NFL Combine week is in full swing, and the third day of workouts on Saturday will bring the sport’s most important position into the spotlight. The 2026 quarterback class will work out alongside wide receivers and running backs to start the weekend.
As has been the case for the Browns for several straight offseasons now, the team’s quarterback situation is entirely up in the air heading into the 2026 season. Shedeur Sanders, who led the team with 1,400 passing yards and seven passing touchdowns, is likely to be part of the equation, as is former starter Deshaun Watson, but it’s questionable at best whether either of those players are in the team’s long-term plans.
There isn’t an obvious solution at the position for Cleveland in this year’s draft. The group of quarterbacks didn’t really pan out, depth-wise, beyond presumptive No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza, so the Browns – who selected quarterbacks with both the 94th and 144th overall picks last April – will likely have to go searching in the middle rounds of the draft again if they’re going to take a swing on a signal-caller.
With that in mind, here are a few names to keep an eye on during the throwing sessions this weekend.
Ty Simpson, Alabama
Mendoza won’t be working out in Indianapolis, so all eyes in the NFL world will be on Simpson on Saturday. The one-year Alabama starter is the only other quarterback in this class with any sort of first-round buzz, and this weekend he’ll look to bolster his chances to be selected in the first 32 picks.
There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of Simpson as a prospect. He’s inexperienced, with just 15 career starts under his belt, and his level of play dropped off a cliff over the course of the second half of the 2025 season. He also got banged up several times during the year, which is concerning for a player who is listed at just 208 pounds on Alabama’s roster.
However, Simpson’s impressive play over Alabama’s first eight games of the season have helped keep his draft stock afloat. If he can assuage some concerns over his accuracy, and test well enough to prove that he can be more than just a statue at the NFL level, then perhaps he settles into the mid-to-late first round. And with the Browns’ second selection sitting at 24th overall, he’d firmly be in range for Cleveland to make a play – in fact, the team has already been connected to him this week.
Garrett Nussmeier, LSU
Nussmeier’s 2025 season was nightmarish. LSU’s starter came into the year with first-round hype thanks to an impressive 2024 campaign, but a pair of injuries – a knee injury suffered over the summer and an abdominal strain that seemed to progressively worsen over the course of the year – put his season off-track, and poor individual play from Nussmeier did the rest of the work.
However, Nussmeier was able to somewhat recapture the attention of NFL scouts last month with his showing at the Panini Senior Bowl, winning MVP of the game as the American team’s starting quarterback.
Nussmeier was always a prospect with a limited ceiling, but for a team like the Browns, who are trying to find their identity on offense under new head coach Todd Monken, a quarterback that can distribute the ball on-time could be an appealing place to start. He won’t wow anyone with his athleticism on Saturday, but if Nussmeier can stack another good showing in the pre-draft process during the throwing session, he could solidify his position as a Day 2 selection.
Drew Allar, Penn State
Allar might be the most polarizing quarterback in this year’s draft, and he’s still got some fans in league circles despite a massively underwhelming 2025 season that ended early due to an unfortunate ankle injury. Still, with NFL size and arm strength, he profiles as a prospect that organizations will be intrigued by.
Whether or not that intrigue is warranted is another question. Through three seasons as a starter, Allar showed little improvement accuracy-wise, and doesn’t move nearly as well as one would like for an athlete of his size. There will always be questions about how much coaching at Penn State affected his performance – after all, James Franklin’s 11-year tenure in Happy Valley ended the very same weekend that Allar’s college career did – and Allar will have a chance to prove this weekend that he’s worth taking a gamble on outside of that environment.
Could the Browns be the team to take that gamble? After all, Allar is a Cleveland-area native, born-and-raised in Medina. As of now, Allar looks like a probable Day 3 pick, and the Browns own a fourth-rounder and a trio of selections in the fifth-round.
Taylen Green, Arkansas
Much like Allar, Green is a physically impressive prospect for the position, listed at 6-foot-6 and 224 lbs. on Arkansas’ roster. He’s been one of college football’s best dual-threat quarterbacks over the last several seasons, rushing for eight touchdowns and a career-high 777 yards during the 2025 season. He’ll likely record the fastest 40-yard-dash time of any quarterback at the Combine this year. With the work Monken did with Lamar Jackson in Baltimore, it’s fascinating to think about what could happen if a dart throw like Green would work out in Cleveland.
There’s a lot of work to do with Green as a passer, though. He’s a slow processor, and his ball placement is very inconsistent. After a hot start to the season, Green topped 200 passing yards just once in Arkansas’ final five games, tossing just two touchdowns to six interceptions over that span. If Green tests off the charts, though, that’ll be easy to forget come late April.
Cole Payton, North Dakota State
Payton is the wild card of this year’s quarterback class. A one-year FCS-level starter with fascinating tools, Payton is likely to test surprisingly well this weekend. He’s a left-handed thrower, which will naturally make his motion look a bit off, but he completed 72 percent of his passes in his only season as a starter in college. Per NFL insider Jason La Canfora, multiple evaluators in the league have Payton rated as the second-best quarterback prospect in this year’s class.
Aside from obvious concerns about the level of competition he faced, lack of experience is another red flag for Payton. He actually finished his collegiate career with more rushing attempts (287) than pass attempts (283), though that’s due in part to the fact that he was used as a package rusher for several years prior to earning the Bisons’ starting gig. Over his four seasons at NDSU, Payton rushed for 1,919 yards and 31 touchdowns, making him another intriguing dual-threat prospect for the Browns to examine.
This article originally appeared on Browns Wire: Browns NFL Draft: 5 QB prospects to watch at the NFL Combine
Reporting by Pat McGinnis, Browns Wire / Browns Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
