The Cleveland Browns hold the sixth overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and the conversation around whether to use it or trade back has been building for weeks. Andrew Berry struck gold last year when he moved back three spots and collected a fourth-round pick, a second-round pick, and a first-round pick in return. Now, with draft day approaching, Cleveland reporter Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com laid out exactly what a repeat of that kind of magic would look like.
Her answer centered on one thing above everything else.
“A home run trade in my opinion would involve the Browns getting a first-round pick next year that would increase their chances of landing one of the premier quarterbacks in the event they still need one. It won’t be as easy as it was last year, but not out of the realm of possibility,” Cabot wrote.
The 2027 quarterback class is shaping up to be significantly stronger than what is available this spring. Arch Manning, Dante Moore, Julian Sayin, and CJ Carr are among the names expected to declare. If the Browns are going to make a run at a franchise quarterback next year, having an additional first-round pick could be the difference between landing a top-three pick and sitting at six or seven.
Cabot added that the ideal scenario would not require the Browns to fall too far down the board either.
Ideally, she wrote, they would trade back only five or six spots and still land one of the best offensive tackles or receivers in the draft. Sliding from six to eleven or twelve while collecting that extra 2027 first-round pick would let Cleveland address an immediate roster need and stockpile more picks for the quarterback hunt next year.
The question is whether a team sitting between seven and twelve will feel enough urgency to overpay for the right to move up.
Teams chasing a wide receiver like Carnell Tate or a prospect like Caleb Downs could be the ones to make that call. If one of them blinks, Berry could be looking at back-to-back years with an extra first-round pick heading into a loaded quarterback class.
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