New Mock Draft Suggests Browns Got It Wrong (Again) at Quarterback

The 2027 Draft is still over a full NFL regular season away, but if you’re a Cleveland Browns fan, it might not get here soon enough.

Because even after an offseason-long quarterback battle between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders for the starting job, many league observers and fans remain unconvinced that the team still hasn’t solved the most pressing issue facing the team:

Do the Browns have a franchise quarterback?

Count ESPN’s Jordan Reid among the naysayers, after publishing a second version of his 2027 Mock Draft, with Cleveland taking quarterback Dante Moore from Oregon first overall.

The Browns currently own two first-round selections, and many expect the club to once again pour some serious resources into the game’s most important position on the field. In Reid’s case, he envisions a trade with Miami for the draft’s opening pick, where Moore would become Cleveland’s choice.

“Moore has squeaky-clean mechanics, and his accuracy shined in his first year as a starter,” writes Reid. “This would be a good situation for him, with young players he can grow alongside. If he brings his stellar college play to the NFL, the Browns could turn things around quickly.”

The interesting part about Reid’s theory is that, while the Dolphins would end up holding the first overall pick originally, he believes they have found an eventual solution to the quarterback conundrum in Malik Willis, while Cleveland has not. This would force the Browns into giving up those two-first rounders and possibly something else for a shot at Moore, depending on how Cleveland’s season goes down.

Well, do the Browns have a franchise quarterback?

Judging from fans and media reactions after Watson was named the starter over Sanders earlier this week, the answer is a plain and simple no.

Even former NFL quarterback-turned analyst Ryan Fitzpatrick issued a damning assessment of the situation on air during the team’s last preseason game, on Thursday night, by offering, “Once [Watson] fails ... Yeah, it’s gonna happen.”

According to head coach Todd Monken, Watson didn’t do “anything specific” to separate himself from Sanders during the competition. And let’s not forget, Cleveland’s starting quarterback for their Week 1 matchup on the road in Jacksonville is still the same guy called a “big swing and a miss” by team owner Jimmy Haslam.

Such is life when it comes to Browns quarterbacks.

The problem for Cleveland now is that they’ll enter the season with a starting quarterback that only got about one half of the reps that a normal starting quarterback around the league would get in the offseason due to an open competition that ended up feeling anything but.

And the eventual winner, Watson, has done close to nothing in the four years prior in Cleveland, in exchange for a 230 million fully guaranteed deal that likely factored in the outcome of the QB battle.

That’s why Haslam’s remarks regarding the QB battle -- “Listen, somebody might have a great year and they're our quarterback forever” -- sound hollow.

What’s next for the Browns at quarterback?

Back in March of 2025, Haslam stated prior to the draft that netted Dillon Gabriel in the third round and Sanders in the fifth that “We'll figure it out for a year or two until we get the right person,” regarding the quarterback position.

Two drafts later, Cleveland is no closer to figuring it out than it was then.

Maybe 2027 will have the answer that has eluded the Browns since Bernie Kosar rigged the supplemental draft to land in Cleveland, back in 1985. Or maybe not. But the likelihood of the Browns already having their “quarterback forever,” as Haslam put it, look slim.

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