If the Cleveland Browns don't draft a quarterback with the No. 4 overall pick in the NFL draft, trade interest near the end of the first round could be sparked by the Houston Texans, who might look to move ahead of the Browns' pick at No. 26 to secure the best available passer, NFL Media analyst Charles Davis suggested Wednesday on NFL Network's "Path to the Draft."
"There is a plethora of guys there," Davis said of the quarterback options expected to be available in the late-first or early-second round. "If they know there is someone in particular that they want, I don't know that they can wait until all the way to the end of the first round. They might have to come up ahead of Cleveland at No. 26 in order to get that done."
The Texans, whom most expect will draft Jadeveon Clowney with the No. 1 overall pick, hold the first pick of the second round and would need to move ahead only eight spots from there in order to beat the Browns to a particular quarterback. Possibilities to lead the quarterback market late in the first round include Fresno State's Derek Carr, Louisville's Teddy Bridgewater, Alabama's AJ McCarron, Eastern Illinois' Jimmy Garoppolo and Pittsburgh's Tom Savage.
The Browns could conceivably wait until their second-round pick at No. 35 to fill the quarterback need as well, but Davis and analyst Daniel Jeremiah both advised against it.
"If you identify Derek Carr as your guy, if you feel like he can be your starting quarterback for the next decade, why would you risk that?" Jeremiah said. "Why would you risk him going from 26 to 35? Take him at 26."
And perhaps even sooner, if the trade market demands it.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.
