Cleveland general manager Andrew Berry pledged that the upcoming offseason will include a \u201cheavy investment\u201d on the offensive side of the ball.<\/p>\n
Berry kicked off that investment at the very top with the hiring of head coach Todd Monken, who has made his bones as an offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n
Free agency arrives in March, and while the Browns are not going to be big players, especially at quarterback where the expected list of available players is rather depressing. But Berry will still look to fill some holes and build out the depth across the roster.<\/p>\n
The big moves will come in the 2026 NFL Draft, where the Browns have 10 selections overall, including two in the first round and four in total over the first three rounds of the draft.<\/p>\n
Cleveland lost out on a chance to fix the quarterback position thanks to those epic late-season wins over the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals, but that does not mean they can\u2019t address other areas of need along the offense.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, let\u2019s take a look at Nick Baumgardner\u2019s latest three-round mock draft at The Athletic<\/a> to see what the Browns could potentially do come the first two days of the draft.<\/p>\n Round 1 (No. 6 overall): Francis Mauigoa, OT, Miami<\/p>\n At No. 6 overall, Baumgardner has the Berry addressing the offensive line with the selection of Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa:<\/p>\n Another Hurricanes prospect who solidified his status as a top-10 pick during the College Football Playoff, Mauigoa was a three-year warrior and culture-setter for Miami. He\u2019s exactly the kind of player Cleveland needs.<\/p>\n While wide receiver might be a sexier pick, no one should quibble if the 6-foot-6 and 335-pound Mauigoa is the selection (although after growing up in American Samoa and playing at Miami, he may need a minute to acclimate himself to the Cleveland weather until the domed stadium is built). According to his draft profile from Lance Zierlein at NFL.com<\/a>:<\/p>\n Highly touted prospect who met expectations as a durable three-year starter at right tackle. Mauigoa has a guard\u2019s broad build, but he moves like a tackle in pass sets. He\u2019s highly experienced with an impressive football IQ that pops on tape. He has good contact balance and a strong core. He delivers firm first contact but excessive leaning diminishes not only his leverage and sustain as a run blocker but also his ability to deal with spin counters when protecting. He\u2019s good at trapping rushers at the turn and can smother their momentum. He has the footwork, anchor and punch timing to diversify his pass-set approach. He works with an innate feel for pocket depth and is rarely out-paced to the top by speed. Mauigoa has a high ceiling but the leaning must be eradicated. He\u2019ll be an early starter at right tackle but a move to guard could be on the table in the future.<\/p>\n Round 1 (No. 24 overall): Makai Lemon, WR, USC<\/p>\n With Cleveland\u2019s next selection, No. 24 overall, the team gives their quarterbacks a new target in USC wide receiver Makai Lemon:<\/p>\n This could be too low for Lemon, whose combination of route nuance and ball skills remind me of fellow USC product Amon-Ra St. Brown. Lemon\u2019s size (5-11, 195) is a bit of a concern, but he is this year\u2019s version of 7-Eleven \u2014 he\u2019s always open.<\/p>\n Selecting Lemon while Texas A&M wide receiver KC Concepcion is still on the board may raise a few eyebrows, but Lemon being compared to Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Detroit Lions is certainly a positive, as NFL.com\u2019s Lance Zierlein highlights<\/a>:<\/p>\n High-skill, high-volume slot receiver with average size but extraordinary ball skills. Lemon has room for refinement, but not much. He\u2019s intelligent, confident and polished with the ability to make plays on all three levels. Tempo-driven route-runner who misdirects man coverage and separates out of turns but is fairly average after the catch. Quicker than fast, featuring early acceleration to open seam throws but flashes late burst when needed. More play strength is needed for NFL press and he needs to avoid rushing through multi-breaking routes. He\u2019s an exceptional ball-tracker with excellent catch timing and few focus drops. He wins more combat catches than he loses. Lemon is a plug-and-play, quarterback-friendly talent with first-round value and Pro Bowl upside.