Two months ago, quarterback Kenny Pickett was on the move to the Cleveland Browns after winning a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles — both great things for the former first round pick.
Another chance to start after winning a title. What a time.
Things are much different now.
Now, Pickett seems more like an afterthought to the dumpster fire that’s become the Browns’ quarterback competition. Since trading for Pickett, the Browns have added 3 more quarterbacks with veteran and former Cleveland starter Joe Flacco in free agency and two more quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL draft with Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
While some of us might be asking “What About Pickett?” the prevailing sentiment seems to be more like “Who Cares About Pickett?”
Bleacher Report’s Brent Sobleski put Pickett fourth out of 5 quarterbacks in the race to become Cleveland’s starter in 2025. That’s only ahead of Deshaun Watson, who is coming off a torn Achilles tendon and may have played his last game for the Browns.
“Considering Flacco’s experience — both as a starter and with the Browns organization — as well as two draft picks waiting in the wings, Pickett definitely feels like the odd man out since Cleveland is unlikely to keep four quarterbacks,” Sobleski wrote on May 12.
Browns Might Be NFL’s Worst Run Franchise
That the Browns have 5 quarterbacks on the roster at this point is only ridiculous when you consider that Watson, who won’t play in 2025, signed the largest guaranteed contract in NFL history in March 2022 — a 5-year, $230 million deal.
“Here’s what’s going on with Deshaun Watson’s contract,” Spotrac wrote on its official X account in December 2024. “Right now, he holds cap hits of $72,935,000 in each of 2025 & 2026. He also holds $172.7M of dead cap in 2025, rendering him ‘unreleasable’. The Browns are preparing to keep him rostered through 2026, but will need to convert salary into signing bonus to temper his $73M hits. In doing this, the dead cap that hits the 2027 cap will soar once the contract voids.”
In the end, it’s likely the Browns will be able to reduce Watson’s dead cap number to “just” $89.5 million spread out over the 2027 and 2028 seasons.
Best Move For Pickett Might Be Another Trade
What might be best for Pickett’s career is another trade, and one team that suddenly needs a quarterback would be reuniting Pickett with a familiar face.
In terms of poorly run franchises, the Browns aren’t much ahead of the New Orleans Saints, who hired Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore as their new head coach immediately following the Eagles’ win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX.
The Saints found themselves in the headlines on May 11 when starting quarterback Derek Carr announced he was going to retire from the NFL after 11 seasons — leaving New Orleans with 2025 second round pick (No. 40 overall) Tyler Shough atop the depth chart ahead of 2 disastrous options in Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener.
The best move for Pickett might be to see if the Browns would be willing to trade him to the Saints, where he could step into a quarterback battle where he might actually have a fair chance to start.
