NFL Draft Grades 2012: Cleveland Browns and Worst Teams from Late Rounds

Picking a set of "losers" for the late rounds of the NFL draft is both difficult and dangerous. In the late rounds, teams are just looking for depth or taking a chance on an unproven or big-baggage guy. It is dangerous because, should one of the late round picks go Tom Brady on us, I come out looking the fool.

Some of these teams actually had decent drafts; however, focusing on the latter rounds, I feel they could have done better.

One of those teams is the Cleveland Browns. I'm not sure how much of their season the Browns' decision-makers watched, but I don't think it was enough. Neither is what they did over the course of the weekend.

The Browns took one WR; I repeat, one. This is a team whose leading TD scorer last year caught just four touchdowns.

Cleveland had to take some chances in this draft. This isn't a team that should have been adding depth on their lines like the New York Giants or New England Patriots. They appear to be ready to run Trent Richardson into the ground while hoping Greg Little scores before Week 11 this season.

Cleveland can thank Travis Benjamin for keeping them from a failing grade. The Browns get a D+ for their final rounds.  

Another team that flopped in the late rounds was the Jacksonville Jaguars. They belong here more for what they did in the middle rounds that they could have done in the late ones—namely, drafting a punter in the third round. You have probably read the bashing of that selection ad nauseum elsewhere, so I will spare you with just two lines.

Why not wait and get their guy later in the draft? There were plenty of high-potential picks to be swiped in that spot. Instead they got a guy that high up who only plays when their team fails. 

Outside of that, the Jaguars didn't do much to make you think they can turn it around. I don't particularly trust Blaine Gabbert's backups at all, so a late-round QB may have been interesting.

They also could have given him more help and gotten some receivers outside of the UDFA pickups. That would have helped twofold in getting Gabbert targets and keeping Maurice Jones-Drew healthy.

Should Bryan Anger become the next Shane Lechler, this will go up, but for now the Jaguars get a C- for their late rounds. 

The Seattle Seahawks made some questionable decisions both high up and low down in the draft. Like the Browns, they apparently thought they were closer to the top than they are. Seattle also used the late rounds to stack up depth on defense.

It is just a personal preference, but I like when teams take chances in the late rounds. I don't feel like the Seahawks went far enough to swing for the fences here. Loading up on DBs with four of your 10 picks isn't going to help your entirely unproven quarterback of the future.

Sorry Matt Flynn, but it may be a rough season for you as a starter, because your team earned a C in the final rounds of the draft.

If ever a team needed to make some noise by being creative during the draft, it was the New Orleans Saints. Unfortunately for them, they found themselves without first- or second-round selections. The Saints didn't make any noise-worthy picks and have done little to get the stink of league punishments off of them. 

On top of that, New Orleans may still be facing player punishments for the bounty program. That should have shifted the draft focus onto the positions of the players most likely to be missing games.

However, the Saints spent three of their five picks on the offensive side. Only Corey White, a safety from Stanford, was a late-round defensive selection. New Orleans spent their last two picks on the offensive line.

Things are still pretty dark in the Big Easy these days, and earning a C in the draft won't make them any brighter.