BEREA, Ohio — The Browns passed on arguably the best prospect in this class when they traded down and away from Travis Hunter, but they set themselves up perfectly for a quarterback in next year’s draft if they still need one.

In trading down from No. 2 to No. 5 with the Jaguars, the Browns also acquired:

* The 36th overall pick this year in the second round.

* The 126th pick this year in the fourth round.

* A first-round pick in 2026.

The Jaguars, in moving up three spots, also received the Browns’ No. 104 pick in the fourth round and their No. 200 pick in the sixth round — in a trade that’s been in the works for a couple of weeks.

The trade, which saw the Browns select Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham at No. 5, not only gave them two incredibly valuable picks at the top of Round 2 on Friday — No. 33 and No. 36 — but provides them with a powerful one-two punch to possibly package for a quarterback in a potential star-studded class next season, depending on who comes out.

Granted, the Browns can — and probably still will — draft a quarterback in this class, possibly on Friday in the second or third round. But the Browns have already stated unequivocally they’re not going to force a quarterback from this draft if he’s not there.

They have done plenty of due diligence on a number of them, including Jaxson Dart, whom the Giants traded up to get at No. 25, Jalen Milroe and Tyler Shough. But they’ll probably wait to see who falls to them at No. 33 or No. 36 and go from there. If they see good value at one of those spots, they won’t hesitate to take one. But if they have other players ranked higher, they’ll likely stay true to their board and carry on. They feel good enough about Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco that they’re not hard-pressed to reach for a QB.

Over the last couple of weeks, it became evident that the Browns were off the Shedeur Sanders scent, and that they’d be more likely to draft Hunter at No. 2. But the chance to add first and second round picks — for sliding back just a little — was too great to pass up.

“We just felt like it was a fantastic opportunity for our organization to move down three spots, still get a top notch prospect in the trenches, adding a pick in what we view as really the sweet spot for this year’s draft class and then adding a first round pick next year in a class that, quite frankly we think will be a bit stronger in the first 30 picks,” Browns GM Andrew Berry said shortly after the pick was made. “We just felt like both in the short term and over a multi-year time horizon, it was a fit for what we wanted to do with the team and what we wanted to do with the roster. And we’re excited to add Mason. We’re excited to add the extra draft resources both this year and next.”

The Browns don’t have to wait until next year for this trade to pack a wallop. In addition to acquiring a hard-hitting, high-motor defender in Graham, they have the first and fourth picks in the second round, 33 and 36, in which to help transform the roster and claw their way back from 3-14. Between that one-two punch and the one in the first round next year, it should be a transformational two-draft bonanza for the Browns.

Of course, they’ll have to draft better than they did the last time they traded down from No. 2 in 2016. In that “Carson Wentz trade” with the Eagles, they wound up with 11 total picks when all the wheeling and dealing was done, but really only had four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward to show for it.

“We certainly hope that’s the case, but we also have to make good on the players that we do select and that’s not just the acquisition process, but that’s the development process as well,” Berry said. “But we’re excited about it. We look at it as we sit here today, we’ll have five picks in the top 103, three of those in the top 36, and then really over a two-year time span, we will have five top 36 picks and probably six top 50 picks. So that’s quite an opportunity for us to add young players to the roster or to use those resources whether it’s for veteran player or generate other resources over the next 24 months.”

Berry acknowledged that being poised to take a QB next year is a possibility, depending on which one they draft this year and how he works out.

“I also say that we’re pretty early in the weekend, so I don’t know how the rest of the draft is going to unfold,” Berry said. “There’s talent across positions including the quarterback position, and we just really have to see kind of how our next seven or eight picks unfold throughout the weekend.

He noted that the promising 2026 QB class was “tangentially related, but even with that, quite frankly, unless we were going to take a quarterback (at 2), it’s a trade we probably would’ve done regardless.”

He noted that the chance to take just a short trip down the board made this trade attractive. The Browns had another offer for the No. 2, but the Jaguars were in a more favorable spot.

“I think for any trade, it depends on how far back you’re going,” he said. “Realistically for this one, that was a huge part. It would’ve been a non-starter for anyone without getting a future one to move back because these picks, these resources are so valuable.”

Besides, they fancy Day 2 perhaps even more than Day 1.

“We really view the sweet spot of this draft realistically is in Day 2,” Berry said. “We think there’s a strong pool of players and it flattens out maybe a little bit more quickly than in some previous drafts. But I think there are going to be good players up and down the board and as we sit here today, we have four picks on Friday and we’ll be excited about that and we will see how the first round unfolds and what’s available to us as we head into tomorrow.”

The Browns know that fans were excited for a player in Hunter that Berry had likened to Major League Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani for his two-way prowess as a cornerback and receiver, but he’s certain they’ll be thrilled with the fruits of this trade when all is said and done, especially if it produces their quarterback of the future.

“We obviously had a strong affinity for Travis, no different than we had strong affinity for a number of players at the top,” Berry said. “I think the thing for us is there are a lot of good players in every class, and as much as we liked Travis or Abdul (Carter) or Ashton Jeanty, or whoever that may be, the opportunity still to get a premier prospect and add significantly to our resources, which gives us added flexibility to build the team, we felt like it was an opportunity that made sense.”

Next year’s quarterback class includes the likes of Texas’ Arch Manning, Penn State’s Drew Allar, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Miami’s Carson Beck. If the Browns find themselves still searching for Mr. Right after this season, they’ll have resources to get him.

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