Where will Cleveland look next to fill their most obvious need?

Tom Brady had success after signing with the Buccaneers in free agency. And Kirk Cousins has the Falcons 5-3 atop their division after having played out his contract in Minnesota. There are no notable signal-callers set to hit the open market in 2025.

The only remaining way to acquire players — beyond trades and free agency — is through the draft. There are plenty of examples of this method being executed effectively, and lots of instances as well where it’s exploded in the GM’s face like an airbag with Tourette’s. An interesting case occured a few years ago in San Francisco.

After a disappointing 2020 campaign that saw the perennial contender finish 6-10 behind an early season injury to Jimmy Garoppolo, the 49ers — evidently assuming it’d be their best opportunity to trade into a top 3 draft position — moved Heaven, Earth, most of Narnia, and the Stargate to Atlantis, along with all three of their current and future first-round picks they were allowed to trade, plus a third-rounder, to draft Trey Lance with the apparent thinking that he’d be their answer at quarterback for the franchise’s foreseeable future.

It didn’t work out the way they expected it to in NoCal, but they took a big swing and things ultimately fell into place. The Browns might be able to follow that template, provided that a top pick is up for bid this coming April.

Cleveland’s front office probably won’t stumble backward into drafting a starting QB with the last pick in the draft like the Niners did with Brock Purdy, but maybe they can get it right with No. 2 overall. That appears to have happened each of the past two years, with C.J. Stroud in Houston and Jayden Daniels in Washington.

Following their win Sunday over Baltimore, the Browns hold pick No. 8 overall. They’d draft behind the other five teams with the same record because of having a strength of schedule featuring the highest winning percentage of the group.

San Francisco moved from 12 to three. It’s conceivable that Cleveland could hop from eight (or thereabouts) to No. 2. With just one selection taking place prior to that, either Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders would have to be on the board there. And betting on either seems like a ticket you’d be confident with at the window.

—@PoisonPill4