Dawgs By Nature
NFL draft: Does where Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, et all are selected matter for Browns?
The problem with the NFL draft, really all drafts in professional sports, is that luck plays a huge role in how impactful picks can be. In the 2024 NFL draft, five quarterbacks were selected in the first round. All five of those teams believe they have their quarterbacks of the future including Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix becoming QBs of playoff teams.
In 2025, many question whether any of the quarterback options will be graded as first-round picks despite the growing belief that Cam Ward will be selected first overall. As discussed in our DBN roundtable, what the Cleveland Browns do with the second overall pick could include Shedeur Sanders but few are sold on that option leading to certain success.
With HC Kevin Stefanski reportedly running the search for the next QB, looking at how quarterbacks played last season and where they were drafted seemed to be an interesting way of thinking through the Browns need. For simplicity purposes, Pro Football Focus’ passing grades (minimum of 360 passing attempts) were used to rank each player with where they were selected in the NFL draft noted after that:
20 of the top 25 quarterbacks in 2024, according to PFF’s passing grades, were selected in the first round. Obviously, some of those like Jones were not very good and were benched and then released last year.
As Cleveland fans can attest, just because you draft a quarterback in the first round doesn’t mean they will be successful. In a bit of “all thumbs are fingers but not all fingers are thumbs” kind of way, good quarterbacks are drafted in the first round (mostly) but not all first-round quarterbacks are good.
Over the last 16...