<\/p>\n Round 2 (No. 39 overall): Garrett Nussmeier, QB, LSU<\/p>\n With the first round complete and having address to areas of need, Baumgardner turns his focus to the most important position, and has the Berry using his second-round pick (No. 39 overall) on \u2026 LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier:<\/p>\n Context is required to evaluate Nussmeier\u2019s up-and-down 2025 performance. For starters, LSU\u2019s program was on the verge of collapse. His offensive line was a nightmare, and he played through a core injury. He was healthy at the Senior Bowl and looked more like the quarterback we expected to see this season. Stock firmly up here.<\/p>\n Not really sure about that one. Yes, the Browns need a quarterback, but adding another developmental quarterback to a room that already includes developmental quarterbacks in Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel feels like a missed opportunity.<\/p>\n According to the \u201cBig Board\u201d at Pro Football Focus<\/a>:<\/p>\n Nussmeier is the son of a former NFL quarterback, and it shows, even if you don\u2019t recognize the name. He plays with confidence rooted in sound fundamentals, an understanding of defensive windows and solid zip on his throws. He\u2019s a gunslinger, and with that comes the good and the bad. His smaller frame may be a limitation, but it\u2019s hard not to want to give him a chance to lead an offense.<\/p>\n Nussmeier made 40 starts at LSU, which is a plus, but only started more than 9 games once, which was in 2024 and coincided with his best season as he completed 64 percent of his passes for 4,052 yards and 29 touchdowns, although he did throw 12 interceptions.<\/p>\n So while it \u201cmay be hard not to want to give him a chance,\u201d it will probably be OK if the Browns are not the team to do so.<\/p>\n Looking at the rest of Baumgardner\u2019s second round, it may be more prudent for Berry to double up on offensive tackles with Northwestern\u2019s Caleb Tiernan (No. 43 overall to the Miami Dolphins), or at wide receiver with Indiana\u2019s Omar Cooper Jr. (No. 53 overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers).<\/p>\n Round 3 (No. 70 overall): Chandler Rivers, CB, Duke<\/p>\n Moving onto Round 3, Baumgardner decides that the offense has received enough love, so he has Berry selected Duke cornerback Chandler Rivers at No. 70 overall.<\/p>\n According to the \u201cBig Board\u201d at Pro Football Focus<\/a>:<\/p>\n Rivers is an easy watch. His style is so in control; he deploys very little wasted movement and good anticipation for where the ball is going and how receivers are about to run their routes. He understands leverage and how to use it to his advantage. His missed-tackle percentage against the run was high as an underclassman, but improved in 2024. Overall, he\u2019s a savvy and smart corner who can play left, right and slot, but might give up a few plays each week due to well-below-average length and somewhat limited twitch.<\/p>\n The Seattle Seahawks made defense cool again in their domination of the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, showing that having a stout defense can make up for an off day from your offense. But cornerback does not seem to be an area of need for the Browns, or at least not one that would put offense on the back burner.<\/p>\n Going through the remaining picks, selecting another wide receiver would better serve the Browns, with Berry having his pick of Tennessee\u2019s Chris Brazzell, Baylor\u2019s Josh Cameron, Notre Dame\u2019s Malachi Fields<\/a>, Georgia State\u2019s Ted Hurst<\/a> or USC\u2019s Ja\u2019Kobi Lane<\/a>.<\/p>\n What do you think, Browns fans? Does this mock draft get you fired up, or would you have Cleveland go in a different direction? Share your thoughts in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cleveland general manager Andrew Berry pledged that the upcoming offseason will include a \u201cheavy investment\u201d on the offensive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":742784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,4397,75798,2337,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-742783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-browns","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-browns","11":"tag-cleveland-browns-draft","12":"tag-cleveland-browns-mock-drafts","13":"tag-clevelandbrowns","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116047212148772135","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=742783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}