The Cleveland Browns have afforded Jerry Jeudy a couple of seasons to establish himself as a legitimate WR1 in the NFL, and while the team has done him few favors with regards to the personnel around him, Jeudy has failed to seize the opportunity.
Cleveland has been just good enough to play themselves out of serious discussion for one of the top two quarterbacks in the 2026 class: Fernando Mendoza of Indiana and Dante Moore of Oregon, assuming he declares.
The Browns currently hold the No. 6 overall pick with one game to play, and multiple recent mock drafts project the team will select wideout Carnell Tate of Ohio State as Jeudy’s eventual successor. The most recent projection came from Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports on Tuesday, December 30.
“Tate is a long strider with a big catch radius and reliable hands who makes contested catches downfield look easy,” Wilson wrote. “He flashes quickness and short-area agility to create separation at the top of his route and has the ability to make defenders miss after the catch. His ball-tracking, route-running and ability to operate in space make him a Day 1 impact player at the next level.”
Shedeur Sanders Wins if Browns Select Carnell Tate With Top Pick in NFL Draft
GettyQuarterback Shedeur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns.
Field Yates of ESPN was among the first to suggest Tate as the best option for the Browns to update their receiver room in next year’s draft.
His argument centered around building for quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who has a better chance of holding onto the QB1 role through next season if Cleveland can’t acquire Mendoza or Moore and decides to hold off on drafting a franchise quarterback until the deeply talented class of 2027.
“The Browns will likely have conversations about the quarterback position, but Shedeur Sanders’ growth in three games as the starter has been encouraging,” Yates wrote December 10. “And in this scenario, the two clear-cut best signal-callers in my rankings are off the board. … Tate is the next first-round lock from the Ohio State receiver room, and he would be awesome in the Cleveland pass game.”
Jordyn Tyson Could Overtake Carnell Tate as Browns’ Top WR Target
GettyWide receiver Jordyn Tyson of the Arizona State Sun Devils.
There are two potential hitches in Cleveland’s acquisition of Tate.
The first is a trade from No. 6 into the top two for a quarterback, which the Browns could theoretically accomplish by packaging their second first-rounder in 2026 via the Jacksonville Jaguars in a deal with the New York Giants. The Giants have their QB in rookie Jaxson Dart and are strong candidates to move down, pick up some extra capital and build around him.
A second possible development is that Cleveland agrees with the most recent draft big board from Pro Football Focus, in which PFF ranks Arizona State wideout Jordyn Tyson (No. 6 prospect) one spot ahead of Tate (No. 7 prospect).
“The redshirt junior has earned 80.0-plus PFF grades in back-to-back seasons and brings the well-rounded skill set needed to develop into a true No. 1 wide receiver at the NFL level,” Max Chadwick of PFF wrote on December 15 when projecting the Browns to select Tyson with the No. 4 pick in the draft.
Other mocks earlier in the year had Cleveland going with Tate or Tyson as high as No. 3. It is mathematically impossible for the Browns (4-12) to fall below the seventh selection next spring, so if the team chooses not to trade up and decides to go with a receiver to eventually replace Jeudy as the No. 1 option, either Tyson or Tate should be available.
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