The Browns made Corey Coleman the first wide receiver drafted, and he might be their best wide receiver right from Day One. They don't have a lot else at the position; Brian Hartline and Andrew Hawkins look like the team's other top two wide receivers.
There's an expectation that comes with being the top wide receiver selected, and certainly a lot of those recent guys have gone on to have great careers: Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, A.J. Green. But note that most of those guys -- including ones selected a dozen picks earlier than Coleman -- didn't put up big numbers in their rookie seasons.
The table below shows rookie year numbers for the first wideout drafted in each of the last 20 years, sorted by receiving yards. Just a couple of 1,000-yard guys, and only six of 20 reached 800 receiving yards.
On Coleman's behalf, note that the top 4 on the list all came in the last five years. Teams are getting those top wideouts involved sooner, or they're coming into the NFL more ready to play than they were a dozen years ago. And again, Cleveland's incumbent No. 1 is Hartline (barring a reinstatement of Josh Gordon, which looks pretty iffy).
| FIRST WIDEOUT DRAFTED, 1996-2016 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Pick | Player | No | Yds | TD |
| 2015 | 4 | Amari Cooper, Oak. | 72 | 1070 | 6 |
| 2011 | 4 | A.J. Green, Cin. | 65 | 1057 | 7 |
| 2014 | 4 | Sammy Watkins, Buff. | 65 | 982 | 6 |
| 2012 | 5 | Justin Blackmon, Jac. | 64 | 865 | 5 |
| 1996 | 1 | Keyshawn Johnson, NYJ | 63 | 844 | 8 |
| 2006 | 25 | Santonio Holmes, Pitt. | 49 | 824 | 3 |
| 1999 | 6 | Torry Holt, St.L. | 52 | 788 | 6 |
| 2004 | 3 | Larry Fitzgerald, Ariz. | 58 | 780 | 8 |
| 2007 | 2 | Calvin Johnson, Det. | 48 | 756 | 5 |
| 2008 | 33 | Donnie Avery, St.L. | 53 | 674 | 3 |
| 2002 | 13 | Donte Stallworth, N.O. | 42 | 594 | 8 |
| 2000 | 4 | Peter Warrick, Cin. | 51 | 592 | 7 |
| 2005 | 3 | Braylon Edwards, Clev. | 32 | 512 | 3 |
| 2013 | 8 | Tavon Austin, St.L. | 40 | 418 | 6 |
| 2001 | 8 | David Terrell, Chi. | 34 | 415 | 4 |
| 2010 | 22 | Demaryius Thomas, Den. | 22 | 283 | 2 |
| 1998 | 16 | Kevin Dyson, Hou. | 21 | 263 | 2 |
| 2003 | 2 | Charles Rogers, Det. | 22 | 243 | 3 |
| 2009 | 7 | Darrius Heyward-Bey, Oak. | 9 | 124 | 1 |
| 1997 | 7 | Ike Hilliard, NYG | 2 | 42 | 0 |
| 2016 | 15 | Corey Coleman, Clev. | ? | ? | ? |
--Andy Richardson