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.