Malik Hooker might have been a Brown if Cleveland had stayed at No. 12 instead of trading down to No. 25 with the Houston Texans on Day 1 of the draft.
As it turns out, Browns coach Hue Jackson wanted to draft Hooker before the trade down.
Via NFL Network’s Michael Silver:
After the Kansas City Chiefs traded up to 10th and selected [Patrick] Mahomes, the quarterback who Jackson felt had the biggest upside, that left [Deshaun] Watson as the highest-ranked QB on Cleveland’s board. Watson, in Jackson’s eyes, was the passer best suited to play right away, but he was not the man he hoped the Browns would select with the 12th pick. Instead, he was looking to provide [Browns defensive coordinator Gregg] Williams with another potential star: Ohio State safety Malik Hooker. “To me, he has a chance to be another Ed Reed,” Jackson would tell me later. “When I coached in Baltimore, I saw firsthand what kind of impact a great safety can have.”
Hooker eventually went to the Indianapolis Colts at No. 15, and the Browns drafted Michigan safety and Swiss army knife Jabrill Peppers at No. 25.
In the end, Jackson still landed a safety for the Browns defense, just not the one he was hoping for.
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