2026 Cleveland Browns Mock Draft: If Shedeur's The Guy (For Now?), Let's Get Him Some Help

The 2025 NFL season has come to a close, leaving us ready to start the NFL draft process.

There's two things that remain clear to me about this Browns team:

1. They still need a QB, as I don't believe the long-term answer is on this roster

2. They will not draft that QB in this draft, giving Shedeur Sanders a full season to either take massive strides forward or hit the reset button in the deeper QB class of 2027.

That leaves the Browns in an interesting spot where they're likely going to load up on players that can help a young QB develop, with the initial impact being a boost to Shedeur's environment. That's how we'll approach the draft for this team.

Fortunately, the Browns have 11 picks in this draft to help them build that scenario out, including 3 in the top 40.

In this mock draft, we take a look at a full seven round Cleveland Browns mock draft based on their current pick selections, with no trades and no information on how free agency shakes out.

Let's get to it!

Cleveland Browns Mock Draft Picks

• Round 1, Pick 6: Spencer Fano, OT, Utah

• Round 1, Pick 24: Denzel Boston, WR, Washington

• Round 2, Pick 39: Gennings Dunker, OT/OG, Iowa

• Round 3, Pick 70: Domonique Orange, DT, Iowa State

• Round 4, Pick 107: Brenen Thompson, WR, Mississippi State

• Round 5, Pick 139: Tyreak Sapp, EDGE, Florida

• Round 5, Pick 144: Matt Gulbin, OC, Michigan State

• Round 5, Pick 147: Domani Jackson, CB, Alabama

• Round 6, Pick 205: Isaiah Nwokobia, S, SMU

• Round 6, Pick 207: Eric Gentry, LB, USC

• Round 7, Pick 248: DJ Rogers, TE, TCU

Draft Analysis

Three offensive linemen in the first five rounds should certainly help give Shedeur more of a clean pocket to throw out of. Shedeur was pressured on over 40% of his dropbacks, per Pro Football Reference. You're not creating an environment for a young QB to succeed when you're not allowing time to make plays.

We also add some weapons on the outside, with Denzel Boston pretty instantaneously walking into a top three WR role on this team and Brenen Thompson acting as a nice rotational piece behind them.

The defense was dominant last season, but we didn't forget about them, either, adding depth pieces on all three levels.

Fantasy Impacts

It's tough to say what Denzel Boston's impact will be here. On the one hand, he'd be competing right out the gate with Jerry Jeudy and Cedric Tillman for the top three WR spots, giving him a real opportunity for volume immediately. That's huge for all types of leagues - redraft, best ball, and dynasty.

But this offense will still be a run-first, maybe even run-heavy, offense, and we really don't know what we're going to get with Shedeur Sanders throwing the football. And Harold Fannin Jr. is likely the leader in the clubhouse for most targets on this team. If they're only passing the ball 25-30 times a game, and Fannin is siphoning 20+% target share, and the backs siphon some as well...how much is really left for these three?

Of course, we could all be very wrong about this, Shedeur takes a leap behind a revamped offensive line, and the volume increases. Now we're talking about a really wide range of outcomes.

For now, let's go with the baseline scenario and call Denzel Boston a better-in-best-ball WR3/4. He's going to be a priority target as a mid-to-late first rounder in dynasty for WR-needy teams.

Brenen Thompson could also be interesting for dynasty, as Jerry Jeudy and Cedric Tillman are not exactly showing themselves to be superstars. It's possible he becomes the WR2 or WR3 of the future on this team, which is more than we can say about other landing spots. He's a speculative late-round flier here.

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