BEREA, Ohio - Following the Browns selection of Johnny Manziel on Thursday night, the rest of the NFL Draft kind of feels like the Beatles just opened for Ace of Base.
But the show goes on, and there's work to be done.
Many eyes, again, will be on the Browns and new general manager Ray Farmer, who made three trades in the first round.
In the first, he stole a 2015 first-round pick from the Buffalo Bills.
The second was a bit of a head scratcher, giving up a fifth-round pick to move up one spot and draft cornerback Justin Gilbert. No one asked Farmer about that trade in his late Thursday night press conference because everyone was busy talking about Manziel.
The third trade -- going up four spots and giving up a third-round pick, 83rd overall -- brought Manziel to the Browns and made theBrowns the talk of the draft.
Farmer looks like an old pro, and he may not be done yet. When the draft resumes Friday evening, the Browns hold the third pick -- 35th overall -- of the second round and their own third-round pick, 71st overall. The 83rd was acquired in last year's draft in a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Browns still have clear needs; wide receiver, running back, offensive line and linebacker are among them. It's entirely possible that Farmer could trade out of that 35th pick because teams value quarterbacks and cornerbacks, and the Browns already addressed those positions.
Stay tuned.
Obviously, lots of teams know how to reach Farmer in the Browns draft room.
The shift to a three-day format made the first few picks of the second and fourth rounds even more important than they used to be.
Teams get a chance to regroup, chart out new options and/or plans and sleep on thoughts they had the night before. The chance comes, too, to restack or shuffle the board based on needs and/or surprises from the previous round.
Having all day to call potential partners about trades helps, too.
We don't and won't know if Farmer is already working the phones or if he hopes to add extra picks. We learned Thursday night, though, that he's likely to be aggressive in at least exploring such options.
