The path for Kenny Pickett trying to become a starting quarterback in the NFL again just took a slight detour.
Just one month after Pickett was traded from the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles to the Cleveland Browns, Pickett has company in the quarterbacks room after former Browns starter and fan favorite Joe Flacco signed a free agent contract with the team.
“Reunion: the Cleveland Browns and veteran quarterback Joe Flacco reached agreement today on a one-year, $4 million deal worth up to $13 million with incentives, his agency @JLSports3 told ESPN,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote on his official X account. “Flacco now will return to Cleveland, where he won the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award in 2023. Flacco also spoke with the Steelers and Vikings but opted to spend his 18th NFL season with the Browns.”
It’s a tough break for Pickett, who seemed on track to be the Browns starter in 2025 with Deshaun Watson out for the season with an Achilles tendon tear, but now faces stiff competition from Flacco.
Flacco started 6 games for the Indianapolis Colts in 2024 after starting quarterback Anthony Richardson was benched and went 2-4. Pickett went 2-0 as the Eagles’ primary quarterback in 2024 when Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts was in concussion protocol, including one start.
Flacco, a former Super Bowl MVP with the Baltimore Ravens, went 4-1 as the Browns starter in 2023 and led the team to an AFC playoff berth.
Second Consecutive Year Pickett Dealt in Trade
The Eagles got what they needed out of Kenny Pickett in his one season with the franchise in 2024 with a backup quarterback good enough that it let them sleep at night.
In return, the Eagles got Pickett a Super Bowl ring and a chance to become a starter again in the NFL when they traded him to the Browns in exchange for quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a 2025 fifth round pick (No. 165 overall) on March 10.
Watson will sit out 2025 after tearing then re-tearing his Achilles tendon in 2024. When he has played, he’s been one of the NFL’s worst quarterbacks and is due $92 million over the next 2 seasons. The Browns also sent their first round picks in 2022, 2023 and 2024 to the Houston Texans for Watson in a trade in March 2022.
“The Browns’ quarterback room currently consists of Watson and Kenny Pickett, whom the team traded for in mid-March,” ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi wrote. “Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said Pickett will get an opportunity to compete to start in 2025. Despite the admission that the Watson trade was unsuccessful, Haslam said the team is not tied to taking a quarterback with the second overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft.”
Pickett was a first round round pick (No. 20 overall) by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2022 NFL draft and went 14-10 over 2 seasons as the starter before he was traded to the Eagles from the Steelers in March 2024 along with a 2024 fourth round pick in exchange for a pair of 2025 seventh round picks and a 2024 third round pick.
