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The Cleveland Browns are in a position to make a splash in the 2025 NFL draft.
Armed with the second overall selection and a wealth of total picks, the Browns have the flexibility to be aggressive for high-end talent. We saw the Houston Texans do something similar two years ago, when they were also coming off their own Deshaun Watson era, when they selected Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud, and then immediately moved up to take Alabama pass rusher Will Anderson with the next pick.
Cleveland has a few pressing needs, but appears to be honing in on Colorado’s dynamic playmaker, Travis Hunter, with their first pick. Should they take the Texans' approach and trade up from their second-round pick, they can quickly overhaul the roster with an infusion of young talent. With the draft right around the corner, here are three intriguing trade-up scenarios for the Browns.
Browns receive: 1.20 (select Shedeur Sanders), 4.20Broncos receive: 2.1, 3.30, 4.2, 6.16
Shedeur Sanders may start to slip in the draft after being considered for a top-three selection for most of the process. Should he fall just far enough, the Browns could make a wild swing to reunite Sanders and Hunter, getting ahead of their rival Pittsburgh at the 21st pick.
This one-two punch would give the Browns their potential franchise quarterback and an all-star positional player. Even better, it cost very little to do, considering the extra third wasn’t even their own. Even then, they’ll still have eight picks to work with from this class to develop over time. Rinsing your hands of the Watson era alone would make a move like this worth it, as you can begin to build up your roster around a young quarterback.
Sanders would compete with Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco immediately, but those two would be good benchmarks to see his development and bring plenty of experience to help him grow. Hunter would be an instant impact player immediately, and is capable of taking over the top weapon role from Jerry Jeudy sooner rather than later. With those two threats, the Cleveland offense would have plenty of speed and playmaking to open up space for others while threatening every corner of the field.
Better yet, the Browns could go into 2026 without worries of needing a quarterback and could continue to build around him.
Browns receive: 1.24, select best offensive tackle available (Josh Simmons, Kelvin Banks, or Josh Conerly) Vikings receive: 2.1, 3.30, 6.16
The Vikings, with only four total picks in this draft, are on the opposite end of the asset spectrum from Cleveland, making them a logical trade-down spot unless a player they covet falls to them.
In this case, they pick up a late third and sixth to move down nine spots. The Browns, meanwhile, get ahead of multiple teams who may be targeting offensive linemen, most notably Houston. It’s a thin class at offensive tackle, and the two best, Armand Membou and Will Campbell, should be long gone by this point. That leaves just a few tackles worthy of a selection available. Whether that is Josh Simmons, Kelvin Banks, or Josh Conerly is up to Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski, but each is interesting and should fit this scheme.
The Browns could stick in their original spot, in which case an ideal interior lineman should fall to them, such as Ohio State’s Donovan Jackson or Alabama’s Tyler Booker. However, guard is a less pressing need for Cleveland. They will need a long-term answer for both Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller, but there’s an immediate need at tackle with question marks around Dawand Jones and the age and injuries of Jack Conklin.
Browns receive: 1.13Dolphins receive: 2.1, 3.3, 4.2, and 2026 4th
If the Browns want to make the play of the draft, there might be a spot in the first half of the draft that they can get to. Miami also has plenty of picks with 10 themselves, but three of them come in the seventh round, and they don’t have their third. The Dolphins have quite a few needs and clocked in as the second-oldest roster in 2024 when adjusted for snaps.
They have very little available on the defensive line after Calais Campbell left for Arizona. Their already thin offensive line has taken another hit with the official retirement of Terron Armstead. Tyreek Hill may or may not be traded, and the secondary is held together by a 30-year-old Jalen Ramsey. This roster is in dire need of a reset and could use youth at several positions.
In this trade, the Dolphins walk out with a strong return, giving them some flexibility to further move around the draft but ultimately cover several areas of need.
For the Browns, this may be another potential quarterback spot if the board were to fall that way. However, it’s more likely there’s a prospect here that the Browns covet that they believe they can help them now. This class evens out after the first couple of picks, so this would be the end of that range of players who could have gone in the top-10. Perhaps that is Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan to pair with Jerry Jeudy, or it could be a tackle that fell like Will Campbell or Armand Membou.
It’s rare to move up for a non-quarterback player so aggressively, but the Browns need to address multiple positions and set themselves up to introduce a new quarterback.
This article originally appeared on Browns Wire: NFL draft: How the Browns can reunite Travis Hunter, Shedeur Sanders
Continue reading...
