning, and every win pushes both picks further down the board.

That's the bet the Browns made in June, whether they meant to or not. Trade the star, collect the picks, and find out the roster was better than the obituary. Now they head into Week 5 in first place with a kicker who just became a folk hero, a defense adjusting to life after Garrett, and a war chest that most 3-1 teams would kill for.

The draft is seven months away. The division race is right now. But somewhere in the Browns' building, there's a board with two names on it at 18 and 22 — and for once, Cleveland gets to enjoy both.

Previously's NFL desk tracks the draft order all season. For more on the league's weekly slate, see the sports hub.