The Browns are getting a front-row seat to a painful kind of success story.
Around the league, first-round picks from the 2023 NFL Draft are reaching the part of the rookie-contract cycle where the real money shows up. With the cap climbing and those rookie deals now built to funnel premium players toward a fourth-year payday, teams are locking up their young stars fast. For Cleveland, that reality has become a reminder of what the franchise missed.
Nine of the top 23 picks from that class have already landed market-setting extensions, a group headlined by Texans edge rusher Will Anderson, who got three years and $150 million, Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter at four years and $152 million, and Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba at four years and $168.6 million. It’s the kind of outcome teams dream about when they hit on a first-rounder. For the Browns, though, it’s mostly a lesson in what might have been.
Cleveland would have held the No. 12 pick in 2023 after finishing 7-10 in 2022, but that selection belonged to Houston because of the Deshaun Watson trade. The Texans used it to move up to No. 3 and take Anderson, who has become one of the league’s top game-wreckers. The Browns never traded back into the first round, choosing instead to send No. 42 overall to the Jets for Elijah Moore and No. 74, which Cleveland used on Cedric Tillman.
That’s where the regret starts to pile up. Tillman is entering the fourth and final year of his rookie contract and is currently buried on the depth chart and in danger of getting cut or traded. Meanwhile, the draft slot Cleveland would have owned ended up producing Jahmyr Gibbs, now the highest-paid running back in NFL history.
The 2023 class has turned into a cruel what-if for a team still living with the fallout from the Watson deal. In the spring of 2023, the Browns were still trying to believe their all-in swing would work. Watson had been limited to six starts in 2022 because of his 11-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, and while he didn’t exactly light it up, Cleveland went 3-3 in those games and had enough reason to stay hopeful.
That hope is long gone now. Three years later, the roster damage from that era is impossible to ignore.
The Browns felt the effects so sharply this offseason that they traded one of the best defensive players in NFL history in Myles Garrett, in part because of the wreckage left behind by the Watson years. Cleveland gave up three first-round picks, plus additional draft capital, to land Watson, and the team’s youth, inexperience and low expectations entering 2026 all trace back to that decision.
The 2023 draft class makes the pain sharper. Cleveland’s original pick at No. 12 would have put it in position for a player like Gibbs, but the board also featured Christian Gonzalez, Jack Campbell, Smith-Njigba and Zay Flowers outside the top 12. It’s not hard to imagine Smith-Njigba, the Ohio State product, wearing orange and brown if the Watson trade had never happened.
Still, there’s a different part of the story now. Jimmy Haslam has admitted the organization missed badly on that gamble, and the Browns have at least stopped chasing the next desperate swing. They’ve taken their medicine, appear to have hit on back-to-back drafts, and are set up to attack 2027 with 11 overall picks, including two in the first round.
There’s more extension pain coming around the league, too. The 2024 class - led by quarterbacks Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels - could be the next wave of young stars cashing in. But for Cleveland, the bigger takeaway is already clear: the franchise took the hard road, hit rock bottom, and is finally trying to build the right way again.
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Todd Monken Gives Browns Fans Real Reason To Believe Again
Todd Monken has spent the past several seasons building one of the leagues more respected offensive rsums, first helping elevate Baltimores scoring attack and then staying productive even through a tougher 2025 season shaped by injuries and defensive problems. His work with Lamar Jackson, including a key role in that MVP run, is the kind of track record that usually earns immediate league-wide praise, which is why his recent omission from a CBS Sports list of top offensive play-callers raised some eyebrows around the NFL.
For Browns fans, the bigger point is what Monken has already shown he can do when given the right pieces and enough time to shape an offense. Cleveland has spent years searching for steadier answers on that side of the ball, so any coach with Monkens history naturally draws attention, especially when his recent body of work still looks strong despite the Ravens broader struggles. The debate over his place on a ranking list may linger, but it only adds to the sense that there is real reason to believe in what he can bring. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Have Made Their Post-Garrett Mindset Impossible To Miss
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That approach shows up in the way the Browns are handling the roster, from extending veterans to setting up quarterback competitions instead of taking the easy path toward a reset. There is still belief inside the organization that the defense can remain a strength and that the offense has enough promising pieces to justify the push, even without the franchise cornerstone who was dealt away. [Read more 🡒]
Browns QB Battle Is Turning On One Issue For Shedeur Sanders
The Browns training camp quarterback rotation has started to show a little more shape, and the competition is looking less about raw talent than how quickly each passer can handle the details. Cleveland has been splitting reps between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders, but recent practices have leaned more heavily toward Watson, a sign that the staff is watching every snap closely as it sorts out the depth chart behind center.
What has emerged as the key separator is the mental side of the job, especially the pre-snap operation and the speed of processing. Quarterbacks coach Mike Bajakian has stressed the need to execute every part of the quarterback role cleanly, while Todd Monken has praised Sanders progress even as he pointed to the plays that still cost the offense yardage. The next stretch of camp will show whether Sanders can trim those mistakes enough to keep the battle interesting. [Read more 🡒]