Cleveland Ready for a QB Shuffle: Browns Still Considered Trade Suitor for Elite Signal-Caller
With Deshaun Watson out indefinitely after re-tearing his Achilles, Kenny Pickett is currently the only healthy quarterback on the Cleveland Browns’ roster.
The Browns could opt to take a chance on their quarterback of the future and draft Miami’s Cam Ward or Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders with the No. 2 overall pick. However, if Cleveland decides to select the best player available, such as EDGE Abdul Carter or WR/DB Travis Hunter, the team could still acquire another quarterback this offseason to compete with Pickett.
In an article for CBS Sports, NFL reporter Tyler Sullivan wrote that the Browns could be in the hunt for Patriots quarterback Joe Milton. New England took Milton in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, but with first-rounder Drake Maye cemented as the Patriots’ starter for the near future, Milton could be on the move.
“With Milton, they’d get a player with eye-popping arm talent on the cheap,” Sullivan wrote. “With him being a former sixth-round pick, Milton has cap hits of less than $1.25 million in each of the next three seasons. That should be widely attractive to Cleveland given Watson has dead cap charges of well over $100 million over the next two years.”
Sullivan said that Milton shouldn’t be looked at as a guaranteed starter, but called him a “worthwhile lottery ticket.” That could prove to be a low-risk, high-reward swing for Cleveland, which may want to wait to draft a quarterback until the stronger 2026 NFL Draft class anyway.
The Steelers, Giants, Raiders, Rams and Cowboys were also listed as potential targets.
Milton sat most of the 2024 season behind Jacoby Brissett and Maye, but shined in the Patriots’ 23-16 win over the Bills in Week 18. Buffalo may have rested its starters in that game in preparation for the playoffs, but Milton still made the most of his opportunity. The now-25-year-old completed 22 of his 29 passes, threw for 241 yards and totaled two touchdowns.
In college, Milton played for Tennessee and Michigan, racking up 5,353 yards, 37 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
