Browns get two big offensive playmakers in latest NFL mock draft

While there’s a lot of football still to be played in the 2025 regular season, it’s always wise to look ahead and find ways to get better in the future, especially when your team is standing 1-5 like the Cleveland Browns.

With mock draft season underway, now’s a good time as any to look at potential fixes for current roster shortcomings among the talented prospects that will be joining the NFL vía the 2026 Draft next April.

Longtime ESPN Draft analyst Jordan Reid has dropped his most recent mock draft, and in it he sees the Browns loading up on offense with two explosive playmakers in the first round. Remember, the Browns currently possess the Jaguars’ first round selection, in addition to their own.

First up, at the third spot overall, Reid has Cleveland selecting a quarterback in Oregon’s Dante Moore, stating:

“Moore has only 11 career starts, but he is primed to be near the top of a QB class filled with question marks. The Browns have plenty of questions of their own under center, as rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders haven't established themselves as long-term options.”

In Reid’s exercise, Moore would be the second quarterback off the board, following Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, taken first overall by Tennessee.

Later on in the first round, Cleveland could add a weapon for Moore, according to Reid, by investing what was originally the Jaguars’ pick in Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate. On the subject, Reid writes:

“Tate is the next man up in the Ohio State receiver pipeline to the NFL, and he'd be a good fit with Dante Moore, whom we slotted to Cleveland at No. 3.”

Understandably, Reid’s latest analysis differs greatly from what he projected last May, when he mocked a trade up for Cleveland from third -- adding a first/round pick from the 2027 NFL Draft -- to the first overall spot and taking Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik. The Tigers QB's draft stock has taken a tumble through the first half of the collegiate season

A few spots below, with the fifth overall pick -- where Reid guessed the Jaguars (4-2) would be selecting during the past offseason -- the analyst had Cleveland choosing Ohio State safety Caleb Downs to fortify the defensive backfield. Unlike Klubnik, Downs still seems very much in play for a Top-10 pick in next year's draft.

In any case, it seems painfully obvious now after the first six games of the 2025 season, that the Browns urgently need an infusion of offensive talent at multiple positions. And, investing in two explosive first-round playmakers in next year’s draft would seem like a great place to start.