While the Cleveland Browns prepare for a quarterback competition, one NFL Insider believes they'll look to find their franchise QB in 2027.
Todd Monken is poised to oversee what's been dubbed an open competition at quarterback in the coming months. Barring a late addition via the draft or possibly free agency, one of Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders or Dillon Gabriel is expected to be the Cleveland Browns starting QB in 2026.
Whoever wins the battle may only be a temporary answer to the franchise's quarterback conundrum.
It's no secret that the 2027 quarterback class is expected to be a loaded one, potentially featuring the likes of Arch Manning, Dante Moore and Julian Sayin, among an assortment of other notable names.
The star-studded class is expected to leave the league's most QB-needy teams champing at the bit to be in position to land their franchise signal caller a year from now. One insider expects the Browns to be one of those teams.
As Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer wrote in his MMQB column this week, Cleveland is just one of a handful of teams he expected to punt on the QB position until next year.
That’s why, as I see it, the Jets, Browns, Dolphins and Cardinals are kicking the can down the road a year (though getting Malik Willis is a worthy swing by Miami at perhaps settling the position in another way). It’s also why teams may spend their second- and third-round picks at other positions this year, knowing there’s likely going to be not just a few franchise guys, but a lot of depth coming in 2027.
If Breer is right about Cleveland's quarterback pursuits, it could frame how it approaches this year's draft. In the same column, Breer mentioned that the Browns are one of a handful of teams looking to trade back, out of the top 10. Doing so could hypothetically net a future first that would give them so much-needed flexibility to move around in the 2027 draft and get a QB.
That said, 2027 picks may be hard to come by in anticipation of this highly-touted quarterback class.
For now, though, the Browns roll into next season hoping to find out if any of their current quarterbacks provide hope for the future. Monken's arrival provides a bit of a clean slate for the entire trio.
If no one emerges as the long-term answer, though, quarterback will be at the top of the list of needs for Cleveland next year. They likely won't be alone in their pursuits.
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