ClutchPoints
With the NFL Scouting Combine kicking off this week, speculation on all 32 teams’ selections in the upcoming draft is in full swing. The Cleveland Browns have drawn a great deal of interest – more than they generally receive during the regular season – given the team’s second overall pick and needs at multiple positions, including quarterback.
The Browns haven’t confirmed that they’ll take a quarterback with the number two pick, however. There’s some thought that the team will select the best player available, whether it’s Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter or Colorado’s Travis Hunter, who the Browns view as more of a wide receiver than a cornerback.
While Cleveland is keeping its options open heading into the draft, NFL insider Adam Schefter is certain the team is taking a quarterback.
“The one thing that I feel completely comfortable and confident in predicting, is that the Cleveland Browns will go quarterback at number two… It makes all the sense in the world that they’re going to [take a quarterback with their first pick]. The Cleveland Browns, quarterback at number two. Put it down for me,” Schefter said via the Adam Schefter Podcast on ESPN.
“You need financial relief and you need a quarterback and the only way to do it is at number two. So if the Titans decide they’re not going to go quarterback and they’re going to go with a generational player like Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter, that leaves the Cleveland Browns with the option of whichever quarterback they deem to be the best quarterback in this upcoming draft,” Schefter added.
The Browns are in the second-worst financial situation in the league as the team is currently more than $23 million over the salary cap. Cleveland’s dire straits are a direct result of the colossal mistake the team made by trading for Deshaun Watson and then signing him to a fully guaranteed $230 million contract.
Watson has been miserable since joining the Browns in 2022 and now he’s injured as well, having torn his Achilles twice in a three-month stretch.
Adding a competent quarterback on a cost-effective rookie deal would help the team get out from under the egregious Watson contract, which runs through the 2026 season. The big question for Cleveland is if the team views Miami’s Cam Ward or Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders as the best signal caller in the draft.
Most analysts have Ward ranked slightly above Sanders. But Sanders is considered the more pro-ready prospect, which could factor into the Browns’ decision. Unfortunately, Sanders won’t throw at the Combine, depriving Cleveland of an evaluation opportunity. However, the QB will show off his arm at his Pro Day, which will most definitely be attended by the Browns’ decision makers.
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