Todd McShay Turns Heads With Browns Draft Claim

As the NFL Draft gets closer, there are always some late-rising prospects who shoot up the board. Despite what happened to Shedeur Sanders last year, most of the time, those players are quarterbacks.

With so many teams looking for a franchise QB, the Cleveland Browns among them, and them proving very difficult to find, especially in the 2026 NFL Draft, they could go much higher than their talent or background would suggest. This year, that could be the case for Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson.

Draft expert Todd McShay recently turned heads with his claim that Simpson could go to the Browns at No. 6 overall.

“I’m already starting to hear, ‘could he go as high as Cleveland sitting at 6?’ I hope for Ty Simpson that he does not become a Cleveland Brown. They don’t have the protection. They don’t have the weapons,” McShay said.

“I’m already starting to hear, ‘could he go as high as Cleveland?,’” – @McShay13 on QB Ty Simpson 😳😳😳😳

(Via @UpAndAdamsShow) pic.twitter.com/GbsqKcXHWu

— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) March 2, 2026

McShay quickly added that he hopes that is not the case, for Simpson’s sake, as the Browns don’t have the offensive line protection or the skill position talent in place for him to succeed. He would prefer that Simpson go to the Los Angeles Rams at No. 13, which would still be much higher than the initial projections for him.

This is not the first time Cleveland has been linked to Simpson. The Browns may have too many needs, and there may be too many other talented players available for them to take that risk at No. 6, but there is also the possibility that they could trade up later in the first round to select him, or sit tight and hope he falls to them at No. 24 overall.

However, the Browns may be better off passing on him altogether. Yes, they likely need an upgrade over their current roster of Sanders, Deshaun Watson, and Dillon Gabriel. But Simpson made just 15 starts in college, had some late-season injury concerns in 2025, and, at 6-foot-1 at the Scouting Combine, is shorter than a team might want.

So, he likely would be a project, and the Browns already have two of those in Sanders and Gabriel, so Cleveland could make better use of its picks at other positions and perhaps solve their QB needs with a free agent like Malik Willis or a trade for Anthony Richardson.