Mocking these so-called experts

Fun season this National Football League mock draft season.

The more iterations we see for next month’s college draft, the crazier it gets. Draft  “experts” are now in at least their 4.0 versions with less than five weeks to go.

And with the Browns owning two of the first 12 choices in next month’s college lottery, all kinds of wild speculation – guesses really – on what they will do sorta, kinda hogs the news.

Questions, which will remain unanswered until that final Thursday night in April in Philadelphia, surround what is really going on in Berea. At the same time, fans are having all kinds of fun trying to figure out what will go down.

Well, maybe not fun, especially for the serious-minded who plow lots of hours into trying to guess what their favorites teams are thinking. And you can bet, with few exceptions, they will not come even close to guessing correctly.

Except, of course, what the Browns will do at No. 1. And even the probability of staying put and grabbing Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett is not a sure thing, according to at least a couple of lottery gurus.

Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller of Sirius XM Radio recently put together their rather interesting first-round replete with trades, the likes of which strays quite severely from those more standard guesses from the vast majority of serious predictors.

Wandering unafraid into the ever dangerous mock draft waters, Miller and Kirwan predict the Browns will trade the top pick to New England in exchange for a flop of No. 1s (even though the Patriots don’t have a first-rounder), a third-round pick this year and a No. 1 next year. Oh . . and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

The Patriots, of course, will select Garrett, as if they don’t have enough talent already to repeat as Super Bowl champions. But the Browns get their quarterback and another No. 1 next year. But wait, there’s more.

According to these experts, the Browns ultimately deal the 12^th pick, a second-rounder and fifth-rounder to Buffalo to move up two spots to 10 and take Ohio State safety Malik Hooker.

They then complete their third swap of the round by shipping the top pick in the second round (No. 33) and a third-rounder to Atlanta to move up two slots and take a wide receiver at No. 31.

Three trades involving four teams (including the Browns), one active player and 10 overall selections covering this and next year all in one round. That takes creativity to absurd lengths.

Recapping, the Browns trade the first and 12^th picks in the first round, first selection in the second round and a third-rounder and pick up the 10^th overall pick, a third-rounder, the 31^st overall pick and the Patriots’ No. 1 pick next year. Oh . . . and Jimmy Garoppolo.

If nothing else, it would turn the Browns’ draft room into kind of a whirling dervish for the first evening of the three-day extravaganza. No down time from the top pick clear down to the penultimate selection with telephone lines blisteringly active

If the Browns’ hierarchy even thinks about making those moves, they should all be fitted with straitjackets and sentenced to college draft purgatory with no chance for parole for at least 15 years.

Then again, maybe sanity will eventually take up residence in Berea and this franchise, which seemingly can’t help itself and steers in the wrong direction with puzzling regularity, finally heads in the correct direction.

Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller, notwithstanding, of course.