Browns rumors: ESPN 2026 NFL mock draft projects trade up to No. 1

With the 2025 NFL Draft recently in the rear-view mirror, many are already looking ahead to what 2026 has to offer. After the Cleveland Browns were the first team to trade back in the 2025 draft, ESPN predicts they will reverse course and trade up for the No. 1 overall pick in 2026.

To acquire the top pick, the Browns trade up with the Tennessee Titans, who will end up with the No. 1 selection for the second straight year in the eyes of ESPN's Jordan Reid. Since the Browns own the Jacksonville Jaguars' 2026 first-round pick, Reid predicts they will use one as trade bait to acquire the top selection.

“Per our ESPN Bet-based draft order, Tennessee has the top pick again,” Reid wrote. “We don't know who will actually have the No. 1 pick next year, but the Browns have two first-round selections after their draft-night trade with the Jaguars. So I'm having Cleveland send the higher of its two picks (No. 3) and its 2027 first-rounder to the Titans to move up to the top spot.”

With the first overall pick, Reid projects the Browns will take Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik. Though impossible to project the draft order this far ahead — nobody would have thought Cam Ward would be the first pick last summer — Klubnik is one of several early favorites. Texas' Arch Manning, LSU's Garrett Nussmeier, Alabama's Kadyn Proctor and South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers are also popular No. 1 pick predictions.

If the Browns end up with the first overall pick in 2026, one way or another, it will be their first time making the first selection since 2018. They took Baker Mayfield with that pick, and Myles Garrett at No. 1 the year before.

Browns' intriguing 2025 NFL Draft class

After trading the No. 2 pick of the 2025 NFL Draft to the Jaguars, the Browns did not leave Green Bay with Travis Hunter, as most had projected. Instead, they took Mason Graham with the No. 5 pick and ended up taking Hunter's college teammate, Shedeur Sanders, in the fifth round.

With one of the most interesting draft classes of the year, a case can be made for all seven players taken to have an impact in 2025. Cleveland spent the majority of its picks on offense, using its final five picks on offensive skill players after targeting defense with its first two.

Carson Schwesinger, Quinshon Judkins, Dillon Gabriel, Harold Fannin Jr. and Dylan Sampson complete the class. The Browns doubled up on quarterback and running back, taking two of each to add to their already loaded position groups. Needless to say, Cleveland's preseason training camp battles will be one of the most compelling to monitor in the league.