The Cleveland Browns have two first-round picks in next year’s NFL draft after trading Myles Garrett, and a local media personality is suggesting they use one of those selections to replace QBs Sheduer Sanders and Deshaun Watson as quickly as possible.
Doing so would require Cleveland to submit a bid of a first-round pick to land QB Brandon Sorsby in the league’s supplemental draft, which is coming up in July. That would be a considerable risk given that Sorsby lost his NCAA eligibility, not to mention $5 million in NIL payments from Texas Tech, because he gambled on games in 2022 while a redshirt freshman at Indiana.
Sorsby didn’t bet on the Hoosiers to lose or wager on the single game in which he appeared that season. However, sports betting is now pervasive across the football landscape, and Sorsby is going to fight an uphill battle with regards to proving to teams that they don’t need to concern themselves with his past character issues.
Then there is the fact that the league is almost certain to suspend Sorsby for some length of time, if for no other reason than to send a message to other collegiate athletes that the supplemental draft isn’t a cheat code for them to bail out of any trouble they might find while in college.
The Browns would also have to pay Sorsby first-round money and would essentially remove themselves from the equation for a player like Arch Manning of Texas, a likely a top-10 pick in 2027 and a QB that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has openly coveted.
But there is real potential upside to Cleveland traveling the Sorsby path, including the ability to use its highest first-round asset next April to target superstar Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
Browns Will Field Elite Trio of Young WRs if They Draft Jeremiah Smith Next Spring
GettyOhio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
Anthony Lima of 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland took to social media on Saturday, June 6 and suggested the Browns boot longterm on both Sanders and Watson by submitting a first-round bid for Sorsby this summer, then focus on building around him next spring.
“Much better prospect than anything Browns have right now,” Lima posted to X. “Imagine redshirting first half of season and developing under QB whisperer [Todd] Monken and THEN having a chance to draft Jeremiah Smith 👀👀.”
Cleveland just used the Nos. 24 and 39 picks to acquire wideouts KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston in April, but analysts already almost universally regard Smith as a generational prospect.
He will likely be the first non-QB off the board next spring, and if Cleveland plays poorly enough, the team could be in position to snag him inside the top five.
Of course, the Browns will take a QB with that selection if they don’t already have one in-house, but acquiring Sorsby in July via the supplemental draft would take care of that problem.
Experts Around NFL Believe Brendan Sorsby Has 1st-Round Value
GettyQuarterback Brendan Sorsby.
Multiple media members, such as Todd McShay of The Ringer and Jason LaCanfora of SportsBoom, have either attributed first-round value to Sorsby or cited NFL executives who have.
McShay contended in late May that Sorsby’s athletic traits are superior to Manning’s and that the former Cincinnati QB, who threw for 7,200 yards over his final three seasons in college, is worth a first-round bet — even despite his off-field concerns, a looming punishment from the NFL and the fact that taking him in July wouldn’t allow for a franchise to watch how the rest of a strong and deep 2027 class develops over the course of the 2026 campaign.
If Cleveland bid its second first-round pick on Sorsby, which it acquired from the Los Angeles Rams via the Garrett trade last week, the Browns would still potentially have a high enough selection to nab another great signal-caller next spring, should one fall to them.
At that point, Cleveland would be in a position to trade a high-end rookie QB while moving forward with another, which perhaps isn’t the ideal roster-building scenario, but could be a lot worse.
However, if Monken and general manager Andrew Berry decide to make a play for Sorsby, they will presumably be doing so because they believe in his potential as a franchise quarterback. That, in turn, would free up the better of the team’s two first-rounders in 2027, which Cleveland could use to try and acquire Smith.
Browns Urged to Replace Shedeur Sanders With 1st-Round Pick, Draft Jeremiah Smith