Shedeur Sanders #12 of the Cleveland Browns
If you’re Cleveland Browns incumbent starting quarterback Shedeur Sanders, then the more that the team’s front office keeps focusing on remaking the offensive line, the better. For one thing, having more protection up front is a good thing for any quarterback, whether the backup or the starter. But if the team is putting its time and resources toward big line additions like Zion Johnson, Elgton Jenkins and Tytus Howard, then it is not spending much of either–time or money–on adding a quarterback.
Indeed, chatter about the Browns pursuing help under center has all but ground to a halt. By all indications they made little or no effort to chase the likes of Malik Willis, who landed in Miami, or Kyler Murray, now in Minnesota. There was no pursuit of Geno Smith, who’s back in New York, or Tua Tagovailoa (in Atlanta with old friend Kevin Stefanski) and there’s probably no chance that the Browns enter the fray on Kirk Cousins.
Maybe the pre-free-agency talk of an Anthony Richardson trade resurfaces. But as of now, the Browns’ quarterback room is unchanged.
‘Shedeur Sanders in the Lead for Now’
At The Athletic, Browns beat writer Zac Jackson summed up the offseason approach the team has taken to adding to the quarterback room–which is to say, there has been no approach.
“The quarterback situation appears to be Shedeur Sanders in the lead for now, Deshaun Watson next and then Dillon Gabriel,” Jackson wrote. “There was no immediate addition to the group, and it seems headed toward what new coach Todd Monken intimated would be an open competition once the team begins its offseason program.”
Monken did say there would be an open competition. But both he and GM Andrew Berry also indicated that there could/would be another player involved in that competition. So far, that’s not been the case.
Browns Could Draft a Quarterback
Richardson had been rumored as a potential Vikings target, but now that Minnesota has added Murray, perhaps the pendulum has swung in the Browns’ favor, and he will land in Cleveland.
If not, the Browns are most likely to look at the NFL draft for another participant in their quarterback sweepstakes. The Browns have three picks (No. 6, No. 24 and No. 39) in the Top 40, and while the first two are probably going to be earmarked for a receiver and an offensive tackle, it’s possible the third could be used on a quarterback, if Alabama’s Ty Simpson falls to the second round.
LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier or Penn State’s Drew Allar could be a consideration in the third round (No. 70 overall).
Ty Simpson is a potential draft target of the Cleveland Browns.
GettyTy Simpson is a potential draft target of the Cleveland Browns.
Browns Looking at Deshaun Watson vs. Shedeur Sanders at QB
But as it stands, Sanders remains atop the Browns’ quarterback heap, and while Watson is clearly the more accomplished quarterback, he is also coming off two Achilles tendon surgeries and has not played since October 2024. The Browns would have cut him if not for his fully guaranteed contract, so the notion that he can reclaim the kind of glory that led him to three Pro Bowls with the Texans before coming to Cleveland might well be wishful thinking and nothing more.
While Jackson was diplomatic and disinterested in laying out the situation, Browns radio host Ken Carman of ESPN Cleveland was a lot more blunt–but not wrong.
Said Carman: “We’ve got to face facts, guys. This is the [quarterback] plan, guys. You’ve got to see the truth of it. What you see, is the plan. You may not like it, you may not want to accept it, if you’re gonna have any interest in this team in 2026, this is it.