BREAKING: Cleveland Browns Could Pass on Shedeur Sanders for Arch Manning in 2026 Draft?

Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders will officially be in an NFL organization later this month when the 2025 NFL Draft gets underway. Sanders is projected to be one of the top quarterbacks taken in the first round. There have been many skeptics critical of Sanders and don’t view him as the slam dunk pick that his projections have him at. 

An anonymous NFL executive told Mike Sando of The Athletic that the team with the No. 2 overall pick, the Cleveland Browns, could pass on Sanders completely despite their need for a quarterback. 

Cleveland Browns To Pass On Shedeur Sanders?

Dec 28, 2024; San Antonio, TX, USA; Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) warms up before the game against the Brigham Young Cougars at Alamodome. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The Cleveland Browns are in desperate need for a quarterback heading into the 2025 season. Cleveland is in the midst of paying quarterback Deshaun Watson $230 million guaranteed. Watson tore his achilles last season and even when he was playing, did not live up to the massive five-year contract that he signed in 2022.

With Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward expected to be the No. 1 overall pick by the Tennessee Titans, that would leave the Browns with the option of taking Sanders at No. 2. The only other quarterback that has had talks of going above Sanders is Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart. 

The anonymous NFL executive said to The Athletic’s Mike Sando that instead to making Sanders No. 2 overall, the Browns could possibly tank their 2025 season and shoot for Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning in the 2026 NFL Draft. 

“If I’m Cleveland, and I don’t love Shedeur at pick No. 2, I have a two-time Coach of the Year (Kevin Stefanski), a general manager that got a second contract,” the executive said. “Could that regime survive a worst-team-in-the-league season to get Arch Manning next year?”

The answer to that question is unknown, but one thing for sure is that the coaches and players on this year’s Browns team won’t be the ones shooting to get a high draft pick in 2026.

Arch Manning Over Shedeur Sanders?

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) walks onto the field as the Texas Longhorns prepare to play the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Peach Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, Jan. 1, 2025. / Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Arch Manning was the No. 1 player in the class of 2023 and committed to the Texas Longhorns. Arch, the son of Cooper Manning, and nephew of Peyton and Eli, is heading into his third season with the Texas Longhorns.

Manning has not seen much of the field thus far in his college career, as he was sitting behind quarterback Quinn Ewers. With Ewers entering the 2025 NFL Draft, Manning is now slated to the the starter for Texas this fall. 

Will he live up to the hype of being in the Manning family and ranked as the top player in his high school class? If he does, Manning may just be the top prospect in the NFL Draft at this time next year.