Cleveland Browns sound like they were ready to shake up their quarterback room in a different way during the 2026 NFL Draft
Cleveland Browns brought in QB Taylen Green out of Arkansas in the NFL Draft, but they may have had another plan if it didn’t fall through.
Going into the 2026 NFL Draft it was a big question on whether or not the Cleveland Browns would add another quarterback. Cleveland made it happen by taking Arkansas QB Taylen Green in the sixth round and they now have four guys in the room.
Cleveland’s starting quarterback battle will be played out between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders. Dillon Gabriel is the other second-year quarterback in the room alongside Sanders — and now he’s joined by Green.
Coming away from the draft, it appears Green may not have been the original quarterback Cleveland was looking to bring in.
Browns GM Andrew Berry sounds like he was very interested in Ty Simpson
The Los Angeles Rams brought in former Alabama QB Ty Simpson with the No. 13 quarterback, but Berry’s approach to the position in the draft via Yahoo makes it sound like the Browns were thinking heavily about taking Simpson later in the first round.
“I know going into this year, the thought would be that the ’26 class would be really strong at that position,” Berry stated. “It wasn’t as strong as probably most around the league anticipated. So you want to stay adaptable with that, and you don’t want to force it if it doesn’t necessarily line up with where your resources are positioned in the current year.
“So we really focused, and particularly when Ty went off the board, we really focused on just the infrastructure around it, and we were really pleased with the players that we selected.”
Berry pointed to the fact that the Browns were comfortable with building around the quarterback following the Simpom going off the board at No. 13. Cleveland was always going with OT Spencer Fano with their first pick in the draft, but it’s now easy to infer Simpson may have been the guy at No. 24 if he was there.
Cleveland ended up taking Texas A&M WR KC Concepcion with the No. 24 overall pick and he’s going to have a key role for the team in 2026. The additions of Fano, Concepcion, and Denzel Boston are a strong investment in giving whoever the starting quarterback is better personnel to work with.
The Browns are set to have a quarterback battle through OTAs and early in training camp. Best-case scenario, the Browns have a serviceable option on the roster. If not, you’ll see the Browns taking another player at the position in the 2027 NFL Draft.
