The keywords were draft picks because as I followed the draft while watching the Joseph Parker-Dereck Chisora fight, and the name that I continued to look for was Florida State defensive tackle Marvin Wilson.
I mentioned Wilson as one of my "Persons of Interest" for the Browns at defensive tackle and his 2019 season for the Seminoles was outstanding.
Wilson would have been at least a second or third-rounder in the 2020 draft after his 2019 campaign, but he didn't play as well in the shortened 2020 season after new coach Mike Norvell installed a different scheme at Florida State and Wilson fell down the draft boards.
Still, I figured Wilson would go somewhere on day three and even to the Browns, but the drafting of Ohio State defensive tackle Tommy Togiai in the fourth round made me believe that the Browns wouldn't select Wilson after Togiai.
The Browns dealt their seventh-round pick to Detroit in an earlier trade that landed Cleveland the Lions fifth and Detroit's 2022 fourth, so the Browns were finished after the sixth round, but like me, the Browns were keeping their eye on Wilson and when the draft ended, Andrew Berry acted swiftly to get the Browns involved in what was described as a "bidding war" for Wilson by Brad Ward for USA Today.
Cleveland would win that war by giving Wilson a $162,000 contract guarantee and a $ 30,000 signing bonus to add the 6'5 300-pound defensive tackle to their rotation.
Wilson may wind up making more money than sixth-round selection Demetric Felton, as the Browns had to pay up and quickly to land Wilson.
Wilson won financially by not being drafted as the Browns would have likely picked him had they retained a seventh-round choice.
Wilson is strong, difficult to stand up, good against the run, and is a solid pass rusher for a defensive tackle, but the bonus that comes with Wilson is his kick blocking ability.
Wilson blocked three last season and having a lineman with that skill is a rarely found bonus.
Remember the Browns claiming Vincent Taylor off waivers last season after the final cutdown with his kick blocking prowess as one of the reasons and Taylor did block an extra point last season.
Taylor signed with the Houston Texans in the off-season, so Wilson may have a leg up as he competes for a job in a tackle rotation with veterans Malik Jackson and Andrew Billings, 2020 third-rounder Jordan Elliott, and Tommy Togiai.
I didn't plan on another post on a Browns rookie, but I also didn't expect them to land a player such as Marvin Wilson after the draft had completed!
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