NFL draft: Third 30-visit quarterback prospect for Browns

GM Andrew Berry turning over every stone and rock

The Cleveland Browns do not have a starting quarterback, but they do have his backup in place and are in line to draft a young buck to groom.

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In order to get to know players a bit better, the league allows each club to bring in 30 players for a formal visit and tour of the training facility and later a meal. The Browns are bringing in Louisville QB Tyler Shough (6’-5”, 225 pounds) for their next visit, according to Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com.

Shough’s visit to Berea marks the sixth player Cleveland has brought in so far. The others are WR/CB Travis Hunter of Colorado, Penn State DE Abdul Carter, OT Will Campbell out of LSU, and a tandem of quarterbacks with Cam Ward of Miami and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.

The QB room is assured of the Browns selecting a college guy to come in and learn the ropes for at least one season if not a couple. There have been plenty of names dropped of who Cleveland should be interested in, but Shough is rarely mentioned.

The most likely names have been Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss, Ohio State’s Will Howard, Riley Leonard of Notre Dame, Kurtis Rourke from Indiana, Jalen Milroe of Alabama, and Oregon’s Dillion Gabriel.

All of these players are not ranked as first-round picks.

Shough’s rankings on various NFL draft sites: Pro Football Focus #10 QB (#182 overall); The Draft Network #5 QB (#56 overall); CBS Sports #7 QB (#124 overall); Draft Countdown #8 QB (#174 overall); ESPN #4 QB (#46 overall): and NFL Draft Buzz #11 QB (#102 overall).

The Browns need a quarterback they can develop and eventually become the starter.

Teams can host up to 30 players for interviews and medical evaluations at their own facilities, with players who live or go to college in the local area not counting toward those 30.

(Editor’s Note: These have been mislabeled for years as “top 30 visits” but are just 30 approved visits that teams use on a variety of players all over their draft board.)

Shough, already age 25, was the underdog QB at this year’s Senior Bowl which had a ton of marquee names at the quarterback spot. He shined all week and in all likelihood has elevated his draft stock. He has an exceptionally strong arm and showcased it well all week. Coming into Senior Bowl week he was projected as a fifth-round pick. He may now be viewed more so in Round 3, which Cleveland has two draft choices in that round.

It has been predicted that if the Browns don’t take Jaxson Dart with their pick in Round 2 the franchise will select a QB in the third round. But if you noticed, ESPN has Shough their fourth-ranked QB in this year’s draft behind Ward, Sanders (#14), and Dart (#32) with an overall ranking of #46. That lines up with Cleveland drafting him in Round 2 with pick #33.

For his career, Shough qualified to play seven college seasons because of the pandemic. He began 2018 through the 2020 seasons with Oregon, then three seasons at Texas Tech, and finally one year at Louisville.

Shough played in 42 games with 599 completions on 951 attempts, 7,820 yards, 59 touchdowns against 23 interceptions, a 147.7 QB rating, with 246 rushing attempts for 733 yards with an additional 11 scores. He has proven to be an effective runner on planned plays as well as scrambles when flushed from the pocket. With his size, he is not easy to bring down.

None of those seasons was Shough named all-conference although he was the MVP of the 2022 Texas Bowl. He will turn 26 years old shortly after training camp this year.

The previous visits by Ward and Sanders were expected and part of the Browns’ due diligence to analyze which player to draft with the second overall pick in the first round.

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Should Browns fans analyze why Shough was brought in for a visit before Dart, Milroe, Howard, Gabriel, Rourke, or Leonard?