If you thought mock draft season was over with the conclusion of the 2026 NFL Draft, think again. The draft is the gift that keeps on giving, leading to an insatiable appetite for endless possibilities, even if predicting them a full calendar year out is about as effective as reading glasses without lenses.
In any case, CBS Sports' latest edition not only omits the position many would expect, but has the Browns addressing one that would seemingly indicate they made a blockbuster move at the 2026 trade deadline. The draft order was predicted using reverse Super Bowl odds, so don't kill the messenger (or the author, Cooper Petagna) for where Cleveland is slotted to pick.
With the Browns holding the No. 4 pick in this exercise, they're on the clock after seeing the Jets, Cardinals, and Dolphins select ahead of them, nabbing quarterback Arch Manning, quarterback Dante Moore, and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, respectively. This would represent the third straight year of the Browns picking in the top five and still not having a chance at a top-tier quarterback.
Such a development is so Browns that it would have fans feeling like Bane from The Dark Knight Rises. Editorialized, of course: "[The Jets, Cardinals, and Dolphins] merely adopted the dark. [The Browns were] born in it, molded by it."
This Browns 2027 draft projection hints at a move fans won’t like
With the aforementioned fourth pick, Petagna tabs University of Texas EDGE rusher Colin Simmons as the newest Cleveland Brown. Simmons has racked up 21.0 sacks and 29.5 tackles for loss in his first two years of college football — truly otherworldly production for a player who just turned 20 years old in January.
Whether the Browns have a need at the EDGE position is the question — unless a treacherous 2026 season saw them rip off the Band-Aid with Myles Garrett and send him to a contender for a bounty of picks.
If Garrett were indeed traded, fans can be sure the team would have at least another first-round pick in the 2027 draft. They could theoretically address the quarterback position with that selection, with no shortage of intriguing talents still on the board, including Texas Tech's Brendan Sorsby, South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers, Ole Miss' Trinidad Chambliss, and Ohio State's Julian Sayin (should he declare).
What's more, if the Browns' quartet of signal-callers (Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel, and Taylen Green) captain the franchise's third straight abysmal campaign, there's ostensibly no scenario where any of them is tabbed as the unquestioned starter for 2027. So, despite the maddening messaging from the organization as it relates to Watson in particular, Browns fans can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The franchise will be free from Watson's onerous contract following the season — though he will be leaving two hefty dead cap hits in 2027 and 2028 as a parting gift. With his departure will come a true new era of Cleveland Browns football, without the dark cloud that has hovered the franchise since his arrival in 2022.
If this mock draft proves predictive, it's likely with the caveat that the Browns have a second first-round pick that is not yet accounted for, with several other future selections as well. While losing Myles Garrett would sting, if the Browns made up for it by acquiring their franchise quarterback of the future, it would at least be worth it.
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