Browns could've had franchise QB instead of Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel

Billy Heyen

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Browns could've had franchise QB instead of Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel image

Doing an NFL Draft re-draft after one season is a tricky endeavor.

But one thing that's clear is that the Cleveland Browns didn't appear to find a franchise QB in the 2025 NFL Draft in either Dillon Gabriel in the third round or Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round.

The Browns made a trade early, down from No. 2 to No. 5, that allowed the Jaguars to take Travis Hunter.

But what if the Browns had stayed at the second pick, and now had this season's worth of information?

That's the premise used by Bleacher Report's Brent Sobleski in a new article this week.

In his re-draft he has Jaxson Dart go to the Titans at No. 1. He went 25th in real life, so he would've been there for the Browns last April whether they stayed at 2 or moved down to 5.

In the re-draft, then, Sobleski has the Browns take QB Cam Ward second. Ward was the original No. 1 pick, but he'd still be there if Dart went first.

"The Cleveland Browns were believed to be enamored with Cam Ward during the predraft process, though any hope of selecting him faded as the Tennessee Titans became his obvious landing spot with the No. 1 overall pick," Sobleski writes. "Hindsight presents a different possibility. With Ward still on the board and the Browns still searching for a franchise quarterback, Cleveland does not make the trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars to move down three spots."

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The Browns are now in a spot where they will hope to draft a new QB either in 2026 or 2027 to start moving in the right direction.

But this is also Cleveland. Quarterbacks don't work out in Cleveland. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered what they did.

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