For the time being, the Browns’ quarterback competition has only three healthy participants. Kenny Pickett is sidelined with a hamstring ailment. 
The injury occurred late in Saturday’s practice, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. Pickett will be re-evaluated in the coming days to determine the severity of the situation. In the meantime, veteran Joe Flacco and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders will split reps during practice.
Further testing will reveal the extent of the injury, but Mary Cay Cabot of cleveland.com reports the Browns are not planning an addition under center. That is certainly an encouraging sign with respect to Pickett’s prognosis as he looks to return to action as quickly as possible. The former first-rounder is among the signal-callers who have seen notable time with the starting offense so far in 2025.
Pickett looked to be in the lead for the QB1 gig this spring, although a report from one month ago indicated Flacco would enter camp as the frontrunner. The latter has familiarity with head coach Kevin Stefanski‘s scheme along with the backing of at least some Browns veterans. Flacco could look to further increase his odds of receiving the Week 1 nod with a slight uptick in work given Pickett’s absence.
Cleveland will, to no surprise, not consider a trade involving either of the rookies. With Gabriel and Sanders safe, many have pointed to Flacco and Pickett – both of whom are pending 2026 free agents – as a potential trade candidates at the end of the summer. The winner of this year’s quarterback competition will of course survive roster cutdowns, but the veteran which does not earn the gig could represent a backup option for outside suitors.
Nevertheless, the prospect of carrying all four quarterbacks on the roster through the start of the season has been raised, and general manager Andrew Berry recently repeated his willingness to take that route. In any case, Pickett’s health will be a factor in determining how the depth chart shakes out. His injury outlook will thus be worth monitoring.
Most teams would never start training camp with four quarterbacks they actually had real interest in giving a shot, since there are only so many reps to go around. Given that it’s the Browns, maybe it actually made sense to start with four quarterbacks and count on a Final Destination style series of events to winnow it down.
Seeing as this is Cleveland, I’d argue the players already missed out on their opportunity to escape impending doom.
I’m now thinking of trading a QB to Cleveland like the end of The Wire season 1 and asking McNulty “Where don’t you wanna go?”
Given ALL the injuries they have suffered at the QB position since Watson arrived…carrying 4 QB’S is insurance. They traded for Pickett to be the starter and Flacco was signed to be the backup. Dillon Gabriel was drafted to become the eventual backup to Pickett and Sanders was too good to pass up in the 5th round….Im fine with what the Browns are trying to accomplish at QB this season…..
I don’t disagree, but four QBs is still a very tough situation to juggle because there are so few reps to go around, not to mention roster spots.
Seems like they’d prefer the Final Destination option, however some tough decisions are going to have to be made by the staff. They gotta feel like they’re in a no win situation here lol
It doesn’t matter he’s trash lol. Bottom 5-10 QBs of all time.
Ryan Leaf and Todd Marinovich say hi.
As do a whole wikipedia page of Bears QBs I can’t even be bothered to list for obvious reasons.
He’s right there in that group. Allergic to scoring TDs.
Jamarcus’ mouth is full or he’d say hi too.
lol no, not even close. I’m not saying Pickett is a good starter or anything, but his career completion percentage is over 60% and he has more TDs than interceptions, albeit narrowly. Even fairly recent NFL history is littered with guys like Ryan Lindley and Nathan Peterman. Or if you want someone who’s played more, Zach Wilson. (Zach Wilson also isn’t close to a bottom ten QB all time, even though he’s been bad.)
Extremely close. You or I could complete 60% of our passes whenever 95% of them don’t travel 5 yards… Pickett is Peterman. They’re the same exact guy…
30 games, 15 TDs… That’s .5 TD/G…. That’s laughably bad. Almost hard to make fun of it’s so bad. And teams STILL give him chances.
Peterman has 4 TDs and 13 interceptions for his career with a 53% completion percentage. It’s not close at all. And Pickett’s career average depth of target is 7.9 yards. That’s slightly higher than Jared Goff’s, for instance.
Both were bottom 5 so it’s not really helping Pickett’s case. I mean imagine one of the best arguments for a player being that he isn’t named Kenny Peterman I mean Nathan Pickett I mean Nathan Peterman.
Going to ignore that it’d take Pickett at his current rate like 50 more games to hit Goff’s last year TD total? Lol.
If you’re a Browns fan I’d pick one of the other 4 losers to put your stock in. Pickett is a Grade A loser. A full fledges wimp. Sucked in college except for his 2nd senior year, sucked in the pros, cried when he got replaced by another career backup, smallest hands on the East coast…. The dudes a bonafide punk.
Again, I’m not saying Pickett is a good quarterback or that he should be starter, but if you think he’s a bottom 5-10 quarterback of all time, then you have no idea how bad quarterbacks get.
Bottom 5 ever if we’re being totally honest. This is a passing league. And he can’t pass 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Congrats on never having had to watch guys like Browning Nagle
Just got stuck with watching Pickett – even worse. Nagle and Pickett have nearly identical yardages and Nagle played 30 years ago. They rostered 7 RBs and 5 WRs lol. It’s a different game. Pickett is awful. Wouldn’t of made it in the 50’s let alone nowadays.
Cold take
Some may even call it frozen.
That was fast. I didn’t even know he had any.
Shedeaur szn!!!!!!!!
Pickett?! Don’t talk to me about Pic…Pickett??!!?! – Jim Mora Sr.