Every Quarterback Drafted by the Cleveland Browns

With just four postseason appearances since 1990, the Cleveland Browns are considered one of the dregs of the NFL. For whatever reason, the franchise has been perpetually stuck at the bottom of the standings, having not won 12 games, even, since 1986.

Much of the struggle - 22 losing seasons in the last 26 - has had to do with quarterback play. The Browns have exactly zero Hall of Fame quarterbacks and only nine signal-callers in team history have been named Pro Bowlers while with Cleveland.

One of those came last year, as rookie Shedeur Sanders earned a nod at the end of last season. But even that came after a seven-touchdown, 10-interception season. And Sanders will likely begin 2026 the same way he started 2025: as a backup. DeShaun Watson missed all of last season with an Achilles injury and is expected to regain the No. 1 job.

Watson is a three-time Pro Bowl selection, but all came with the Houston Texans. He hasn’t been the same player in the post-COVID era and he isn’t Cleveland grown. The Browns have had especially bad luck when it comes to drafting the future of the franchise at the position. Maybe Sanders breaks the mold.

Here’s how the franchise has looked in taking quarterbacks in the draft in its history -- 54 of them in total through 2025.

Cleveland Browns Quarterback Draft History

Quarterback Notes and Nuggets

• Milt Plum - 1957
  Plum was the first great quarterback in Cleveland history, though the Browns didn’t hold on to him. Cleveland took him the second round of the 1957 draft and gave him the reins in 1958. He went 9-2, 7-5, 8-3-1 and 7-5-1 over his four seasons as starter, leading the league in completion percentage three times and recording the lowest interception rating twice. The Browns traded Plum to the Detroit Lions ahead of the 1962 season, despite the quarterback going to back-to-back Pro Bowls.

• Brian Sipe - 1972
  Taken in the 13th round of the 1972 draft, Sipe remains the best quarterback in Browns history. He didn’t establish himself as a starter until 1976 and didn’t become a star until his 30s, finishing third in Most Valuable Player voting in 1979 and winning MVP in 1980 after throwing for 4,132 yards with 30 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Sipe left the NFL after losing his starting job in 1982, finishing his career in the United States Football League.

• Tim Couch - 1999
  Expectations for Couch were sky high after he lit up the SEC while at Kentucky in the late 1990s. The Browns took him No. 1 overall in the 1999 draft and immediately installed him as starter. Cleveland went 2-12 that season. The franchise stuck with him for another four years, but Couch managed a winning record just once and threw more career interceptions (67) than touchdowns (64) before retirement after the 2003 season.

• Colt McCoy - 2010
  McCoy never turned into a franchise quarterback after the Browns took him in the third round of the 2010 draft, spending just two seasons as a starter in the league. But he was respected enough around the league to stick around another 10 seasons, serving as a back-up in San Francisco, Washington, New York and Arizona before retiring after the 2022 season.

• Johnny Manziel - 2014
  Few quarterbacks are as famous for doing less on the field than Manziel. He played in a grand total of 14 games over two seasons, throwing just 258 passes after being taken No. 22 overall in the 2014 draft. Off-field issues and a lack of on-field work ethic saw him out of the league after just two years.

• Baker Mayfield - 2018
  Most of Mayfield’s career has been spent elsewhere, but no Browns player has more career passing yards or passing touchdowns than the man they took No. 1 overall in 2018. Mayfield spent four seasons in Cleveland before the franchise traded him to the Carolina Panthers in 2022. Now with Tampa Bay, Mayfield is one of the top-producing quarterbacks in the NFL.