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Drafting a new Cleveland Browns QB series: Will Howard

The topic of the next Cleveland Browns quarterback has hit its stride as we gear up first for the NFL free agency window in March and then the NFL Draft in April. The Browns hold the No. 2 draft pick in that draft and thus there’s been plenty of chatter on the topic.

Two quarterbacks, Cam Ward(Miami) and Shedeur Sanders (Colorado), are considered the top prospects, but are they worth taking so high in the draft? There are opinions out there that this quarterback class is not that strong. So would Cleveland be wrong in drafting one of these players? Would the team be better served taking a player like Travis Hunter ( Colorado), a combo wide receiver and cornerback who some say is the best athlete on the draft board?

Interesting note on the discussion of drafting a quarterback in this year’s draft in this season’s NFL playoffs of the 14 teams involved, 12 of them had quarterbacks taken in the first round. So when you start taking quarterbacks outside of the first round, the reliability and stardom of the player take a big hit. There are many exceptions to that fact noting star quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Russell Wilson but taking a quarterback in the first round has more upside.

In this series of articles, we’re going to look at these top two quarterbacks and a couple more quarterbacks that Browns fans are discussing in the days leading up to the draft.

No. 4 QB for the Browns to consider drafting: Will Howard, Ohio State

It helps when you were the quarterback who just led his team to a National Championship. Will Howard, the Ohio State QB has certainly earned a lot of respect for the season he just put together. Is it enough for him to get drafted by an NFL team? Yes, it is, but just how far up the quarterback “leaderboard” does he climb?

I had the opportunity to watch Howard play a lot of starting quarterback when he was at Kansas State because I lived there in the area of the college. He played for the Wildcats for four seasons. He was a good quarterback but didn’t do anything flashy. He was smart with the ball and usually made sound decisions. While the Wildcats have talent on their team, the talent that Howard was awarded when he became the quarterback at Ohio State grew enormously. The Buckeyes wide receiver room is likely the best in college football.

After Ohio State won the National Championship, I had a friend from Kansas text me that “KSTATE has no WR like that” in referring to Ohio State freshman WR Jeremiah Smith.

Howard made huge strides in his confidence as a quarterback and it played out well for him and his new teammates. For his five years as a college quarterback, he threw for 9,796 yards and 83 touchdowns. This year as a Buckeye, he doubled his usual season output going for 4,010 yards and 35 touchdowns. Over his career, he also used his legs well rumbling for 1,147 yards and 26 touchdowns.

His tall height at 6’4 and his savvy ability to run when things break down or on a quarterback keeper, make him an intriguing prospect for the Browns. There was a quarterback by the name of Ben Roethlisberger, who once had a very successful career in the NFL that Howard reminds me of now. I wouldn’t draft Howard in the first or second round but if he were there in the third round, I could definitely see Cleveland drafting him.

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