We haven’t yet reached peak NFL mock draft season, but the early returns show a clear expected outcome for the Cleveland Browns.
With the sixth overall pick, data from 77 mock drafts predict Cleveland to take either Spencer Fano (32.5 percent) or Francis Mauigoa (20.8 percent). Both players were among the best right tackles in college football during the 2025 season and are considered locks to be selected sometime early on Day 1 of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Fano makes the most sense, as he’s spent full seasons for Utah at both tackle spots (though he last played on the left side in 2023). The Browns could use all the O-line versatility they can get right now. Aside from Dawand Jones (and hopefully Joel Bitonio), every Week 1 starter from 2025 is scheduled to hit free agency next month.
Jones attempted to make the full-time switch to left tackle last year, but that didn’t last long. He shifted back to the right side following an injury to Jack Conklin, and was then quickly lost for the season himself due to knee and hamstring tears.
With Conklin expected to join Wyatt Teller and Ethan Pocic as 2026 free agents, the Browns will likely emerge from free agency and the draft with new players at center, guard and tackle — with a clear emphasis on the latter.
The troubling news for Browns fans? This isn’t a good year to need a Day 1 starter at either tackle spot, according to ESPN analyst Ben Solak.
Cleveland’s 2026 plans could be foiled by a down year for offensive tackle prospects
Solak believes there’s a reason why Fano, Mauigoa and Caleb Lomu have been popular mock picks for the Browns at No. 6. There are no consensus franchise left tackles in this year’s draft class like Joe Alt in 2024 or Charles Cross in 2022.
Mauigoa and Fano are expected to be the first guys off the board, but both played mostly at the right tackle spot in college. Lomu, Monroe Freeling, Max Iheanachor, Kadyn Proctor, and Blake Miller are other popular prospects at the position, but are any of those guys capable of locking down starting jobs as Week 1 rookies?
That would be a no, per Solak.
“To be clear: I like plenty of these guys (Iheanachor and Miller are my dudes), and even the ones I'm sketchy on, I can see how a positive developmental track would play out. But even for those guys I like, the idea of a Week 1 start really shakes me up. Forcing young tackles into action too soon can teach them bad habits and hurt their confidence.
The best immediate starters by consensus are Francis Mauigoa (Miami) and Spencer Fano (Utah). But Mauigoa looks like a guard to me, and Fano is far too skinny for my tastes at tackle. I don't view either as a set-it-and-forget-it pass protector in Year 1.”
Browns fans won’t love the sound of that at all, especially given the state of this year’s free agent class. Cleveland could find itself overpaying for a player like Green Bay’s Rasheed Walker, who definitely wouldn’t be available to sign off the street if he was a legitimate guy.
Would Walker be an upgrade over Cam Robinson? Absolutely. But the Browns need franchise pillars on offense, and right now, aside from maybe tight end Harold Fannin Jr., they're still searching for them.
This could be one of those drafts where offensive tackles taken on Day 2 end up being the best of the class, and Browns fans can only hope their team’s upcoming dart throws at the position hit dead-center.