Braylon Edwards, welcome to the hell that is being a Browns first-round draft choice.

There is select company in this hell, including the likes of “Touchdown” Tommy Vardell, Craig Powell and the man that led the franchise to where it is now: Tim Couch.

I must admit, I was glad to see Edwards wearing the brown and orange on Saturday, but I couldn’t help but think he would be yet another player in the mess that is Cleveland’s first round draft picks.

Since 1978, when Cleveland drafted Browns’ greats Ozzie Newsome and Clay Matthews, the Browns selections have been a tragedy.

But it has really gotten out of hand since 1992, when they drafted “Touchdown” Tommy. In his final year at Stanford, Vardell solidified his name by scoring 20 touchdowns for the Cardinal. He continued down a different road once he hit the NFL, scoring three rushing touchdowns for the Browns in four seasons while racking up a miraculous 1,070 yards before moving on to San Francisco.

The Browns continued the trend in the ensuing years, drafting the likes of Steve Everitt, who ESPN.com’s career highlight lists as being signed to a five-year contract with Philadelphia.

But it got worse as they drafted Derrick Alexander (two touchdowns in two Cleveland seasons), Antonio Langham (four picks in two seasons) and Craig Powell (my point exactly).

Luckily for first round draft picks, the Browns took the next few years off as they moved on to Baltimore, became the Ravens and won the Super Bowl.

But worry not detractors of first round picks, the Browns made a solid return to ruining hopeful, young football players when they returned in 1999 and drafted franchise-saving Tim Couch.

Couch was the can’t miss kid out of Kentucky, who threw for more college touchdowns than you can shake a stick at. He then came to Cleveland and duplicated those numbers, but with a lot more interceptions. In his five years with the Browns he threw 64 touchdowns and 67 picks, setting the tone for Browns’ picks to come.

After wasting their 1999 pick on Couch, they shored up their defensive line with all-time greats Gerard Warren and Courtney Brown. Now they both have a chance to be greats in Denver, where they are now playing for the Broncos and are likely to be selling used cars by the end of the season.

Through it all, the Browns have just two first round draft picks on their team — center Jeff Faine and tight end Kellen Winslow.

Faine is still the starting center and Winslow played just two games for the Browns before going down with an injury.

The verdict is still out on both of them. Faine isn’t exactly a super star, but Winslow has the makings of a star, just like Couch, Brown and William Green.

The point I am trying to get across is this: Get out of Cleveland, Braylon, before you become part of the tradition.