Opportunity is about to knock loudly at the Cleveland Browns‘ door ahead of Todd Monken’s first year as head coach, with a two-time Pro Bowl quarterback waiting on the other side if the team is willing to answer.
The prevailing option around the NFL is that Malik Willis is the best quarterback headed to free agency, but that’s just one way of looking at it. Kyler Murray is currently a member of the Arizona Cardinals, who are reportedly shopping him and would certainly prefer trading him to cutting him based on the financial implications.
However, the latter option appears the most likely now, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN.
Kyler Murray has $36.8 million in fully guaranteed salary this year, and if he’s on the Arizona roster on the third day of the league year, another $19.5 million in 2027 salary becomes fully guaranteed. So, the Cardinals will want to move on before that happens, whether that means a trade or a release.
Odds favor a release because it’s unlikely a team will offer Arizona anything significant in a trade if it has to pay Murray that much guaranteed money over the next two years.
If Arizona releases Murray, he becomes a free agent. In that scenario, the Cardinals pay him an exorbitant amount to play elsewhere, and the signing team can ink him for next to nothing.
That means Murray hits the open market willing to agree to a veteran’s league minimum for $1.3 million, which makes the him the best bargain by a wide margin.
Browns Likely Out on Packers QB Malik Willis
GettyGreen Bay Packers quarterback Malik Willis.
In the same story that Graziano’s report on Murray appeared on Sunday, March 1, Jeremy Folwer of ESPN wrote that “it doesn’t seem likely that Willis will end up in Cleveland.”
If Willis goes elsewhere, that significantly thins the Browns’ list of candidates beyond a one-year veteran signing.
The Atlanta Falcons will release Kirk Cousins, and the Las Vegas Raiders may well do the same with Geno Smith. But both of those QBs are in their late 30s and profile as one-year veteran solutions that don’t make much sense with a rebuilding offense in Cleveland. Plus, the Browns already have Deshaun Watson for one final season on his contract, which makes such an addition redundant as well as nonsensical.
Murray is young enough and has been good recently enough to make sense as established competition for Watson and second-year QB Shedeur Sanders on a cheap deal in 2026. And, if it works out, Murray is a player worth signing to a multiyear contract next offseason when he will turn just 30 years old.
“Though Murray’s play dropped off last season, he’s only one year removed from a 63.4 QBR in 2024, the ninth best that season,” Seth Walder of ESPN wrote last week when he predicted that Murray will start Week 1 for the Browns.
Alabama QB Ty Simpson Perhaps Best Choice for Browns Other Than Kyler Murray
GettyQuarterback Ty Simpson of Alabama.
The other best option for Cleveland, if the team isn’t trying to add a veteran with little chance to be the starter three years from now, is to draft Ty Simpson out of Alabama.
Simpson profiles as the No. 2 signal-caller in the 2026 class, though most analysts grade him somewhere outside of Round 1. But given the need under center of approximately 25% of teams across the league and the minimal options via trade and free agency, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Simpson leap up into the first 32 picks.
The Browns hold pick Nos. 6 and 24 on Day 1, as well as the No. 39 overall selection early in Round 2. If Simpson is still on the board in the mid-20s, Cleveland could be a player for his services. The chances the Browns draft him in the second round are likely even higher, should Simpson remain available at pick No. 39.
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