Williamson: 5 moves that should happen before the draft

Matt Williamson is a former scout for the Cleveland Browns and spent the last 10 years at ESPN as a scout and co-host of "The Football Today Podcast."

The first massive tidal wave of free agency is now past us.

There are several free agents still floating around who will play big roles for their respective teams in the 2016 season, but as we get closer and closer to the draft, the NFL decision-makers are hunkering down in their foxholes and dedicating the majority of their time to draft prep.

Here are five moves that would make sense before the first pick is made in Chicago next month:

Browns trade McCown to Broncos

Robert Griffin III is now in Cleveland and the Browns better take a quarterback very early in the draft.

Josh McCown has played better than his reputation suggests during his time in Cleveland, but he will turn 37 years old this summer and clearly isn't the long-term answer for the Browns, who are perhaps in more of a rebuilding mode than any other in the NFL.

Cleveland's new front office is putting a premium on acquiring draft picks for the rebuild, and McCown might be worth a mid-round pick to the Super Bowl champions, who are currently in the running for the team with the league's worst quarterback situation.

The argument can be made that McCown is a better player than what we saw from either Peyton Manning or Brock Osweiler in 2015, and that he could hold down the position or at least provide serious competition for Mark Sanchez while Denver hopefully grooms its quarterback of the future from the draft.

Fitzpatrick re-signs with Jets

This piggybacks off the McCown-to-Denver move because the Jets have shown interest in McCown, but this is a transaction that seemed like a no-brainer even before the free-agency period opened.

The Jets need Ryan Fitzpatrick and, whether he realizes it or not, the veteran quarterback needs the Jets.

Despite being a smart man who played his college ball at Harvard, Fitzpatrick has greatly overshot what his true value is. If you ignore his fantasy numbers and just watch the tape of Fitzpatrick during the 2015 season, you'll quickly realize he's a below-average starting quarterback who was aided a great deal by Chan Gailey's system and the play of Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker.

The problem here for the Jets is they can't do better than Fitzpatrick. These two need to kiss and make up as soon as possible.

Foster joins Dolphins

The Dolphins went hard after C.J. Anderson, signing the restricted free agent to an offer sheet, but lost out after Denver retained its starting running back. Miami then reportedly pursued Chris Johnson, who proceeded to re-sign with Arizona. Clearly the Dolphins think they need a running back.

Jay Ajayi did some good things during his rookie year, but putting the majority of Miami's running game on his shoulders at this point isn't a great idea so early in his career, especially since he has major long-term durability concerns. Bringing in a veteran like Arian Foster would make perfect sense, although he has yet to fully heal from his Achilles injury.

It looks like Adam Gase will implement more zone-blocking principles, which is where Foster has excelled over his career. The Dolphins surely wouldn't want their top two running backs to be Ajayi in his second year and a rookie they just drafted. They need to add a veteran.

Nelson signs with Raiders

In a somewhat surprising turn of events, the Raiders didn't add a true center fielder in free agency. They certainly have the money to spend and Reggie Nelson is a good fit in this regard, even though the Bengals employed a high percentage of two-deep safety shells.

With Ken Norton as Oakland's defensive coordinator and based on the moves the team has made, it sure looks like the Raiders want to mimic Seattle's scheme. While Nelson isn't on Earl Thomas' level, he would be a reasonable facsimile for the immediate future.

Boldin returns to Ravens

With Kamar Aiken stepping up last year, Steve Smith and Breshad Perriman returning from injury, and the signing of Mike Wallace, Baltimore isn't nearly as light at wide receiver as it was for the majority of the 2015 season.

Anquan Boldin was born to be a Raven, and it won't cost much to sign him to a one-year deal at this stage of his advanced career. He would give the locker room a boost and act as a fantastic role model to Aiken and Perriman.

The Ravens' free-agent signings tell us they aren't rebuilding, so they might as well bring in Boldin. The pairing just seems too perfect.