The Cleveland Browns took their quarterback search outside the team’s facility last week with visits to postseason all-star games in North Texas and Mobile, Ala. At the East-West Shrine Bowl, the Browns interviewed Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, then general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski spent three days watching Senior Bowl practices.
Browns special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone served as head coach of the American team at the Senior Bowl, so he got extra time on and off the practice field to watch Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart, Memphis’ Seth Henigan and Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard.
Each Monday ahead of the draft, we’re tracking — and also ranking, predicting and analyzing — the team’s quarterback options. For this third edition, we’re focusing on Milroe, Dart and Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough. We look at how each of them performed and what key Browns figures said about those players and the still-early state of the quarterback search.
Next up for Berry and his staff is the team’s most thorough round of draft meetings. The Browns will further build their draft board and start to discuss real options for pick Nos. 2 and 33 in the coming weeks. The NFL Scouting Combine begins in late February, and teams can begin to negotiate with outside free agents on March 10.
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Tyler Shough
Shough was in college so long that he was Justin Herbert’s backup at Oregon. Shough is 25, married and has four degrees. He’s coming off his best college season, and his only full season due to what Shough called “freak injuries.” He played at Oregon and Texas Tech before finishing his college career at Louisville.
Dane Brugler, The Athletic’s lead NFL Draft analyst, wrote that Shough was the “most consistent” thrower at the Senior Bowl and has the “requisite traits” to become a successful downfield passer. Shough is 6-foot-5, 224 pounds and looked like the kind of pocket passer who would fit Stefanski’s offense.
Shough said he’s “100 percent, no doubt” ready to be an NFL starter as soon as this September. Brugler noted that Shough’s medical reports at the combine could ultimately determine his draft position, and Shough said he looks at his age and college experience as a positive.
“Every year, what I’ve done with more experience is just get better,” Shough said. “Whether that’s playing in a new offense, shoring up some footwork things, just getting better mechanically … it’s been a lot of fun and I have to keep growing.
“There’s a higher standard and level I can get to. My best ball is ahead. I was able to play a full season (last fall), show what I can do and really get comfortable in an offense. It’s only up from here.”
Tyler Shough was the “most consistent” passer at this year’s Senior Bowl, per The Athletic’s NFL Draft analyst Dane Brugler. (Vasha Hunt / Imagn Images)
Jaxson Dart
Dart has the prototypical size (6-foot-2, 226 pounds) and showed off good arm strength. Brugler called Dart a “natural thrower with mobility and toughness,” and Dart scored the first touchdown for Ventrone’s team in the Senior Bowl game on a scramble.
Ventrone said he was impressed with Dart’s “swagger” and willingness to learn early during Senior Bowl week. All-star game environments can be tough on quarterbacks with unfamiliar teammates and coaching, but Ventrone said Dart and Milroe both stayed engaged during meetings and showed improved confidence as the practice week went on.
“Jaxson is a high-level processor, really good in anticipation,” Berry said. “He’s accurate. He really pounds the middle of the field. That’s really his game, and he also probably has some understated mobility.”
Brugler rated Milroe as a top 25 overall prospect in his November list of the top 50. Most rankings have Sanders and Cam Ward as the top two quarterbacks in this draft, and then either Milroe or Dart next — with both as potential late first or early second-round picks. Berry declined to comment on exactly how Cleveland ranks the prospects.
“Milroe and Dart entered the week with plenty of hype, and scouts were hoping to see them play at a level that left no doubt they should be top-50 picks,” Brugler wrote. “That didn’t happen in Mobile, as both were inconsistent, at best.”
In his Senior Bowl week positional recap, Brugler wrote that “none of the (seven) quarterbacks jumped out in a major way throughout the week. Based on an informal poll of scouts in attendance, no one disagreed.”
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Jalen Milroe
Milroe was a four-year player and two-year starter at Alabama, the first (2023) with new Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees as his OC and quarterbacks coach. Milroe spoke highly of Rees at the start of Senior Bowl week, and their relationship gives the Browns insight into Milroe that other teams might not have.
Brugler called Milroe “a special athlete … with a rocket arm and the type of intelligence and character makeup that every NFL team wants in its building.” Milroe clearly has a long way to go as a passer. With no blitzing and just basic offensive installation, the Senior Bowl isn’t the ideal environment for a dual-threat quarterback.
“From a physical level, there’s really nothing that (Milroe) can’t do,” Berry said. “He’s a high-level athlete with a really strong arm. He has been really a bit of a self-made man in terms of developing from the pocket throughout his Alabama career. I think it’s hard not to envision some of the things he’ll be able to do at the NFL level when you watch Sunday and see some of these dual-threat guys.
“So, he’s got immense potential. He’s a really hard worker.”
Ventrone and Browns defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire, who served as defensive coordinator for the National team, returned to Cleveland on Sunday. At multiple points over the rest of the process, they’ll get to share insights on Senior Bowl participants in the Browns’ draft room.
“It can be really helpful (having been) able to actually sit in the meeting room when these guys are having information given to them, and seeing how they retain, how they ask questions, how they communicate with the coach,” Ventrone said. “And then just building a relationship with them. You can see their interactions with you. All (the) quarterbacks have been really receptive to (learning) but also just interacting, so it’s been good.”
(Top photo of Jaxson Dart: Vasha Hunt / Imagn Images)
