Getty
Green Bay Packers QB Malik Willis.
The Cleveland Browns are among a handful of teams likely to aggressively recruit arguably the No. 1 free-agent quarterback in the 2026 class, according to a report from a top ESPN analyst.
Ben Solak told “The Rich Eisen Show” on Monday, February 23 that Cleveland is among four teams he expects to come with strong offers to Green Bay Packers backup QB Malik Willis once the new league year officially begins on March 11.
“The Browns, to me, are a team where Todd Monken just worked with Lamar Jackson,” Solak said. “That’s a very copy-and-paste offense stylistically in terms of how Willis plays and how Lamar plays.”
Solak also mentioned the Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins and New York Jets as organizations he believes will “heavily pursue” Willis in free agency.
Malik Willis Has Started Fewer NFL Games Than Shedeur Sanders
GettyQuarterback Malik Willis of the Green Bay Packers.
Willis has started just six games in his NFL career, while Shedeur Sanders started the final seven contests of last season for the Browns, making Sanders the more experienced starter of the two.
However, Willis has appeared in 22 games across his professional tenure and has done more to impress in his short windows of opportunity than has Sanders — at least in terms of his value projections.
Spotrac lists Willis’s market value at $35.5 million annually over a new two-year contract, which comes out to $71 million in total. That is a generous outlook given Willis has thrown for all of 1,322 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions in his career (67.7 percent completion rate) while rushing the football for 405 yards and four scores. He is 3-3 as a starter.
Meanwhile, Sanders is 3-4 as a starter in eight games played. He has completed 56.6 percent of his passes for 1,400 yards, seven TDs and 10 INTs and rushed the football for 169 yards and one score.
Browns Likely to Trade Shedeur Sanders if Team Signs Malik Willis
GettyQuarterback Shedeur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns.
Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com also reported on Monday that Willis is on Cleveland’s “radar” as the offseason heats up with the start of the Combine.
“The dual-threat Willis performed well in relief of [Jordan] Love last season, catapulting himself to the top of the free agent market,” Cabot wrote. “Willis is arguably the top quarterback on the market, and the Browns will do their diligence and inquire about him.”
Cabot also noted that Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson is a player the Browns may pursue, either with one of their two first-round picks (Nos. 6 and 24) or via their second-round selection (No. 39 overall).
“Widely regarded as the second-best quarterback in the 2026 class behind Fernando Mendoza, who will go No. 1 to the [Las Vegas] Raiders, Simpson has plenty of upside potential, but has started only 15 games at Alabama and will turn 24 in December,” Cabot continued.
If the Browns draft Simpson, or some other rookie quarterback, Sanders will likely remain in the hunt for the QB1 job during training camp alongside Deshaun Watson and whoever the newcomer ends up being.
However, if Cleveland makes the expensive move to ink Willis in free agency, even despite Watson’s league-leading $80.7 million salary cap hit in 2026, that probably means Sanders’ time with the team is over. In that scenario, the 24-year-old fan favorite will likely hit the trade block and end up in another uniform before Week 1 in September.
Max Dible covers the NFL, NBA and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns. He covered local and statewide news as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and served as news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group’s family of Big Island radio stations before joining Heavy. More about Max Dible
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