Cleveland Browns now have another QB to consider in the NFL Draft

Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry announced this week that the team will make a “heavy investment” in the offense over the next six months.

That investment will likely include a renewed attempt to fix the quarterback issue, which is as bad as ever in spite of the best efforts of rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.

During most of the 2025 season, the Browns were in hot contention for the No. 1 overall selection in the 2026 NFL Draft, which would have allowed the team its pick of the available quarterbacks.

That dream died in the final weeks of the season, and the Browns now hold the No. 6 overall selection with three teams – Las Vegas Raiders, New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals – ahead of them and also in need of a quarterback, which take Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Oregon’s Dante Moore (if he declares for the draft) off the board.

Those are not the only quarterbacks who will be available in the draft, of course, and another name was added on Wednesday when Alabama’s Ty Simpson announced he was declaring for the draft.

Simpson spent four years with the Crimson Tide, but only took over the starter’s role this past season. He finished the year completing 64.5 percent of his passes for 3,567 yards, 28 touchdowns, and just five interceptions.

Those are nice numbers, but there was a sharp divide in his production as in his final four games, Simpson’s completion percentage dropped to 57 percent, and he averaged just 158 yards per game. Not all of that was his fault, of course, as Alabama had one of the worst run games in college football, but it is still something to consider.

That is especially true given that Simpson only made 15 starts in college, which has historically been a red flag for quarterbacks entering the NFL, especially if they are projected to be a first-round selection.

According to Dane Brugler at The Athletic, in the past decade, there have been three quarterbacks who fall into that category:

• Mitchell Trubisky, No. 2 overall to the Chicago Bears in 2017
• Dwayne Haskins, No. 15 overall to the Washington Commanders in 2019
• Anthony Richardson, No. 4 overall to the Indianapolis Colts in 2023

In case anyone is wondering, those are not the type of quarterbacks that anyone should be taking in the first round.

Brugler does highlight that Simpson could be an outlier, however, given that he did spend four years at Alabama, and he is a coach’s kid, as his father, Jason, has been the head coach at the University of Tennessee-Martin since 2006. Having grown up around the game could give Sampson an edge that those other quarterbacks did not possess.

All of this is relevant to the Browns as they have been linked to Simpson in multiple mock drafts with the expectation that they will use one of their two first-round selections on him.

That could work, especially if the Browns pair him with a veteran quarterback and commit to having Simpson sit for his first year and get up to speed. But patience is not always a strong suit with this franchise.

But there is also a risk in hoping that Simpson is the exception to the rule that inexperienced college quarterbacks don’t find success in the NFL. And that risk might be too much, even for a team as desperate for a quarterback as the Browns.

What do you think? Should the Browns take a shot on Simpson if he is there when they are on the clock? Let us know in the comments!