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Browns Rumors Espn 2026 Nfl Mock Draft Projects Trade Up To No 1

Bonisiwe Shabane
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browns rumors espn 2026 nfl mock draft projects trade up to no 1

With the 2025 NFL Draft recently in the rear-view mirror, many are already looking ahead to what 2026 has to offer. After the Cleveland Browns were the first team to trade back in the 2025 draft, ESPN predicts they will reverse course and trade up for the No. 1 overall pick in 2026. To acquire the top pick, the Browns trade up with the Tennessee Titans, who will end up with the No. 1 selection for the second straight year in the eyes of ESPN's Jordan Reid. Since the Browns own the Jacksonville Jaguars' 2026 first-round pick, Reid predicts they will use one as trade bait to acquire the top selection.

“Per our ESPN Bet-based draft order, Tennessee has the top pick again,” Reid wrote. “We don't know who will actually have the No. 1 pick next year, but the Browns have two first-round selections after their draft-night trade with the Jaguars. So I'm having Cleveland send the higher of its two picks (No. 3) and its 2027 first-rounder to the Titans to move up to the top spot.” With the first overall pick, Reid projects the Browns will take Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik.

Though impossible to project the draft order this far ahead — nobody would have thought Cam Ward would be the first pick last summer — Klubnik is one of several early favorites. Texas' Arch Manning, LSU's Garrett Nussmeier, Alabama's Kadyn Proctor and South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers are also popular No. 1 pick predictions. If the Browns end up with the first overall pick in 2026, one way or another, it will be their first time making the first selection since 2018. They took Baker Mayfield with that pick, and Myles Garrett at No. 1 the year before.

The NFL trade deadline has come and gone with minimal action from the Cleveland Browns. The only deadline move made by general manager Andrew Berry and Co. was to send reserve pass rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and a seventh round to the Chicago Bears for a sixth round pick. However, teams elsewhere (namely, Cleveland's Week 10 opponent, the New York Jets) shook up the 2026 NFL Draft landscape. The Indianapolis Colts no longer have a first round pick after acquiring cornerback Sauce Gardner from the Jets, giving them two to work with as they compete with the Browns in a race for... So, who did the Browns land with their two first round picks in this mock draft?

You can find it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. The post Browns rumors: The QB ESPN projects to go No. 1 to Cleveland in 2026 appeared first on ClutchPoints. As the Cleveland Browns are going through a quarterback battle with four options on the table, two of them selected in the most recent NFL Draft, there’s an analyst who believes the team will... While the Browns quarterback room is highlighted by Shedeur Sanders, among others, ESPN’s Matt Miller can see the team picking Cade Klubnik in 2026. In Miller’s 2026 NFL Mock Draft, he had Cleveland obtaining the No.

1 overall pick, meaning he envisions them having a poor year in the upcoming season. He had Klubnik out of Clemson going in the spot, even saying that besides the team selecting Sanders and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, the franchise should look for a “long-term passer” with the junior. Miller even said that Klubnik reminds him of Baker Mayfield, who was taken by the Browns with the first overall pick back in the 2018 NFL Draft. “Spending two picks on quarterbacks in 2025 — Dillon Gabriel (third round) and Shedeur Sanders (fifth round) — shouldn’t prevent the Browns from looking for a long-term passer here,” Miller wrote. “Klubnik enters the season as my No. 1 QB.

In 2024, he threw for 3,639 yards, 36 touchdowns, and six interceptions, highlighted by a gutsy performance against Texas in the College Football Playoff (336 passing yards, three TDs, one INT). Klubnik reminds me of Baker Mayfield — whom Cleveland selected with the No. 1 pick in 2018 — in terms of arm strength, mobility, and playmaking awareness.” The Cleveland Browns are thinking long-term. As they prepare to open their 2025 season against the Cincinnati Bengals, rumors are already swirling around their 2026 draft strategy. Per Bleacher Report’s latest mock (via ESPN’s Tony Grossi on September 6, 2025), the Browns will likely skip on quarterback and instead “target defense and O-line with two first-round picks” in 2026.

.@TonyGrossi says he's willing to trade the Browns two 2026 1st round picks and a 2027 1st round pick to move up for a rookie QB in the 2026 NFL Draft 😯 Do you agree? pic.twitter.com/xgEV9zR9Tp — ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) September 3, 2025 The Browns enter 2026 armed with not one, but two first-round picks, their own and the Jacksonville Jaguars’, a powerful combination. Expectations are mounting that the front office will avoid trading them away to chase a quarterback.

The Cleveland Browns haven't even kicked off their 2025 NFL season yet, but they're likely already looking ahead to next offseason. While they have one eye on Week 1's clash against the Cincinnati Bengals and their slim chances at a playoff berth this year, this team is likely already preparing for the next draft. It's not unreasonable that they would do so. The Browns are still rebuilding, especially on the offensive side of the ball, and they've got two first-round picks for 2026. That kind of ammunition could turn a bottom-dweller into a possible contender. Just ask the Houston Texans, who added quarterback C.J.

Stroud and EDGE Will Anderson Jr. with back-to-back selections back in 2023. Or the Detroit Lions, who came away with running back Jahmyr Gibbs and linebacker Jack Campbell the same night. There's been fear that the Browns wouldn't use both of their first-rounders next year, and instead burn them both to trade up for a quarterback. That worry is only compounded by the fact that Cleveland already drafted two rookie gunslingers this past offseason, Oregon's Dillon Gabriel and Colorado's Shedeur Sanders. Trading away both their first-round pick and the Jacksonville Jaguars' in 2026 to take another QB would be a waste of premium draft capital and a detriment to the development of their existing prospects.

Recently, ESPN's Tony Grossi suggested that the Cleveland Browns could use not only their two first-round picks in 2026 to trade up to ensure they land their top quarterback prospect, but also their number... Frankly, there doesn't seem to be a passer worth that kind of price in this year's class yet. .@TonyGrossi says he's willing to trade the Browns two 2026 1st round picks and a 2027 1st round pick to move up for a rookie QB in the 2026 NFL Draft 😯Do you agree? pic.twitter.com/xgEV9zR9Tp

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