Schefter Unsure If Browns Will Pursue Shedeur Sanders at No. 2 amid Cam Ward Rumors

The Cleveland Browns clearly need a quarterback, but whether they end up addressing the position with the No. 2 overall pick remains to be seen.

"A month ago I thought Cleveland was going to be in the quarterback market but I thought they were going to be there because they liked Cam Ward," ESPN's Adam Schefter said during Wednesday's NFL Live. "I don't know that they would go Shedeur [Sanders] at 2."

Schefter added that he would "handicap" Abdul Carter as the likely pick to Cleveland at No. 2.

That doesn't mean the Browns won't make a strong push to move up to No. 1 and draft Ward, of course.

"Well you also heard the Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi say that he's open to anything. And so he's going to be listening to phone calls," Schefter noted. "That doesn't mean that the New York Giants will be able to make it up to No. 1. I expect the Browns and the Giants both to make calls and let's see if there's a team that can come up with an offer that the Titans can't pass up. Yes, the Titans absolutely do like Ward. Yes, they're ready to take him. But these teams have one month to change Tennessee's mind and make an offer compelling enough to move Tennessee, which has a ton of holes on its roster, off the No. 1 pick."

Schefter was referencing Borgonzi's comments from earlier this week.

"I would say everything is still on the table," he said at Miami's pro day. "From the beginning I said I wanted to go through the whole process, and I felt like our priority was to build the offensive line first, and we added (tackle) Dan Moore and (guard) Kevin Zeitler. Now we're going through the process here with the college quarterbacks. But I'd say everything is still on the table right now."

Schefter reported on Monday that the Titans were growing more enamored with Ward, and that their asking price to trade the top overall pick was going up:

That's bad news for the Browns if they truly have eyes for Ward, and Ward alone, among the quarterbacks on offer.

The Browns could simply go best player available at No. 2 and look for a quarterback later in the draft, or revisit the position next offseason, with Kenny Pickett already added this year to give them a short-term option. Deshaun Watson is clearly a bust and likely will miss the majority of the 2025 season anyway as he recovers from a torn Achilles.

Quarterback is a long-term need, in other words. But if the Browns don't like Sanders—and don't have the appetite to pay Tennessee's asking price—there are worse options than selecting Carter or Travis Hunter at No. 2 and revisiting the position on the second day of the draft.