The Cleveland Browns have been one of the NFL’s most dysfunctional franchises since returning to the league in 1999, and there is little reason to believe that is going to change anytime soon.
Few teams have struggled to find consistent success like the Browns. Cleveland has cycled through coaches, quarterbacks, and front-office regimes while repeatedly failing to build a sustainable winner.
While there have been occasional signs of progress, Cleveland has consistently found ways to fall back into the same cycle. Let’s take a look at how they can change that and remove the tag as the “worst franchise in sports”.
The Browns have been searching for an answer at quarterback for years. Really think about it: When’s the last time you looked at Cleveland and said, “yeah, they have a franchise quarterback”?
The 42 quarterbacks who have started a game for Cleveland since 1999 include failed draft picks, journeymen, and players who were never supposed to be long-term answers.
So, to answer the franchise quarterback question since 1999: never. The fans in Cleveland have not once been able to enter a season with competent QB play.
Five of those 42 quarterbacks were drafted in the first round by Cleveland (Couch, Quinn, Weeden, Manziel, Mayfield). Taking that many shots to find your franchise guy and failing every time is essentially malpractice by the organization.
This problem has still not been resolved as we sit here in 2026, and it may only be getting worse.
The Browns recently made the controversial decision to start Deshaun Watson in week one over Shedeur Sanders. Who knows what the Browns are thinking, but it really doesn’t make sense.
Cleveland starting Shedeur would have been the logical thing to do, so of course they didn’t do it. Why would they want to find out what they have from their 24-year-old QB when they could start a 30-year-old upcoming free agent?
This brings us to the next issue with the Browns. Their failure to develop players at key positions.
The Browns have consistently mismanaged their young players, leading to serious damage being done to the players’ progression. This could be tied back to many players, but let’s use Sanders as the immediate example.
Shedeur was drafted in the fifth round last season after being projected as a first round pick for a majority of the draft process. This is huge for Cleveland, as the contract of a fifth round QB is of much lower value than that of a first rounder.
Imagine being able to build your team around a QB with an average annual value of just over $1 million. This becomes especially relevant when considering the growing value of contracts around the NFL. Patrick Mahomes is the highest-paid QB this season, making nearly $64 million.
Now the Browns will never have the opportunity to do that and have ruined any chance of Sanders being a productive member of the roster.
Another example to watch on the Browns right now is Taylen Green. An athletic quarterback who they drafted in the sixth round this past April.
Who knows how the roster will play out, but Green has enough talent to make an NFL roster. This is especially the case when you take into account how bad the Browns QB room is. Of course, he is currently the QB4 in Cleveland and may not be kept on the roster.
It makes no sense to have a talented project that you just drafted in the sixth round, a move that was considered a great value pick, and you have no plan for him. At the very minimum, you have to keep him in the organization as QB3 until you straighten out the top of the depth chart.
The biggest example of the Browns’ failures at developing players comes from the first overall pick in the 2018 draft. Baker Mayfield was supposed to be the guy that Cleveland fans could finally call their franchise quarterback. Now, he’s finding Pro Bowl-level success with a different organization.
How do you let that happen? The answer is pretty simple: the Browns got desperate. They finally got a taste of the playoffs under Mayfield, and they got greedy. They let their former first rounder walk and traded for Deshaun Watson, a move that is still haunting them to this day.
That brings us to the next point: The Browns need to stop making desperate moves as if they are ready. They are still years away; they can’t be relying on mid-level seasons to satisfy the fanbase.
The Browns have the tendency to make desperate moves when they finally start showing signs of life. The Watson trade and contract is the perfect example of this.
Mayfield got them into the playoffs after an 11-win season in 2020. They came back to earth in 2021 and were under .500. Cleveland got their first taste of playoff football since 2002 and apparently felt like they had the roster to get back.
They didn’t, and that has come back to bite them. Watson has played in just 19 games since being acquired from the Houston Texans and signing a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract.
That Watson contract is still affecting the Browns’ salary cap situation today, but that hasn’t affected the way they’ve spent their money. Cleveland has continued to make poor use of their money, using it on offensive lineman who are good players but make no sense in their current position.
Elgton Jenkins and Tytus Howard are some really good veteran options to have on the line. Does it make sense for those guys to cost over $20 million against the cap for a rebuilding team destined for a top five pick? No.
The problem isn’t the players that they are going out and signing. The issue is the timing of the moves. They have a tendency to forget where they are as a franchise and begin to spend to a level that will damage their future roster building capabilities.
These desperate spending tendencies reached another level when they signed guard Zion Johnson to a three-year deal worth nearly $50 million.
That contract made Johnson the 14th-highest paid guard in the NFL. According to PFF, he ranked 53rd among 81 qualified guards. Again, desperate moves that don’t make sense right now and only damage their future.
As Cleveland begins to look forward to the next chapter, let’s start taking a look at how they can change the narrative. How can the Browns take a step up and remove the “worst franchise in sports” tag? We’ve already been over the past developmental failures and desperate spending tendencies; now let’s take a look at what they can actually do in 2027.
The Browns hold two first-round picks in the upcoming 2027 draft, and this is the most important draft in franchise history. They have almost completely lost the fanbase and are hanging on by a thread after the Deshaun Watson decision.
They now have the opportunity to land two key players that will contribute to their rebuild. This is the time the Browns can finally land that franchise QB, while also adding a valuable player at another position of need. They can’t mess this up.
That choice to start Watson over Sanders made one thing clear: They are drafting a QB early in the 2027 NFL draft.
The class is deep, with more than half a dozen QBs potentially going in the first round. Arch Manning is the name that will generate the most hype through this college season and draft process.
2027 NFL Draft QB Class
| Arch Manning | Texas |
| Dante Moore | Oregon |
| Darian Mensah | Miami |
| CJ Carr | Notre Dame |
| Jayden Maiava | USC |
| Drew Mestemaker | Oklahoma State |
It’s safe to say one of these players will be wearing a Browns uniform when the 2027 season starts. That’s the first step to nailing the 2027 draft. Make the sixth first-round QB drafted since 1999 the guy that the fanbase can call their franchise QB.
The second step is to capitalize on the second first-round pick and use it to solidify their young core. Use that pick on an offensive lineman so you don’t need to overpay in free agency. Develop a wide receiver to go with the young QB. Make a move that a smart organization would do.
The Browns obviously have a lot of flaws, but surprisingly, drafting has not been one. They have been able to identify talent and find some real value. This is what gives me some confidence for the 2027 draft and the two first rounders at their disposal.
Carson Schwesinger is the guy who can become a mainstay on the defensive side for years to come. He was their second-round pick last season and won Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Mason Graham is the other young defender that they can confidently identify as a future star. The interior lineman has all the makings of a future pro bowler.
The rest of the young core is where the Browns can’t afford to mess up. Players like Harold Fannin, Spencer Fano, Quinshon Judkins, KC Concepcion, Denzel Boston, and Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. They have some really talented players on the roster; they just need to make it work.
Throw the 2027 draft picks into the mix with that youth movement is how you create a real threat as an NFL franchise.
This is how the Browns can turn it all around. Develop this talented group of players. Give them a few years without blocking them with desperate signings to try and keep the organization relevant.
Once you know what you have, that’s when you can open the checkbook. Your 2027 QB draft pick would still be on a rookie contract. The poor contracts that are currently going against the cap would be off the books. This is where the Browns can make some moves; it wouldn’t be desperate, it would be logical.
The Browns don’t need another quick fix. They need patience, development, and a long-term plan. If Cleveland can finally commit to that, the “worst franchise in sports” label doesn’t have to last forever.
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