In a battle between two MVP candidates in the AFC, one thing was made clear despite there only being one winner in the game - the AFC is absolutely stacked with star quarterback play, and that's something that the Cleveland Browns will have to contend with for years to come.
This is not a conference full of much older, likely soon to retire star quarterbacks akin to Aaron Rodgers or Matthew Stafford. Players like Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, and Joe Burrow are all under 30 years old, which means they'll be terrorizing the AFC for years to come.
The Browns might not have read too much into the Ravens game against the Bills in the AFC Divisional contest, but they should have.
Cleveland needs to develop a star quarterback to contend in AFC
Cleveland will likely not find their quarterback of the future in this year's NFL Draft. In fact, it feels a lot likelier that they'll aim for that goal in 2026. Free agency is right around the corner, and they can snag a stop gap veteran during that time. They can also draft a quarterback in the second or third round to develop behind that veteran, and hope they become a franchise signal caller.
But, it's hard to think about these "what ifs" when quarterbacks like Jackson and Burrow exist in their exact conference, and players like Allen and Mahomes are always seemingly waiting in the wings. Cleveland can't bank on taking a secret stud in the third round of the draft, especially since they didn't exactly draft well when taking Dorian Thompson-Robinson as a developmental QB.
Browns fans are spending the offseason talking about Kirk Cousins and Mac Jones while playing in a conference with Mahomes, Allen, Jackson and Burrow.
— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) January 20, 2025
Read more: Browns ranked least likely to bounce back of all teams that missed NFL Playoffs
The Browns are going to have to hope that by 2026, they're able to land somewhere lucrative in the draft order to snag a quarterback that could actually become a big piece to their future. The biggest name in that class is likely Arch Manning, but it's unclear if he'll even declare for that draft after just one year of starting with Texas.
Without a dynamic slinger like Jackson or Allen, or magical play makers like Burrow or Mahomes, it's hard to see Cleveland managing to make much progress in the conference even with major upgrades at the quarterback position over the next few years.
Couple that with the potential of C.J. Stroud piecing things together with a better receiving corp, Bo Nix getting even better after his astounding rookie year, or even Drake Maye excelling under a new head coach, and the Browns find themselves in some deep trouble without finding their next franchise signal caller.