Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry will likely have three scenarios to consider when the Browns are on the clock with the No. 2 overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft.
On Berry’s notepad will be the following bullet list:
- Scenario 1: Select the highest-rated quarterback on the draft board, presumably Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, and don’t look back.
- Scenario 2: Select either Colorado wide receiver/defensive back Travis Hunter or Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter, and then hope there is a quarterback you like still available when you open the second round.
- Scenario 3: Select either Carter or Hunter, and then use some of your nine other draft picks, plus whatever else you can scrape together, to trade back into the first round to select a quarterback.
That last scenario has been discussed for some time now, and if Berry is considering it, he may find a willing trade partner in a former colleague.
Before becoming general manager of the Minnesota Vikings, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah spent two seasons working with Berry as vice president of football operations with the Browns.
The Vikings come into the draft with just four draft picks to their name, only one of which is in the first two rounds. And if another team comes calling with some additional draft capital in exchange for Minnesota’s first-round pick, which is No. 24 overall, Adofo-Mensah may be willing to listen.
That is according to Alec Lewis at The Athletic, who posits that since the Vikings were active in free agency, their list of roster holes to fill has shrunk enough that moving down in the draft.
Enter the Browns.
If there is a quarterback that the Browns are fond of, for example Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe or in the highly unlikely scenario that Sanders is still in the green room, then Berry can put together an offer that includes Cleveland’s second-round pick (No. 33 overall) and one of their third-rounders (No. 67 overall or No. 94 overall) to the Vikings and nab their quarterback along with the always helpful fifth-year option on a rookie contract.
This would not be new territory for the Vikings, as in 2022, Adofo-Mensah swapped a pair of top-50 draft picks for a trio of top-70 picks. That did not work out so well for the Vikings, which means that Adofo-Mensah might be a bit more cautious this time around, but if there is a quarterback that Berry likes, he needs to do what he has to do to secure that player.
Lewis looked through the past five drafts to find that 11 teams have made trades involving a first-round selection in the 20s, and the return generally involved a third- or fourth-round pick. So, Berry might be able to sell Adofo-Mensah on picks Nos. 33 and 67 and call it a day.
This is all speculation, of course, but it will be worth watching how the first round of the draft unfolds. And when the Vikings are on the clock, Adofo-Mensah should not be surprised if the phone rings and he hears a familiar voice on the other end of the line.
What do you think Browns fans? If there is a quarterback available that the Browns like, would you swap two picks to the Vikings to move up and select him?
