The Browns went into the 2026 NFL Draft with their plan pretty much out in the open, and they followed it almost exactly. Cleveland wanted to move back from No. 6 overall, pick up extra draft capital for its rebuild, and still come away with one of the top offensive tackle prospects on the board.
That’s exactly how it played out.
The Browns traded down to No. 9, took Utah’s Spencer Fano as the first offensive lineman selected, and then turned the extra picks they got from the Kansas City Chiefs into another tackle prospect they liked in Florida’s Austin Barber. In a draft where the Browns were clearly targeting the trenches, they got the job done.
Now comes the harder part: waiting.
Fano is set to enter training camp as Cleveland’s starting left tackle, while Barber is expected to work at both right guard and swing tackle with an eye on becoming the long-term answer on the right side opposite Fano. That’s the plan, at least. The reality is that offensive tackle rarely gives up its secrets quickly.
A recent poll of anonymous NFL scouts, executives, and coaches only reinforced that point. ESPN’s top 10 offensive tackles, as compiled by Jeremy Fowler, included three players in their mid-to-upper 30s in Trent Williams (37), Lane Johnson (36), and Garrett Bolles (34). Two more, Laremy Tunsil (31) and Jordan Mailata (29), are already deep into their second contracts.
“Many top-shelf players, some well above 30, are years out from their last contract. It will take young stars to change that,” Fowler wrote.
“Two of our top 10 offensive tackles here are still on rookie deals. In all, three players debuted on the list this cycle.
The battle for supremacy once again featured two NFC stars in their primes, though a 37-year-old is also keeping himself in the conversation.”
That’s the backdrop for Cleveland’s rookie duo, and it’s not exactly a friendly one. Offensive tackle is a premium position because it usually takes time for young players to become true difference-makers. Over the last 10 NFL seasons, only two first-year tackles have earned All-Pro honors: former Browns starter Jack Conklin, then with the Tennessee Titans in 2016, and the Chargers’ Rashawn Slater in 2021.
The Browns also passed on last year’s deep tackle class, which produced several Year 1 starters, including Will Campbell, Armand Menbou, Kelvin Banks, Josh Simmons, and Josh Conerly. In Fowler’s poll, the only one of that group to receive a vote was Membou, the New York Jets’ top-10 pick, and even that was more of a side note than a central part of the report.
For Cleveland, the message is simple: this position usually asks for patience.
Fano was regarded as one of the best offensive linemen in the 2026 class, but he was not viewed as a locked-in left tackle prospect. He played only on the right side opposite Caleb Lomu over his final two seasons at Utah, and some pre-draft chatter suggested he could end up inside at guard in the NFL.
Barber arrives with a similar kind of uncertainty. He’s likely to get most of his camp work at right tackle and right guard after spending five years at Florida and starting at left tackle there beginning in 2023.
It’s entirely possible Cleveland rolls out a completely new starting five up front compared with last season. If that happens, there’s a real chance the group needs time to settle in before it starts looking like a finished product.
So Browns fans should probably give Fano a long runway. If he comes out and plays at an All-Pro or even Pro Bowl level right away, that would put him in rare company.
If he needs time, that’s not a reason to sound the alarm. The tackle position, more than most, tends to develop later.
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Myles Garrett May Have Overshadowed A Huge Browns Defensive Development
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Garretts move to the Rams changes the conversation around Clevelands front, and it also changes the opportunity in front of Graham. He already showed he could create interior pressure, especially after Maliek Collins went down in the second half of the season, and the Browns even used him in a more flexible role with snaps outside the tackle. If there is a quiet candidate to take a bigger Year 2 step and help absorb some of what Garrett leaves behind, Graham is suddenly in the middle of that discussion. [Read more 🡒]