Tony Avelar/Associated Press
New Cleveland Browns cornerback Greg Newsome II has a message for every team that passed on him in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft.
"The way I feel is if I'm not the first pick of the draft, then everyone made a mistake," Newsome told reporters after being selected No. 26 overall on Thursday night.
Newsome was a bit of a surprise pick for Cleveland, though some draft analysts did have him rising up the board throughout the process.
ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. ranked Newsome as the No. 3 cornerback in this year's class, behind South Carolina's Jaycee Horn and Alabama's Patrick Surtain II. Horn and Surtain came off the board on back-to-back picks at eight and nine.