The Cleveland Browns have a top two pick in the first round of the NFL Draft for the first time since 2018, which is when the team drafted both Baker Mayfield and Denzel Ward to revitalize the franchise. While Ward's still around and has become a face of the franchise, Mayfield was traded from the team after a disappointing start to his career in The Land.
2025 will see an array of talent available atop the draft, but quarterback is definitely one of the few positions that might actually be thin for the Browns and other teams looking to find a replacement signal caller for next season. Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward are essentially the consensus first and second picks in the draft, and both are quarterbacks with raw talent but high ceilings.
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Ward seems like the Browns' best bet for the Browns at number two overall, with Sanders likely to go first overall to the Tenessee Titans. That, however, is just one of several moves Cleveland can make in the draft to revitalize their offense. With this mock draft - done courtesy the NFL Mock Draft Database - they do just that in three rounds.
2025 NFL Mock Draft for Browns after Week 18 and end of season
Round 1, 2nd pick: Cam Ward, QB | Miami
Ward is one of two quarterbacks potentially worth selecting atop the 2025 draft. In a weak class overall, he and Sanders lead the pack. His talents are likely to be sought out by other teams in dire need of a new QB, like the New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders, but if he falls to Cleveland, they should bite.
Ward finished up his final college football season as a Heisman Award finalist, going for 4,313 passing yards, 39 touchdowns, and a QBR rating of 88.7 to finish up his career with Miami. Ward is seen as a very raw talent, though his arm and long passing ability would make him a seamless fit in a Kevin Stefanski-molded offense.
There's been a ton made of how bad this class is for quarterbacks, but it feels like Ward is a safe bet for the Browns to invest in. Sure, he has a propensity for really ugly interceptions, and has to get better about holding the ball for too long in the pocket, but these are fixable traits for a talent as great as Ward.
Round 2, 33rd pick: Grey Zabel, T | ND State
Another elephant in the room as it pertains to the Browns is how badly their offensive line performed this season. If they're looking to bolster not just their passing game but their run game in 2025, then they'll need reinforcements - especially at tackle. That's why drafting Zabel in the second round makes perfect sense.
A new offensive line coach is soon to enter the fold for Cleveland, so it might be difficult to attract veteran talent on the O-line to a team in such flux at that position. Bringing in someone like Zabel, who led an O-line known for creating one of the best run games in college football, would be a great swing to take with the 33rd overall pick.
By taking Ward 2nd, the Browns can build around him with Zabel as their first piece to that end.
Round 3, 67th pick: Tez Johnson, WR | Oregon
Another area of the Browns' offense that can use some serious help is their wide receiving corp. Jerry Jeudy proved that he could be their WR1 moving forward, but outside of him, Cleveland has had no reliable receiving help to provide to any one of the quarterbacks they had starting in 2024.
Johnson, a 5'10" receiver out of Oregon, had a decent season when getting a considerable amount of targets from quarterback Dillon Gabriel. He only picked up 898 receiving yards on the season, but when seeing 10 or more targets, he caught for 467 total yards. That's certainly worth slotting in for Elijah Moore's production, who's likely to walk in the offseason.
Round 3, 93rd pick (via BUF): Xavier Watts, S | Notre Dame
Defense is likely the furthest thing from the Browns' front office's mind as something to improve upon in the offseason. Their success is just a matter of health, especially for players like Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome II. However, outside of safeties Grant Delpit and Ronnie Hickman, Cleveland was sorely missing more solid safety play.
Watts had six interceptions and eight passes defended in 2024, along with 42 solo tackles for the Fighting Irish. Against the Indiana Hoosiers in the CFP's first round, he had a huge pick and ten total tackles to help Notre Dame move on to the quarterfinals. There, he had seven tackles on the way to helping Notre Dame take down Georgia.
Watts would be a high ceiling late pick player to take, which is exactly where the Browns should be selecting players for reinforcements and not as starters. He could slot in behind or alongside Delpit if the Browns feel Juan Thornhill is still leaving something to be desired.