Will Browns pair Travis Hunter with Tyler Shough or Jalen Milroe?

It seemed in March that the Cleveland Browns were planning to make Colorado wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter the second pick of the 2025 NFL Draft with the idea that they could attempt to grab Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe later in the player-selection process. 

However, ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. shared in his latest mock draft published on Tuesday that he's now among those who believe Cleveland will take Hunter at No. 2 and then select Louisville's Tyler Shough over Milroe with the 33rd overall choice. 

"Shough has the arm strength to drive the ball in Cleveland weather," Kiper wrote, "and he looks the part at 6-foot-5 and 219 pounds. Some evaluators will be concerned by his age (turning 26 this year), but the flip side of that is his experience -- he has thrown 951 passes over 43 career games."

It's now clear that people within the Browns want it known that the club acquired Kenny Pickett from the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this offseason to give him a legitimate chance to become Cleveland's 2025 Week 1 starting quarterback. While Milroe is viewed by some as a flawed prospect who should spend at least a portion of his rookie season developing as an unused backup, Shough theoretically could play as soon as this fall if Pickett goes down with an injury or fails to impress when the games begin to matter. 

That last point is important considering there's no sign the Browns are close to acquiring veteran Kirk Cousins from the Atlanta Falcons via a trade before the draft gets underway on the night of April 24. Cousins reportedly doesn't want to compete with a prospect selected with a high-value draft pick later this summer. 

Interestingly, Browns reporter Zac Jackson of The Athletic revealed in an article published on Tuesday that "there’s almost no chance" Cleveland will make a quarterback, including Colorado's Shedeur Sanders, the draft's second pick. Sanders seemingly left much to be desired with his recent pro day workout, so much so that he allegedly could fall into the 20s of the draft order. 

In a different piece posted on Tuesday, The Athletic's Ted Nguyen noted that Milroe will "need patience to develop" and is "a bigger project" than Philadelphia's Jalen Hurts was coming out of college. Perhaps Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski agrees with such assessments and feels he can get Shough ready to start before Week 1 arrives in September.