With the 2026 NFL season about to get underway, the challenge for Cleveland Browns fans will be to focus more on Sundays than Saturdays. There will be an obvious pull toward the top college matchups featuring 2027 draft hopefuls like Arch Manning, Dante Moore, Julian Sayin and the rest of a loaded quarterback class.
There is nothing more brutal than draft talk prior to Week 1 of a new season, but the latest buzz around the NFL certainly won’t quell that chatter for Browns fans.
After initially shutting down contract talks and vowing to test free agency next offseason, Baker Mayfield was taken off the market on Tuesday. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made the Browns’ former No. 1 overall draft pick one of the NFL’s highest-paid players with a three-year, $165 million extension.
The reaction around the league was basically: “Holy overpay!” But as FanSided’s Zach Rotman wrote, Mayfield held all the leverage. His new contract cements next year’s free-agent quarterback class as one of the worst in recent memory.
How bad? Deshaun Watson could end up ranking among the best available.
“Mayfield held out for a deal to his liking, not only because he knew he had earned a substantial raise from his previously signed three-year, $100 million contract, but because he knew the options beyond him next offseason were rather unappealing,” Rotman wrote. “If the Buccaneers let Mayfield walk, here's a look at the free agent options in the 2027 class:
- Deshaun Watson
- Mac Jones
- Justin Fields
- Jacoby Brissett
- Marcus Mariota
- Geno Smith"
The Cleveland Browns are quickly running out of alternatives to drafting their next franchise quarterback
Everyone expects Cleveland to draft a first-round quarterback next year, but that boulder is already rolling downhill.
The Browns couldn’t get Shedeur Sanders ready to start the season, at least in head coach Todd Monken’s view, so that wild-card option is hanging by a thread.
Watson seems motivated to prove that he can still play, and maybe the Browns will benefit from that. But he’s not auditioning to stay in Cleveland.
Watson is scheduled to be released with a post-June 1 designation in March 2027 — and has been since December of 2024. No matter how this 2026 season plays out, the Browns will almost certainly move on from the veteran QB who won their starting job this summer.
As painful as draft talk in September can be, that’s the reality for Browns fans right now. The hope is that the team can continue to develop its wealth of young talent on both sides of the ball and begin to establish a winning culture under Monken's guidance.
But dreams of Cleveland landing Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith are fading fast, and we’re still 230 days out from the draft. Holding two first-round picks for the second straight year, the Browns will almost certainly be leveraging that capital for a quarterback.
They haven’t left themselves with any other choice.
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