At seven years old Drew Allar started going to every Cleveland Browns home game. Now as a 21-year-old, the Penn State football quarterback and Medina, Ohio native has a 2026 NFL Draft night far out on the horizon.
On the Ross Tucker Podcast, the former NFL offensive lineman asked Allar about his home team and the potential of being drafted by the Browns in April 2026.
"That would definitely be special," Allar said to Tucker. ". . . My dad had season tickets growing up. They've been passed down since my great grandfather . . . I think [the] 50s or 60s is when my family first got the tickets in their names. So that would definitely be surreal just because I grew up going to every home game from the time I was seven and eight years old to by the time I was a freshman in college . . . No matter the weather or the record."
Cleveland has two first-round picks in the 2026 NFL Draft, acquiring its second from the Jaguars in the 2025 Draft. It holds the first overall selection and though it has a five-man quarterback room with Joe Flacco, Tyler Huntley, Kenny Pickett, Shedeur Sanders, and Dillon Gabriel, there's going to be a lot more talented passers on the board next April. With the first round overall pick, it's likely for one of them to be handed a Browns jersey.
“That would definitely be special… My dad had season tickets growing up. They've been passed down since my great grandfather.”@PennStateFball QB @AllarDrew on the possibility of being drafted by the Cleveland Browns: pic.twitter.com/7Bb5lifoxq
— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) August 11, 2025
If Allar's home pro team opts for the quarterback route to kick off the draft, he'd have to have made his case in the 2025-26 season to be the No. 1 overall pick. South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers, Clemson's Cade Klubnik, and LSU's Garrett Nussmeier are all serious contenders for that first selection with Allar. In mid-July ESPN gave them each a 15 percent chance of being No. 1 in the draft. In an early mock draft, those were the three quarterbacks that ESPN had going before Allar as well.
"Allar is a toolsy passer who took a major leap in 2024 under new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki," ESPN's Jordan Reid wrote. ". . . He isn't shy about using his arm strength to test tight windows and has good mobility for his size."
What keeps Allar back from being the obvious No. 1 pick is his big game performances and ball placement. His improvements in 2024 aren't going unnoticed, but scouts will need more than that. Reid said that how he plays without tight end Tyler Warren will be a massive contributor to where he lands in the draft, and that Allar will need to tap into his performance against Oregon in the 2024 Big Ten Championship more in 2025 than his Orange Bowl performance against Notre Dame.
Indiana's Fernando Mendoza, Clemson's T.J. Parker, and Texas' Arch Manning were listed as potential risers. Then for the "out-of-nowhere" QBs, Oklahoma's John Mateer and Arizona State's Sam Leavitt could have a season that catapults them into serious contention. Reid also listed non-quarterbacks that could steal that No. 1 overall selection: Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods, Utah offensive tackle Spencer Fano, Alabama offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor, Oregon offensive tackle Isaiah World, and Ohio State safety Caleb Downs.
Allar being the first QB off the board isn't a guarantee, but it's also a serious possibility. If his 2025-26 performance outweighs Sellers', Klubnik's, and Nussmeier's, he might hear his named called by his home team and claim that No. 1 overall selection.