Following the first wave of free agency, the Cleveland Browns have addressed their biggest concern: the offensive line. After trading for Tytus Howard, the front office signed Zion Johnson and Elgton Jenkins to multi-year deals. Ideally, those three players will keep whoever is at quarterback clean and healthy.
Shedeur Sanders is hoping he’s that guy. Following a somewhat successful rookie season, Sanders heads into his second season in a theoretical quarterback competition alongside Deshaun Watson and Dillon Gabriel. Many were expecting new head coach Todd Monken and general manager Andrew Berry to bring in more competition, but that isn’t the case early in free agency. That has fans feeling hopeful for Sanders.
Monken has said all of the right things regarding Sanders to this point. Although he won’t commit to the second-year player as the team’s starting quarterback, the head coach has appeared intrigued by Sanders’ skillset and what he put on tape last season. Although free agency hasn’t been used to address the quarterback position, Sanders still needs to get through the 2026 NFL Draft unscathed if he wants the best shot at next season’s starting job.
Ty Simpson has a longstanding relationship with Todd Monken
But this year’s draft may pose a problem, as Alabama’s Ty Simpson has revealed that he’s known Monken for a long time. The QB prospect also gushed about Monken’s offense in a recent interview with Kay Adams.
Simpson’s father, Jason Simpson, has been the head coach at UT Martin since 2006. He played college baseball at Southern Miss in the 1990s, and Monken was the head coach there from 2013-15. The former Alabama quarterback also says that Monken recruited him while he was the offensive coordinator at Georgia, before Simpson joined the Crimson Tide. They have also had positive meetings during this pre-draft process.
Simpson is starting to look like a real target for the Browns in the draft. The question is whether Monken and the Cleveland front office likes him so much to take him as high as their 6th overall pick. It’s uncertain if Simpson would fall to pick No. 24 for the Browns’ second selection. But everything is connecting Simpson to the Browns in a very real way.
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