Browns rumors: Cleveland urged to draft Travis Hunter over Shedeur Sanders by former GM
03/25/2025 10:26 AM
The Cleveland Browns are in an awkward place as a franchise. Cleveland is left without a starting quarterback after Deshaun Watson’s Achilles injury recovery setback. However, they are unwilling to trade away key players like Myles Garrett and go full rebuild mode. One NFL analyst thinks the Browns may even pass up on drafting a quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum released a 2025 NFL mock draft on Tuesday via ESPN. In this exercise, Tannenbaum pretends to be each individual NFL general manager when making each pick.
Tannenbaum made a somewhat surprising pick, having the Browns select Travis Hunter over Shedeur Sanders at the second overall pick.
“Cleveland needs a quarterback, so I considered Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders here. But it also needs cornerback and receiver help,” Tannenbaum wrote. “Hunter is an extremely rare player, having played more than 1,100 career snaps at both of those positions.”
Tannenbaum noted that Cleveland’s defense struggled against the pass in 2024. They finished towards the bottom of the league in opponent quarterback rating, yards allowed per play, and interception rank.
Hunter could pair nicely with Denzel Ward as elite cornerbacks in man coverage. He could also take a few occasional snaps on offense as a wide receiver.
This approach would leave Kenny Pickett as the unquestioned starter in Cleveland entering the 2025 season.
Browns among teams urged to trade down in 2025 NFL Draft
A different ESPN analyst believes that the Browns should trade down if they aren’t planning to draft Shedeur Sanders.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell published an article on Monday where he labeled teams that should trade up or trade down in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
"If the Browns aren’t targeting Sanders, they need to add more picks, especially in the top 100 selections. They have the most draft capital of any team by Chase Stuart’s model heading into April, but I’d argue they could use even more. Spreading some of that capital across additional picks would be a wise move given how they need to recover from the Watson deal," Barnwell wrote on Monday.
It is hard to argue with Barnwell’s argument here. The Browns need to add a ton of talent on both sides of the ball. One easy way to make this happen is by trading down and gaining more draft picks.
The Browns are also in a difficult financial situation because of the Deshaun Watson contract. Cleveland would be wise to add as many players as they can on cheap rookie contracts this offseason.
It will be interesting to see if Cleveland ends up taking Barnwell’s advice during the draft in April.
The post Browns rumors: Cleveland urged to draft Travis Hunter over Shedeur Sanders by former GM appeared first on ClutchPoints.
