The Cleveland Browns quarterback situation is the soap opera of the 2025 NFL offseason, which has already taken an unexpected turn. One Browns insider reported an update on the QB operation on Thursday, which shocked the NFL landscape.
There are five quarterbacks on the Cleveland Browns roster heading into camp, two of whom are rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. They join veterans Joe Flacco and the recently traded Kenny Pickett, while Deshaun Watson sits out injured.
Cleveland’s latest quarterback update was a total surprise
The debate over who is going to start for the Cleveland Browns when the 2025 season rolls around is up in the air. Everybody has a different opinion, and every completion that’s made at training camp tilts the outcome in a different direction.
It truly is a wide open race for the QB1 role, and Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot gave an update today that most were not expecting.
Mary Kay said on Cleveland.com:
“It’s a tough call before we’ve even seen the first practice of organized team activities, but I know Kenny Pickett heads in as the frontrunner to win the starting job at the outset. He’ll take the initial first-team reps in OTAs and probably the mandatory minicamp, and it seems like it’s his job to try to keep for now. But Joe Flacco brings 17 years experience and a 4-1 record with the Browns in 2023. He will definitely push and press Pickett hard for the job.”
Cleveland traded quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for Kenny Pickett before the 2025 draft. They then drafted two more QBs, sparking confusion as to what exactly the plan was going to be for the upcoming season.
According to Cabot, it’s Pickett’s job to lose heading into OTAs, and on the surface, that makes some sense.
The landscape of the Browns five quarterbacks
The Browns knew Deshaun Watson was going to be out long term, and with Jameis Winston signing a free agency contract with the New York Giants, they needed a replacement starter. Pickett was the first addition they made, making that trade in early March.
Flacco didn’t arrive until a full month later, signing a one-year, $4 million contract as a 17-year veteran with as much experience as $4 million can buy you in the league. That said, a contract of that size doesn’t signal a starting quarterback by any means.
The Browns then drafted two rookies. Dillon Gabriel in the third round, and Shedeur Sanders in the fifth. Perhaps the plan is to go with Pickett, while Gabriel develops and learns from the likes of Flacco to be the eventual franchise quarterback.
But then that leaves Shedeur as the odd man out. The Browns can’t carry five QBs into the season; it’s as plain and simple as that. Somebody is going to lose out when we reach August/September, but at this stage, there is no telling who that’s going to be.
Then, just to throw a spanner into an already complex conversation, Cleveland has the ammunition to take a franchise QB in the early first round of the 2026 NFL draft. The Travis Hunter trade netted them the Jacksonville Jaguars first round pick, meaning they have two for what is expected to be a valuable QB draft next spring.
So when all is said and done, the eventual franchise QB might not be any of the five guys currently on the roster.
