There has been plenty to debate and analyze during what has been an eventful Cleveland Browns offseason. And while one topic — a draft that’s still about 300 days and a full NFL season away — took no time to become played out and tiresome, the Browns helped ignite that conversation by trading Myles Garrett to Los Angeles on June 1.
It’s painful to even think about the 2027 NFL Draft at this point. New head coach Todd Monken hasn’t even led this year’s rookie class onto the field for their first training camp practice yet.
But the Browns once again hold a pair of first-round selections and double-digit picks overall in the draft. With every loss (and every poor quarterback performance), the discussion will shift between the present and future.
NFL Draft coverage, of course, is a year-long affair. There have been plenty of way-too-early mocks out there for fans to dig into, and our colleagues over at NFL Spin Zone just published their latest following the conclusion of mandatory minicamps.
FanSided’s Sayre Bedinger mocked Oregon quarterback Dante Moore to Cleveland inside the top three picks, and he likely won’t be the last. More interesting, though, is the back-and-forth dilemma that many are already tangling with in regards to the Browns’ selection: best quarterback available or superhuman Ohio State wide receiver prospect Jeremiah Smith?
The Jeremiah Smith debate should keep Browns fans busy this year
Bedinger’s pick for the Browns makes plenty of sense on paper. Cleveland just used a pair of top-40 draft picks on KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston. They have an emerging second-year wideout in Isaiah Bond, and one of the most impressive young tight ends in football in Harold Fannin Jr. Veteran Jerry Jeudy, still just a couple years removed from a Pro Bowl season, is under contract through the 2027 season.
The Browns shouldn’t need to use a top-five pick on a wide receiver in the 2027 draft. In an ideal scenario, their young talent emerges this season, leaving the quarterback position as the obvious missing piece. Whether it’s Arch Manning, Moore, Darian Mensah, Drew Mestemaker, or one of the other top projected prospects in next year’s class, Cleveland already has the capital in place to land their next franchise QB in the making.
“The Cleveland Browns will get one last look this year at Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders before ultimately making another long-term decision at the quarterback position. This is a team that hasn't been simply living in quarterback purgatory for the past 25-plus years — they've been in quarterback hell,” Bedinger wrote. “Especially after trading Myles Garrett, it appears as though the Browns are banking on the chance to take their next franchise signal caller in 2027.”
The question that needs to be sorted out over this year’s college football season is just how deep this 2027 QB class really is. We're already expecting to see more quarterbacks drafted with premium picks than recent years. What will be interesting is whether the Browns value the most talked about names, like Manning and Moore, over a second-tier that could include hidden gems like Trinidad Chambliss.
Pro Football Network’s most recent mock had the Browns making Smith the first non-quarterback off the board inside the top five, before targeting their quarterback later in the first round.
“After selecting two receivers in this past draft, the Cleveland Browns will still be in a prime position to select the best offensive player available in 2027 if they’re picking in the top five,” PFSN’s Alec Elijah wrote. “One of the most prolific receivers in recent history, Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith has been a guaranteed first-round pick since he stepped on campus in Columbus. If Shedeur Sanders can prove to the Browns that he is worth taking a chance on as their long-term starter at QB, bringing on one of the best receiving prospects in recent history will only put the offense in an even better position moving forward.”
This is all conjecture still 10 months away from the actual event. But last year’s endless offensive tackle vs. wide receiver debates are already morphing into quarterback vs. Jeremiah Smith chatter, and it’s best for Browns fans to just buckle in for it now.
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