The Browns Have a Great NFL Draft (It's a Movie) - New York Times

The Browns

In a kind of twisted joke, Costner plays the general manager of the Browns, who have been N.F.L. doormats again and again. Over the last two years, the team is 1-31. Its first-round draft picks have included Tim Couch (1999, struggled as quarterback for the expansion Browns), Brady Quinn (2007, another failed quarterback) and Trent Richardson (2012, traded away early in his second season).

The film seems especially resonant this year because the real-life Browns have the Nos. 1 and 4 picks. Joseph is from Cleveland and a lifelong Browns fan, but the screenplay was originally about the Buffalo Bills. "The tax breaks for shooting it in Cleveland were much better," Joseph said.

Trading the No. 1

The Seahawks start the movie with the first overall pick, but trade it to the Browns. While this may have seemed like a Hollywood twist, two years later the Rams made a deal to get the No. 1 from the Titans to take quarterback Jared Goff.

A Shock No. 1 Pick

After landing the No. 1, the Browns don't take the player everyone expects, quarterback Bo Callahan, and instead take linebacker Vontae Mack (who Joesph said was based on Ray Lewis). It's rare for a No. 1 pick to be a shock, but in 1977 the Buccaneers went with running back Ricky Bell of Southern California and passed on the Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett of Pitt. More recently, the Texans' selection of defensive end Mario Williams in 2006 instead of Reggie Bush and Vince Young raised eyebrows.

A Player Tumbles

After the Browns pass on Callahan at No. 1, other teams shy away too and he falls down the draft order. Almost every season there is a player who drops precipitously. In 2005, Aaron Rodgers was considered a possibility for the top overall pick, but the 49ers took Alex Smith instead. Then, as teams drafted for need, Rodgers fell all the way to the Packers at No. 24.

Trading the Future

Costner's Browns trade away three years of first-round picks, and then later, three years of second-rounders. Such a sweeping mortgaging of the future doesn't really have a parallel in recent N.F.L. history. But in 1999, the Saints wanted Ricky Williams so badly they swapped eight draft picks including two first-rounders to get him at No. 5. George Allen, the Redskins' coach of the 1970s, disdained young players and happily dealt away many of his picks for veterans. The Redskins went 10 years without a first-round pick.

Agreeing Not to Pick Someone

In the film's climax, Costner manages to get those first-rounders back. He holds the No. 6 pick, and the Seahawks at No. 7 want Callahan. Costner agrees not to pick him, but in return wants the three first-rounders and another player, David Putney. This is one detail that doesn't quite ring as true. Would a team give up so much for a chance to get one player? Well, that's Hollywood.

"I don't know if there are any backdoor promises," Joseph said. "But the draft plays mind games with G.M.s. Suddenly the guy you want is not available."

He added, "You have to take some liberties and some Hollywood swings."

The draft is presented as a success for the Browns, although Joseph noted, "We never know if it will work out" in the long run.

Still, in the end, they wind up with running back Ray Jennings (played by the real life N.F.L. star Arian Foster) and Mack (played by Chadwick Boseman). What team wouldn't be happy with a draft day haul of Arian Foster and the Black Panther?

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