Cleveland Browns' first-round pick plan is becoming more evident by the day

It is all going according to plan for the Cleveland Browns. While much has been made about teams like the Tennessee Titans and New York Giants needing starting quarterbacks picking at No. 1 and No. 3, look at Cleveland being sandwiched in between. In some order, we can expect the following players to be the first players taken this spring: Abdul Carter, Travis Hunter, Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward.

While most prognosticators have the Miami quarterback Ward coming off the board first over the Colorado signal-caller Sanders, I like the guy with the NFL pedigree considerably more. That is why Sanders has been mocked to the Giants picking at No. 3 by Mel Kiper Jr. and Field Yates of ESPN. To further back that up, their ESPN colleague Adam Schefter provided a bit more clarity over on Get Up.

He said that Cleveland would be interested in trading up to No. 1 in a deal with the Titans to have the right to draft Ward. Otherwise, they are totally comfortable with taking Sanders' Colorado teammate Hunter out on the perimeter or the Penn State standout Carter in the middle of their defense. Cleveland does not seem to be as interested in Sanders as much as what the Giants are showing us.

So if it is not Ward, then it might be Kirk Cousins for the Browns, who would still have to trade for him.

This is yet another reason why I feel strongly that Cousins will waive his no-trade clause to Cleveland.

Cleveland Browns' first-round pick could give us quarterback resolution

Here is what I am getting at. If Cleveland can trade up to No. 1 in a deal with the Titans, they will draft Ward out of Miami and he will be their guy going forward. I think that is a recipe for disaster, but that will be up for Andrew Berry, Jimmy Haslam and Kevin Stefanski to decide. Should they not move up to No. 1, I expect they will take either Carter or Hunter at No. 2, with Sanders going No. 3 to New York.

Because Cousins' massive ego will not accept the fact he is only a stop-gap starter now, he is not going to waive his no-trade clause with the Atlanta Falcons until after the 2025 NFL Draft. If Cleveland does not draft a guy in the first round, Cousins may be open to going there. Atlanta will recoup a mid-round pick for him, possibly in 2025 if they can get it turned around fast enough, more likely in 2026...

Since I do not think Ward will be as good of a pro as Carter, possibly even Hunter, it serves the Browns to take the best player available, regardless of position. Carter is my favorite prospect in the draft. Cleveland is going to be bad again next year, so they can build for the future with Carter and potentially Cousins in tote, while waiting to draft someone like a Drew Allar or a Garrett Nussmeier.

The big point here is Cleveland seems to be far more inclined to draft Ward over Sanders this spring.