Armed with the second overall selection and a wealth of total picks, the Browns have the flexibility to be aggressive for high-end talent. We saw the Houston Texans do something similar two years ago, when they were also coming off their own Deshaun Watson era, when they selected Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud, and then immediately moved up to take Alabama pass rusher Will Anderson with the next pick.
Cleveland has a few pressing needs, but appears to be honing in on Colorado’s dynamic playmaker, Travis Hunter, with their first pick. Should they take the Texans' approach and trade up from their second-round pick, they can quickly overhaul the roster with an infusion of young talent. With the draft right around the corner, here are three intriguing trade-up scenarios for the Browns.
Reunited: Browns Trade Up for Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders
Browns receive: 1.20 (select Shedeur Sanders), 4.20Broncos receive: 2.1, 3.30, 4.2, 6.16
Shedeur Sanders may start to slip in the draft after being considered for a top-three selection for most of the process. Should he fall just far enough, the Browns could make a wild swing to reunite Sanders and Hunter, getting ahead of their rival Pittsburgh at the 21st pick.
This one-two punch would give the Browns their potential franchise quarterback and an all-star positional player. Even better, it cost very little to do, considering the extra third wasn’t even their own. Even then, they’ll still have eight picks to work with from this class to develop over time. Rinsing your hands of the Watson era alone would make a move like this worth it, as you can begin to build up your roster around a young quarterback.
Sanders would compete with Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco immediately, but those two would be good benchmarks to see his development and bring plenty of experience to help him grow. Hunter would be an instant impact player immediately, and is capable of taking over the top weapon role from Jerry Jeudy sooner rather than later. With those two threats, the Cleveland offense would have plenty of speed and playmaking to open up space for others while threatening every corner of the field.
Better yet, the Browns could go into 2026 without worries of needing a quarterback and could continue to build around him.
Browns Leapfrog Offensive Line Needy Teams
Browns receive: 1.24, select best offensive tackle available (Josh Simmons, Kelvin Banks, or Josh Conerly) Vikings receive: 2.1, 3.30, 6.16
The Vikings, with only four total picks in this draft, are on the opposite end of the asset spectrum from Cleveland, making them a logical trade-down spot unless a player they covet falls to them.
In this case, they pick up a late third and sixth to move down nine spots. The Browns, meanwhile, get ahead of multiple teams who may be targeting offensive linemen, most notably Houston. It’s a thin class at offensive tackle, and the two best, Armand Membou and Will Campbell, should be long gone by this point. That leaves just a few tackles worthy of a selection available. Whether that is Josh Simmons, Kelvin Banks, or Josh Conerly is up to Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski, but each is interesting and should fit this scheme.
The Browns could stick in their original spot, in which case an ideal interior lineman should fall to them, such as Ohio State’s Donovan Jackson or Alabama’s Tyler Booker. However, guard is a less pressing need for Cleveland. They will need a long-term answer for both Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller, but there’s an immediate need at tackle with question marks around Dawand Jones and the age and injuries of Jack Conklin.
A Splash Play with Miami
Browns receive: 1.13Dolphins receive: 2.1, 3.3, 4.2, and 2026 4th
If the Browns want to make the play of the draft, there might be a spot in the first half of the draft that they can get to. Miami also has plenty of picks with 10 themselves, but three of them come in the seventh round, and they don’t have their third. The Dolphins have quite a few needs and clocked in as the second-oldest roster in 2024 when adjusted for snaps.
They have very little available on the defensive line after Calais Campbell left for Arizona. Their already thin offensive line has taken another hit with the official retirement of Terron Armstead. Tyreek Hill may or may not be traded, and the secondary is held together by a 30-year-old Jalen Ramsey. This roster is in dire need of a reset and could use youth at several positions.
In this trade, the Dolphins walk out with a strong return, giving them some flexibility to further move around the draft but ultimately cover several areas of need.
For the Browns, this may be another potential quarterback spot if the board were to fall that way. However, it’s more likely there’s a prospect here that the Browns covet that they believe they can help them now. This class evens out after the first couple of picks, so this would be the end of that range of players who could have gone in the top-10. Perhaps that is Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan to pair with Jerry Jeudy, or it could be a tackle that fell like Will Campbell or Armand Membou.
It’s rare to move up for a non-quarterback player so aggressively, but the Browns need to address multiple positions and set themselves up to introduce a new quarterback.
This article originally appeared on Browns Wire: NFL draft: How the Browns can reunite Travis Hunter, Shedeur Sanders
Continue reading...
