The question of whether the Cleveland Browns botched the Spencer Fano pick has a short answer. They didn’t. They traded down three spots, added two picks, and still landed the player they had ranked first on their board.
Cleveland held No. 6, moved to No. 9 in a deal with Kansas City that also returned third- and fifth-round picks, and took Fano anyway. On Football Debate Club, the panel was asked whether the Browns reached or whether Fano can rise above the scheme concerns tied to the move. Omari Brown and Jacob Infante landed in the same place from different angles.
Why Andrew Berry’s Trade-Down Was the Smart Play
“I’m going to say the Browns finessed it. If they would have taken Fano at six, I would have had an issue with it,” Brown said.
“But what Andrew [Berry] did, he was able to trade down and still get arguably offensive tackle number one for most people. He wasn’t on my board, he was offensive tackle number three, but I understand it. Todd [Monken] is bringing in a new system, and he understands his limitations. When [Fano] went against elite edge rushers, he needs help. But you were able to move back down and still get value. The trade down makes sense.”
Brown’s read tracks. Berry turned the No. 6 pick into Fano plus picks 74 and 148, and he did it for a player the Browns had atop their board and most evaluators slotted as the first or second tackle in the class.
Fano won the 2025 Outland Trophy and was a unanimous All-American and the Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year, a three-year starter at Utah. For a team that ranked near the bottom of the NFL on offense in 2025, allowed 51 sacks, and just fired Kevin Stefanski, tackle was the need. First-year coach Todd Monken said Fano was the target the whole time and will play left tackle. Cleveland had already poured veteran money into the line with Tytus Howard, Elgton Jenkins, and Zion Johnson. Fano is the cornerstone.
Spencer Fano’s Left Tackle History Answers the Scheme Worry
“I think he’s somebody who can transcend those differences for sure,” Infante said.
“A lot of people point to, oh, he was a right tackle at Utah, and he was for two seasons. But as a true freshman, he came in and started at left tackle in 2023. So I’m not as worried about the switch from right to left. You look at what the Browns had before with [Dawand] Jones. Availability was a concern, but when he’s been healthy, the size, the lack of athleticism, the lack of body control, those are big weaknesses in his game and strengths in Fano’s game. He’s going to provide a totally different profile at left tackle. He has a really high floor, and the athleticism and the instincts are going to make him shine in Cleveland.”
The scheme worry rests on Fano spending his last two Utah seasons at right tackle, with shorter-than-ideal arms that had some teams projecting him inside to guard. Infante’s rebuttal is the cleanest one available. Fano started at left tackle as a true freshman in 2023 before sliding to the right side, so the flip back is a return, not a reinvention.
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The Dawand Jones comparison is the sharper point. Jones, a 2023 fourth-round pick, is a 6-8, 374-pound tackle whose size always intrigued but who finished season after season on injured reserve. The Browns’ left tackle plans leaned on him, and availability and movement were the problems. Fano’s athleticism is exactly what that spot lacked.
The legitimate question left is whether the arm length holds up against NFL speed in Monken’s new system, and that is a real one. But “botched” implies the Browns overpaid or misread the player. They did neither. They moved down, banked two picks, and fixed their worst position with a tackle they valued above everyone else’s. If Fano is even average as a rookie, he is an upgrade. If the athleticism translates the way Infante expects, Berry’s trade-down becomes one of the best value plays of the first round.