Don't expect quarterback Cam Ward to land with the Cleveland Browns unless he falls to No. 2.
Cleveland general manager, Andrew Berry, told reporters on Sunday at the NFL annual meeting that it's "unlikely" the Browns will make a deal with the Tennessee Titans to land the top overall pick.
The Titans, meanwhile, have not completely ruled out trading the No. 1 selection.
"We are going to go through the whole thing, and I think probably here in two weeks we're going to have a good idea of where things are headed," president of football operations Chad Brinker told reporters on Sunday regarding the team's draft plans. "Now, we're not going to go out there and tell everybody, of course. And, there's a chance a team calls and it makes you stop for a second and think, 'Hey, we might need to consider this.' But all of this is a part of being disciplined, and being thorough."
What if they stay at No. 1?
Head coach Brian Callahan told reporters on Saturday it's a "short list at No. 1 for sure" and called Ward, the Colorado duo of Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders and Penn State edge-rusher Abdul Carter "the top of the draft for me, those are the most elite players in the draft."
For now, it's unclear which direction the Titans will go, but the team clearly needs a quarterback and most draft pundits agree that Ward is the top available player at the position. The B/R NFL Scouting Department ranked him as the No. 9 player overall and top quarterback on its latest big board, while Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network considers him the No. 10 prospect available and the top quarterback.
The Browns, like the Titans, need to figure out the quarterback position going forward. The Deshaun Watson trade and signing has proven to be one of the most disastrous decisions in franchise history, while Kenny Pickett is nothing more than a short-term stop gap.
Cleveland has enough holes on the roster elsewhere, however, that paying a high price to trade up to No. 1 wouldn't have made much sense. They can still get another excellent player at No. 2 and address quarterback either later in the draft or next offseason, when a stronger quarterback class is expected to be available.
How the top of the draft shakes out remains a mystery. But Cleveland, at least publicly, has taken itself out of the running to trade up to No. 1.
