With the Browns still trying to find a head coach and the 2026 NFL draft coming into focus, it is important to note the four quarterbacks who have made it to the conference championship games this weekend:
Cleveland isn’t required to draft a quarterback to get a quarterback, but the top half of the NFL draft is where most top-level quarterbacks come from.
Quarterback has also played a role in coaching searches, it seems:
Only Jeff Hafley has joined a team, the Miami Dolphins, that doesn’t at least have some certainty or upside at the quarterback position.
Besides the Buffalo Bills, the last to the head coaching market, none of the remaining teams with head coaching openings have a quarterback on their roster that a head coach would be excited about:
The only team on that list that has a chance to answer their quarterback problem is the Raiders, who desperately tried to hire Minter and now could be waiting on Klint Kubiak. With the top overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, Fernando Mendoza is likely headed to Las Vegas.
The problem for the Raiders search is that Mendoza has not proven anything in the NFL and the rest of their roster only has a few quality players to build around. Cleveland at least has a quality defense and a few stud rookies to build their future around.
In 2024, a Week 12 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, when the Browns were already far out of any type of playoff contention, cost the team the chance to draft Ward. Reports came out later that Cleveland tried to trade up to get Ward because they liked him so much. In 2025, Week 17 and 18 victories in the AFC North pushed the Browns from the first overall selection, with a chance to draft Mendoza, to the sixth pick in a draft with very few quarterback options.
If Cleveland entered the 2026 head coach search with Ward or Mendoza to go along with their stacked defense and very good 2025 NFL draft class, it is far more likely Harbaugh, McDaniel, and Minter would have had the team higher on their list.
Instead, one win in 2024 and two wins in 2025 have the Browns still seeking their franchise quarterback, which has led to more limited options to fill their head coaching vacancy. That doesn’t mean Cleveland will not find their franchise leader (HC) and franchise changer (QB), but it is interesting to look back and see the butterfly effect of a few wins.
