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Browns Overhaul Offense With Fernando Mendoza Makai Lemon In New 2026

Bonisiwe Shabane
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browns overhaul offense with fernando mendoza makai lemon in new 2026

The Cleveland Browns desperately need to revamp their offense, and that showed most in a horrid loss to a previously one-win New York Jets team. Well, in a new mock draft done by Daft on Draft, the Browns do just that. Currently holding the No. 4 pick and the No. 19 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft (thanks to the Jacksonville Jaguars), the Browns were able to make a dent in their offensive needs. In this mock draft, there were no trades available, so teams like the Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, and New York Giants all passed on quarterbacks after each drafting one early in the draft...

This gave the Browns the first choice at the quarterback position. With the No. 4 pick in this mock draft, the Browns selected their new quarterback in Indiana's Fernando Mendoza. Standing out this season with the Hoosiers, Mendoza has a statline of 2,300 yards, 26 touchdowns, and five interceptions as he sits as a Heisman candidate. The Browns then doubled up on offense, addressing their league-worst wide receiver room. With the Jacksonville pick, the Browns selected USC wideout Makai Lemon.

With refined, not flashy, wide receivers like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Emeka Egbuka dominating the NFL, the Browns try their hand at their own in this mold. Lemon has 937 yards and six touchdowns this season for the Trojans. Many will complain that the Browns did not select an offensive lineman with the Jacksonville pick, but by the time they came back on the clock, the likes of Cici Mauigoa, Spencer Fano, and... This Cleveland Browns 2026 NFL mock draft is led by Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza and offensive help No one knows what the future holds for the Cleveland Browns next year.

A new front office? A new head coach? A new quarterback? The Week 15 loss to the Chicago Bears was among the worst of the year for the Browns, but did nothing to change their 2026 NFL draft order position. Cleveland will play out their last three games, two at home, with nothing to play for besides pride, future contracts, and NFL draft positioning. Next year’s draft seems likely to bring the Browns another new quarterback of the future instead of building around Shedeur Sanders.

Fernando Mendoza, Arch Manning, and Dante Moore (if they all declare) could all be worth the top pick in the 2026 NFL draft. Monday after Week 15’s loss brings us another Cleveland Browns 2026 NFL mock draft. This time, we add Mendoza, one of his favorite targets, and a lot of offensive line help. We used Pro Football Focus’ simulator for this mock draft. 1st round - QB Fernando Mendoza, Indiana The 2025 NFL season is just over halfway completed, and it is already draft season for most Cleveland Browns fans.

It has been another disappointing season for Cleveland, leading to many questions about the future of the franchise. Is head coach Kevin Stefanski on the hot seat, or is his job secure for 2026? Who will be starting at quarterback to open next season? Will general manager Andrew Berry be the one selecting players in the 2026 NFL Draft? There are a ton of questions to be answered for the Browns this offseason. But the biggest question for fans will be: what are they going to do with this offense?

Switching play-callers and quarterbacks mid-season has harbored minimal improvement to this point. Rebuilding and revamping the offense must be a focus for whoever his heading the front office and coaching staff. That is a focus for Cleveland early in this 2026 NFL mock draft. Shedeur Sanders may or may not have a real chance to prove himself as the future starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. But as a fifth-round pick, even if he plays fairly well to finish the season, it may not prevent the Browns from prioritizing finding their franchise signal caller atop the 2026 NFL Draft. If the Browns are selecting third overall, there is a very good chance they take a stab at a new quarterback.

With the season that Fernando Mendoza is putting together for the Indiana Hoosiers, he certainly could be the first one off the board in April. The Cleveland Browns need a complete offensive overhaul, and in a new 2026 NFL mock draft, they get the requisite pieces to do so. Outside of a duo of young running backs and a sturdy rookie tight end, there are not many solid pieces to build around offensively for the Browns. However, in this new mock draft done by Daft on Draft, Cleveland gets a new quarterback of the future and drafts a new wide receiver (who just so happens to be a Biletnikoff Award... In the newest episode of the Daft on Draft podcast, the hosts had the Browns selecting Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, comparing him to C.J. Stroud coming out of Ohio State in 2023.

Moore is coming off of a dominant 27-of-30 game for 306 yards against Minnesota. He is one of the more fundamentally advanced quarterbacks in college football, which makes his transition to the NFL an intriguing one. Join the discussion → Share your thoughts! Read more from our local writers → Surviving Trauma - Lorna Wilson Even if the real thing is still months away, mock drafts always have a way of inspiring a little optimism for NFL fans, especially when their teams are doing as badly as the Cleveland... CBS Sports’s Cooper Petagna takes a jab at how the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft could shake out, including the Browns two picks among the first 18 selections based off current projections.

With the fourth overall pick, Petagna has the Browns selecting Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, hardly a surprise given the level of play shown by Browns’ passers this year. Mendoza has been shooting up draft boards in recent weeks while leading the second-ranked Hoosiers to a perfect 8-0 record to start the season. By the way, Mendoza has placed himself firmly in the Heisman race, as well, overtaking Alabama’s Ty Simpson as the betting favorite this week. In CBS Sports’ simulation, though, Mendoza would not be the first quarterback selected. That honor would go to Simpson, picked by the Saints first overall. One turn later, they have Oregon’s Dante Moore heading to the Jets.

The Cleveland Browns will look to the 2026 NFL Draft as a chance to possibly remake their lackluster offense on the fly. Once again, Cleveland has wasted one of the best defenses in the league by putting a non-competitive offensive product on the field. Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski not only need to need to select a franchise quarterback who can overtake both Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, but they must land a wide receiver who can take... This 3-round 2026 NFL Mock Draft might be exactly what the Browns are looking for, as all of their needs can be filled without needing to trade up and sacrifice even more of the... In this exercise, imagine Indiana's Fernando Mendoza and Oregon's Dante Moore are already off the board. Simpson is by no means just a consolation prize, as he excells in many of the area where Gabriel and Sanders are currently coming up short.

Simpsons has the perfect combination of quick diagnosing skills, accuracy when throwing into tight windows, and ability to avoid turnovers while showing more arm talent than Gabriel or Sanders should put him in prime...

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