Shedeur Sanders spent the back half of his rookie season doing what most young quarterbacks are never asked to do: survive. Seven starts, a 56.6 completion percentage, 1,400 passing yards, and a passer rating that ranked dead last among qualified starters in the NFL.
The Browns’ wide receiver room caught just four touchdown passes all season. The offensive line surrendered 51 sacks. Cleveland was, in short, a construction site with a signal-caller playing in the rubble.
The 2026 NFL Draft was another way they planned to find their answer. The question was whether general manager Andrew Berry had the nerve to follow through. Turns out, he did.
Browns’ ‘Winning Draft’ Gives Shedeur Sanders Protection, Weapons, and a Fresh Start for 2026
Nobody knows better than Robert Griffin III what it feels like to be a young QB running for his life behind a patchwork offensive line with nothing to throw to. The former No. 2 overall pick and 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year watched Cleveland’s draft weekend unfold and reached a simple verdict — the Browns finally got it right.
“They got two tackles in the first three rounds in the draft that can contribute on day one,” Griffin said. “Utah’s Spencer Fano was their first round pick, and then Florida’s Austin Barber was their third round pick.”
The Cleveland Browns CRUSHED the NFL Draft and gave their roster a TOTAL FACELIFT to help Shedeur Sanders.#Browns #NFL #RG3 #OuttaPocket pic.twitter.com/wUh2v2TL2L
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) May 1, 2026
Fano, the 2025 Outland Trophy winner and unanimous All-American, went ninth overall after Berry traded down from six and still landed the first offensive lineman off the board. Head coach Todd Monken has already slotted him in at left tackle, the very position that plagued the Browns for years.
Barber, a three-and-a-half-year starter at Florida, followed at No. 86 after Cleveland traded back into the third round specifically to get him. Two offensive tackles in the first three rounds. The message to Sanders could not have been clearer.
But protection was only part of the brief. Griffin zeroed in on what else Cleveland addressed, and why it mattered so much.
“The Browns’ wide receiver room was at the bottom of the NFL in receptions,” Griffin added. “They only scored four touchdowns in the receiver room. So they went and they got two day one starters for Shedeur Sanders to grow with, and big play machine KC Concepcion out of Texas A&M, and then also big body X receiver Denzel Boston.”
Concepcion, taken at No. 24, is legitimately electric. At Texas A&M in 2025, he hauled in 61 catches for 919 yards and nine receiving touchdowns, averaging 15.1 yards per reception. He also returned two punts for scores and won the Paul Hornung Award as college football’s most versatile player.
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He is not a developmental piece. He is a weapon, and Berry went into the first round specifically to acquire him. Boston followed at No. 39 in the second round to give Sanders a big-bodied target on the outside, the kind of receiver that opens everything else up underneath.
According to PFSN’s NFL QB Impact Metric, Sanders posted an impact score of 56.90 in 2025, ranking 46th among qualified quarterbacks; a number that tells the story of a rookie thrown into the fire with one of the worst supporting casts in the league.
The cherry on top was second-round safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren out of Toledo, taken at No. 58, giving a thin defensive backfield an immediate boost. Griffin connected the dots on everything Cleveland accomplished in those three days.
“The Browns are saying, we need to protect Shedeur, we need to give him weapons to throw to. And they did that. That alone is a winning draft. Then you throw on top of that, they went and got safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. This draft to me gave the Browns roster a total facelift.”
A facelift is precisely what it was. Between the draft and a free agency haul that brought in Tytus Howard, Zion Johnson, and Elgton Jenkins along the offensive line, Cleveland has fundamentally changed what Sanders will be walking into in 2026.
The rookie who ranked last in passer rating is now looking at a rebuilt pocket, two first-round weapons in his first two targets, and a coaching staff in Todd Monken that knows how to design an offense around what a quarterback does well.
The Browns have spent years tearing it down. This is what building it back up looks like.
