NFL Rumors: 5 contenders who should take a chance on Michael Penix Jr.

3) Cleveland Browns

The Browns are in a difficult position. Their roster is built to win now, especially the defense, which is arguably the best in the league. Their quarterback situation, though, is a mess.

Admittedly, the presence of Deshaun Watson is a mess of the Browns' own making, but we're not here to cast judgments. What matters for Cleveland is getting a quarterback in place that can live up to the roster around him and get the Browns to a Super Bowl.

Joe Flacco was incredible in the second half of the season for the Browns. The former Super Bowl MVP got off his couch and led the Browns to the playoffs, but in throwing back-to-back pick-sixes against the Texans in the Wild Card round, he showed that he isn't a viable long-term solution.

Then you have Watson, who hits the sports hate superfecta of 1) vastly overpaid, 2) often injured, 3) really bad, and 4) extremely disliked. Let's put it this way: if any Browns fan stumbled on a magic lamp on the shore of the Cuyahoga River, you can bet that one of their three wishes would be that Watson never came to Cleveland in the first place.

The Browns would absorb a staggering $64 million cap hit per year if they got rid of Watson anytime in the next three seasons, and he's provided little reason to believe that his play on the field will improve. The only solution then is to find another quarterback that's both cheap and good, and as a rookie, Penix will be just that.

Penix once threw for 491 yards and five touchdowns against the Ohio State Buckeyes, so most Cleveland fans are already familiar with his work. Linking him up with Amari Cooper, David Njoku, and a returning Nick Chubb could position the Browns to compete in the highly competitive AFC North for the foreseeable future.