Browns Nailed the Draft, Still Have a Quarterback Problem

The Cleveland Browns just had one of the best draft weekends in the league, and I mean that without any sarcasm. Landing Spencer Fano at left tackle, adding KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston to a receiver room that desperately needed playmakers, picking up a safety in Emmanuel McNeil-Warren who profiles as a future starter, even adding offensive line depth in Austin Barber. Andrew Berry clearly walked into that draft with a plan, and by every account, he executed it well. I’m genuinely excited about the young talent on this roster heading into 2026.

And yet here I am, writing the same article I feel like I write every single offseason, because none of that talent matters if you can’t throw the ball to it.

Let’s start with how bad things actually got last season, because I don’t think people fully appreciate it. Cleveland’s quarterbacks combined for the worst passer rating in the entire NFL. Not bottom five. Worst. They completed a league-low percentage of passes, averaged a paltry 6.0 yards per attempt, ranked 31st in completion rate, and somehow also led the league in interception rate while taking a sack on over 8% of dropbacks. That’s not one bad quarterback having a rough year. That’s a full season of chaos at the position, and it’s exactly why I have zero confidence walking into 2026 no matter how good the rest of this roster looks.

Now let’s talk about the room itself, because “wide open competition” is a generous way to describe what’s actually happening in Berea right now. Dillon Gabriel started six games last year and was, frankly, unwatchable in terms of upside, averaging just over 5 yards per completion with almost nothing happening down the field. Shedeur Sanders took over later in the season and showed some flashes, including a strong performance against Tennessee, but he also threw 10 interceptions in limited action and still has real turnover issues to clean up. Then in the sixth round of this year’s draft, the Browns added Taylen Green, an athletic project quarterback who profiles more as a developmental dart throw than a real answer for 2026.

And then there’s Deshaun Watson, who I genuinely don’t know how to write about anymore without getting worked up. The Browns gave up three first-round picks and a fully guaranteed $230 million contract for a quarterback who has barely played football since. He tore his Achilles in October 2024, came back from surgery, then re-tore it, and the team made the call to shut him down for the entire 2025 season rather than rush him back. He’s still on the roster. He’s still guaranteed money. His contract has void years stretching all the way to 2029. Cleveland’s “bed was made,” as one writer put it, the moment they signed that deal, and there’s genuinely no clean way out of it, not a cut, not really even a trade, since no team is lining up to inherit that contract and that history.

So here’s where I land, and I don’t think this makes me a pessimist, I think it makes me realistic. This roster, on paper, should be markedly better in 2026. The offensive line got real investment. The receiver room finally has size, speed, and separation ability that it didn’t have a year ago. Maybe even enough talent to finally catch the football!

And then, right as I was settling into feeling good about this roster, the Browns turned around and traded Myles Garrett to the Rams. I’m not even mad about the idea of trading him. He is not the difference between this team winning a Super Bowl and not, in fact far from it! He wasn’t going to be part of a contending window in Cleveland anytime soon, and getting future value for him while he’s still playing at an elite level is a defensible business decision. What bugs me is the return. Jared Verse is a good young pass rusher, I’ll give them that, but he’s not Myles Garrett, not even close. And the picks, a 2027 first, a 2028 second, and a 2029 third, are all far enough down the road that nobody really knows what they’ll be worth yet. Compare that to what the Cowboys got from Green Bay in the Parsons trade, and this return just doesn’t measure up. If you’re trading away a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and the best player in franchise history, I want a return that makes the rest of the league do a double take. This one didn’t.

So now the defense, which was supposed to be the steady half of this roster while the offense figures itself out, has its own question mark at the top. Verse is a legitimately good player, and the front office clearly believes he and the young defensive line led by Mason Graham can carry the unit. I’m just not ready to assume that without seeing it on the field first.

But enough about the defense. If this team had any kind of stable, competent answer at quarterback, I’d be talking myself into a playoff push right now. Instead, I’m watching a quarterback competition between a guy who couldn’t push the ball downfield, a guy who can’t protect the football, a developmental rookie who profiles more as a track athlete than a passer, and a $230 million cautionary tale who hasn’t taken a real NFL snap in over a year. That’s not a quarterback room. That’s a question mark wearing four different jerseys.

I want to be wrong about this. I want someone to step up behind a better offensive line, and real targets to throw to. I want Todd Monken’s track record as a play-caller to somehow paper over the uncertainty under center. But until one of these guys actually proves it on the field for more than a few good quarters here and there, I’m not buying the hype that the rest of this roster deserves. Cleveland did its job everywhere else. Now we wait to see if anyone in that quarterback room can do theirs.