The players on the Cleveland Browns were never going to allow any kind of tanking of the season, no matter how a win against the Pittsburgh Steelers impacted the 2026 NFL draft order coming out of Week 17. Now slotted with the sixth overall pick, it is unlikely that the Browns will be picking in the first two spots and could need to trade up in this year’s NFL draft in order to acquire either QB Fernando Mendoza
or QB Dante Moore.There is a long time to argue whether either quarterback is worth a top
pick, much less trading up to acquire one of them. Both Mendoza and Moore still need to declare for the upcoming draft for that to even be a discussion.
For Cleveland fans, the discussion turns to how high they can get if they decide to package their pick with the one acquired from the Jacksonville Jaguars during last year’s draft. That was the assumption many made when the Travis Hunter trade went down: that the Browns wanted to position themselves to have ammunition to move up for a quarterback in 2026 if they needed it.
None of the trade charts can take into account the talent level in the current draft class, nor the desperation/motivation level of the teams involved in the deal.
According to The Rich Hill NFL draft value chart, combining #6 and #28 could move Cleveland up to the third pick and leave them a third-round pick short of the second overall pick.
The Fitzgerald-Spielberger NFL draft trade value chart says that the Browns two first-round picks are more than enough to move up to the first overall spot.
The traditional Jimmy Johnson chart also gives Cleveland the third overall pick, like Hill’s, but just barely.
In 2018, the New York Jets were slotted with the sixth overall pick heading into the draft and had their eyes on a quarterback. The Jets packaged the #6 pick along with three second-rounders to move up three spots to select Sam Darnold. In 2017, the Chicago Bears dealt away two third-round picks and a fourth-rounder to move up one spot from #3 to #2 to select Mitch Trubisky.
The Browns were involved in a move down back in 2016 when the Philadelphia Eagles sent a huge package (#8 pick, a third and a fourth that year, and a future 1st and 2nd) to move up six spots.
In the 2026 NFL draft, Cleveland will have the ammunition to move up as high as they want, if they have a high enough grade on Mendoza and/or Moore. Having two first-round picks this year gives them a lot of ammunition to make a move if they desire. The Browns could have strong competition from the Jets, who also have two first-round picks with both currently slotted higher (#3, #18) than Cleveland’s.
