The Cleveland Browns have five quarterbacks on the roster, four of whom are new and one of whom is injured, so it stands to reason that one of them will prove among the franchise’s biggest disappointments this season.
Analysts typically reserve the moniker of “bust” for a young player, perhaps a couple years into his rookie contract, who hasn’t panned out and/or failed to live up to pre-NFL expectations. The Browns have two such signal-callers on the roster in Dillon Gabriel (pick No. 94 in Round 3) and Shedeur Sanders (pick No. 144 in Round 5).
However, Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report went wide the “bust” label when predicting the top such player for each franchise on Thursday, July 10. In Cleveland’s case, he made the argument for 40-year-old Joe Flacco, who may well be playing in his last professional campaign and is certainly far closer to the end of his NFL career than the beginning.
Of [Cleveland’s QB] group, Flacco is the only quarterback who has taken snaps for the Browns in the past. Famously, he went 4-1 as the starter in 2023 while helping Cleveland earn a stunning playoff berth.
Any fans hoping to see a repeat of Flacco Fever are going to be disheartened. Assuming Flacco even beats out the other three quarterbacks, he’s not joining a roster that is a QB away from postseason contention.
Kenny Pickett Picking Up Steam as Browns’ Week 1 Starter
Any Browns fan who wants to assume a morbidly glass-half-full perspective on Cleveland’s quarterback situation could take some dark form of solace in the notion that Flacco may not disappoint at all because there’s a reasonable chance who won’t actually play.
The Browns have incentive to win to start the season, and the higher-ups may need to do so if they hope to keep their jobs beyond 2025. As such, fourth-year veteran QB Kenny Pickett could be the guy heading into Week 1 — an opinion growing in strength among analysts across the NFL landscape.
“[Pickett is] a former first-round pick that can succeed in a quarterback-friendly offense, which the Browns have under Kevin Stefanski,” Jeff Kerr of CBS Sports wrote Wednesday. “Once the regular season comes around … Pickett will still be the starter come Week 1.”
Browns Incentivized to Play Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel as Soon as Possible
In a perfect world, Gabriel or Sanders would beat out both Flacco and Pickett in the preseason.
Cleveland needs to find out what it has in both rookies, particularly because the Browns own the rights to their own first-round pick in 2026 and the one belonging to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Either one of those selection could end up inside the top-10, top-5 or even No. 1 overall.
Thus, if the Browns do begin to lose a grip on the season, the coaching staff is likely to immediately give either Gabriel or Sanders the nod.
If Pickett plays well, however, he could hold onto the starting job and be back in 2026. If one of the rookies excels, one or both could also return next season. Flacco remains the most likely QB to exit the franchise next year, regardless of his play.
The likelihood is that the Browns QB position will be a revolving door for the next two seasons or so, but tryouts are coming, as are answers along with them — just maybe not the answers the Browns and their fanbase are hoping for.
