Cleveland’s quarterback future may already be pointing past Shedeur Sanders.
According to a veteran NFL personnel executive who spoke to Jason La Canfora, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has his sights set on Texas quarterback Arch Manning, with the long view apparently tied to the team’s new domed stadium project in Brook Park, Ohio.
“Haslam wants (Texas QB) Arch Manning, that’s what this is really all about,” the longtime NFL personnel executive, who is very familiar with the Browns, told LaCanfora.
“I’m not sure he’s coming out (entering the draft). I know Jimmy, and I know how Jimmy thinks.
He’s a huge booster for (University of) Tennessee. He has always had a hard-on for Peyton (Manning, uncle of the QB prospect).
He wants Arch Manning playing in that new stadium.”
The Browns are moving ahead with plans for a new domed stadium that carries an estimated price tag of about $2.4 billion. Haslam Sports Group is expected to cover most of the private investment, and the team is aiming for an opening in 2029. In that scenario, the idea is that Arch Manning would be the quarterback greeting the lights in the new building, not Shedeur Sanders.
That doesn’t mean Sanders is out of the picture right away. La Canfora expects him to be starting in Week 3 after Deshaun Watson’s rough opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“The Dog Pound is contemplating what is to come, Haslam will recognize the optics of the situation and we strongly suspect it will be time for youngster Shedeur Sanders to take over,” LaCanfora wrote.
“More than anything else, Watson is committed to this bit, playing the role of game-killing heel. He seemed intent on trying to throw an early interception against the Jaguars, he never really looked fired up to be playing, he embodied the idea that he is just there for the paycheck and it shows in pretty much everything he does on the football field.”
Still, Sanders taking the job would not erase the bigger-picture plan that’s been reported around Arch Manning. That only changes if Sanders makes a far stronger impression than the Browns have seen so far. He started the final seven games of the 2025 season, and Cleveland apparently didn’t see enough to lock him in as the answer.
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