While the Cleveland Browns‘ offseason workout program is underway and attention turns to the looming quarterback competition between Shedeur Sanders, Deshaun Watson and Dillon Gabriel, general manager Andrew Berry hasn’t dismissed the possibility of adding another passer to the room.
Cleveland didn’t sign a quarterback in the first wave of free agency in March, but at the NFL’s annual league meeting in Phoenix, Berry said he wanted to remain flexible about bringing in another signal-caller. He also indicated his preference for a possible addition.
“Our lean would be, if we do add someone to the quarterback room, it would be someone who’s a younger player most likely,” Berry said. “But I can’t state that definitively because I don’t know what the next couple weeks will hold. Anyone that we bring in at any spot on the roster, our thought is that they are competing.”
Watson, 30, is now healthy and expected to compete with Sanders and Gabriel to be the starting quarterback. Sanders in November 2025 became the 42nd quarterback to start a game for the Browns since the franchise returned to Cleveland in 1999.
Berry added that it’s “wholly realistic” for Cleveland to add a young quarterback who could also compete for the starting job. However, with the top projected first-round quarterback prospect in the 2026 NFL draft (April 23-25, ESPN, ABC and ESPN the app), Fernando Mendoza, expected to be selected by the Las Vegas Raiders with the No. 1 overall pick, where would the Browns find a potential starter?
Cleveland has done its due diligence on quarterback prospects, meeting with several at the combine in February. The Browns hold the No. 6 and No. 24 overall picks and seven picks over the final two days. Cleveland also held a predraft visit with former Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, the second quarterback and 20th prospect on ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr.’s Big Board.
The 6-foot-1 and 211-pound Simpson, a former five-star prospect who sat behind Bryce Young and Jalen Milroe at Bama before getting his shot, had an up-and-down lone season as a starter. In ESPN NFL draft analyst Jordan Reid’s QB rankings, he noted that Simpson had an eight-game stretch in which he faced four top-16 ranked opponents (Georgia, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Tennessee) and threw for 1,954 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and only one interception while completing 71.9% of his passes.
“There isn’t a throw that Simpson feels that he’s incapable of making, as his toughness and confidence shined in spurts,” Reid wrote.
Simpson, though, struggled down the stretch of the Crimson Tide’s 2025 season and registered an 11.2% off-target percentage that ranked 63rd in the FBS. He also dealt with multiple injuries, including a case of gastritis that caused him to drop from 210 pounds to 190 in the second half of the season.
Simpson’s lack of college experience — 15 starts, all in 2025 — has also raised questions. The track record of quarterbacks who have been selected in the first round with 20 or fewer college starts is littered with busts and passers who did not live up to their draft status. The historical evidence combined with his résumé wasn’t a hindrance to Simpson when he decided to enter the draft; he said he received a first-round grade from multiple teams.
“I feel like I’m ready,” Simpson said at the NFL combine in late February. “I’m a franchise quarterback. … Alabama prepares you most for the NFL, and with the infrastructure that they had, and the guidance from Coach [Nick] Saban, Coach [Kalen] DeBoer, Coach [Ryan] Grubb, all the coordinators that I had before. I run an NFL-type system, and it’s definitely prepared me for saying those long playcalls, saying those checks, making sure that I get us in the right protection.”
Browns coach Todd Monken has a relationship with Simpson through his father, Jason Simpson, who is the head coach at the University of Tennessee at Martin and an alum of Southern Mississippi. Monken was head coach at Southern Miss from 2013 to 2015, and he later recruited Ty Simpson as the University of Georgia’s offensive coordinator.
“I have spent time with Ty. I think that’s obvious, and we’ll continue to do so,” Berry said at the league meeting. “But I think he has a bright NFL future.”
Several quarterbacks could be selected on Day 2 of the draft, such as Miami’s Carson Beck, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Penn State’s Drew Allar. Beck overlapped with Monken at Georgia, serving as the backup quarterback for the Bulldogs’ back-to-back national championships.
Though the Browns drafted a pair of quarterbacks in last year’s draft, Berry said he would consider drafting a passer every year.
“It’s the most important position,” Berry said. “We wouldn’t talk about it any differently if you’re drafting an O-lineman or a D-lineman or something along those lines. I don’t think that you can invest in it enough.”
