Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said on Tuesday that Arch Manning is "not even worth discussing" because he would "bet he stays in college for two years" before entering the NFL Draft. Jimmy, I have some bad news for you: whether or not he stays in college past 2025 doesn't matter. You own the Cleveland Browns... you'll always pick early enough to get the best QB available.
Okay, maybe that was a cheap shot. But I do love taking cheap shots at rich people, so you'll have to excuse me. Anyway, with plenty of reports coming out that Cleveland is essentially planning for Manning (new slogan?) to fall into their laps in a future NFL Draft, either Jimmy Haslam is lying and doesn't think Manning actually will stay in college for two years, or... the reports are wrong, he really does think that, and the Browns love a QB who they think will be in the 2025 NFL Draft class.
Those are likely the only two options, because the other possibility would be that Haslam thinks the Browns are set for the future at quarterback with Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, which isn't the most inspiring collection of signal-callers. At all. And I hope Haslam doesn't think he's set at that position for anything more than "serviceable" in 2025.
Arch Manning could stay an extra year in college to avoid Browns
Okay, if Arch Manning stays at Texas past next season it probably wouldn't be solely to not play for the Browns, but it's very hard to envision the Browns not taking a QB with their (presumably very high) first-round pick in 2026, so Manning staying one more year would definitely worsen the odds that he lands in Quarterback Hell.
Heading into 2025, the Browns will start yet another new quarterback, adding to their tremendously expansive list of starters since returning to the NFL in 1999. Hope is back down considerably among Browns fans and it's hard to blame them for that.
Other quarterbacks Browns could draft if Arch Manning stays in school
Say Haslam is right, and Manning isn't available in the 2026 NFL Draft. LaNorris Sellers, Cade Klubnik and Garrett Nussmeier could headline next year's class, along with a few players who aren't ranked highly now but could climb the ranks throughout the college football season.
Sellers has potentially the highest ceiling out of any of the class, and a huge year for South Carolina could catapult him into the No. 1 discussion.