Dawgs By Nature
While all eyes are on the Cleveland Browns quarterback competition between four options, many believe the team’s real plan is to address the QB position in next year’s NFL draft. In 2025, the Browns traded out of the chance to select WR/CB Travis Hunter in a deal that gave them an extra first-round pick in the 2026 NFL draft.
Cleveland currently has nine selections in 2026 and eight scheduled for the 2027 draft. Plenty of ammunition to get the quarterback of their choosing. There are plenty of options expected to enter the upcoming NFL draft, but Arch Manning has been the big name on everyone’s minds.
According to Manning’s grandfather, Archie, the latest in the line of Manning quarterbacks will not be entering this year’s draft:
Stories abound about how NFL teams could position themselves to get him, though there is no reason to believe he would leave Texas next year, with or without a championship ring. His grandfather says he hasn’t discussed it with Arch, but he knows his grandson: “Arch isn’t going to do that. He’ll be at Texas.”
The Browns brass, along with the rest of the NFL, had to know that was a possibility with Manning given that he has barely played for the Longhorns, comes from a family with ties to the NFL and has NIL money to keep him content at the college level. Both Peyton Manning and Eli Manning spent four seasons in college, at Tennessee and Ole Miss, respectively, so it would be of little surprise if Arch, going into his third season, did the same thing.
For Cleveland, the primary hope has to be that Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and/or Shedeur Sanders prove to be franchise-level quarterbacks by the end of the 2025 season. If not, the 2026 draft is still expected to have a lot of high-quality quarterback options.
No matter what, the Manning name will linger for many in the NFL going into the 2027 NFL draft.
Are you surprised by this piece of information from Archie Manning? Do you think it is now certain that Arch Manning will not declare for this year’s draft and will that impact the Browns?
