The Browns’ four-man quarterback battle is slowly coming into focus as we approach training camp. With Deshaun Watson soon headed for the reserve/physically unable to perform or reserve/non-football injury list, The Athletic’s Zac Jackson tells us that he views it as Joe Flacco vs. Kenny Pickett for the starting job to open the season, and Dillon Gabriel vs. Shedeur Sanders for a potential roster spot and place on the depth chart. 
Jackson essentially doesn’t believe either rookie has a chance to open the season as the new starting quarterback, saying that he’d “be stunned if either rookie can actually win the job in camp.” In addition to their competition with each other, each rookie is also battling the usual battle of a rookie making the jump from college football to the NFL, learning the playbook and maximizing reps, while trying to improve and outshine the others around them.
This secondary battle is an important one for the Browns to watch, though. Likely, neither Flacco nor Pickett are considered long-term solutions at the most important position in the sport. Flacco is 40 years old, and even if Pickett had a Sam Darnold-esque breakout season, he’s in the final year of his rookie contract after the Browns declined his fifth-year option.
Even if they wanted to re-sign him to a long-term deal off a successful 2025 campaign, Watson’s $80.72MM cap hit in 2026 is going to make that extremely difficult to do. With that cap crunch looming, Cleveland’s best chance is for one of the two passers on rookie deals with rookie cap hits to take over in the future. So, while the Browns have the important job of preparing Flacco and Pickett to open the 2025 season as a starter, they also have the very important job of making sure one or both of Gabriel and Sanders can either be ready to start later on in the season or even next year.
In that battle, so far, Jackson posits that Gabriel has the early edge over Sanders. Gabriel got starter snaps in the spring, while Sanders’s recent run-ins with the law have not dispelled rumors of immaturity. Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com tends to agree with Jackson on this point, claiming that “Gabriel has at least a slight edge over Sanders to make a legitimate push for the starting job.”
She praised Gabriel’s “computer-like processing speed and decision-making,” saying that he “looked solid and held his own…Thanks to his quick grasp of the terminology and playbook.” When Gabriel signed his rookie deal, we noted that he may hold such an advantage after having to learn three different offenses under eight different coordinators in time at UCF, Oklahoma, and Oregon while always working in a spread system that feeds off of quick decision-making.
We also noted that Sanders, on the other hand, has been coached by his father at every step towards the NFL since high school. While he, too, worked with several (four) coordinators and actually saw time in run-and-shoot and air raid schemes in addition to spread, ultimately, Gabriel had much more experience coming into a new place under new leadership and taking over with near-immediate success than Sanders did. That analysis seems to be holding true as both reporters see Gabriel quickly finding his footing in Cleveland.
Ultimately, Cabot doesn’t agree with Jackson that a roster spot is on the line; she believes both rookies will make the final 53-man roster, which we touched on, as well, considering that putting either rookie on the practice squad would expose them to the waiver wire first. For now, on the surface and in their own mentality, the rookies will be pushing to compete for the starting job at the open of training camp. In reality, the two have a much more important, long-term battle to contend with that could shape the future of the Browns organization.
From a coaches perspective, how do you evaluate your QBs and get them ready for regular season, when there are only so many snaps to go around? Gabriel and Sanders probably need more reps with the 1st string, but how can you give it to them?
Tank Season Baby
When haven’t the Browns tanked, 1980’s?
There were some winning Mayfield seasons.
The sad thing is that most of these Browns teams since they came back actually tried to win.
I think the only time they TRIED to tank was the Hue Jackson era.
I don’t get having Flacco. He serves no purpose. They won’t be good enough with him to make the playoffs and he’s too old to be the long-term answer. I would start Pickett and see how he does and let the two rookies develop and see if either one can become a starter. All Flacco does is take reps away from the other guys and possibly give them a lower draft pick.
I hate to say it, but I agree with you. I love Flacco for the fun and excitement he brought Browns fans in 2023, but you only roll with him if you believe you can compete, which the Browns will be unable to do in 2025. The offensive line looked old last season, which was a primary reason for the offense sputtering. The offense’s shortcomings affected the defense, which can be very good, and so forth. The smartest thing for the Browns to have done this season was to realize this and start the rebuild immediately, with the first move being to cut ties with DeShaun Watson and his disastrous contract, clean house of as much cap space as they could, trade Myles Garrett for as much draft capital as they could get, bite the bullet for a couple of seasons, and then be a real factor again in 2027. But they decided to kick the can down the road, somehow figuring that they were going to be competitive this season and beyond. I hate to say it, but that was a bad miscalculation.
The needed OL help and used two picks on questionable QBs who may not play in 2025. The Browns’ way…
Either Flacco or Pickett will be the odd man out. Trade or waiver. They won’t be keeping 4 QBs on the 53, and they need to keep both Gabriel & Sanders.
Somebody is underwriting a massive social media campaign to promote Sanders, which has now turned into an effort to undermine Gabriel. Can’t browse Facebook without seeing it. It turns me off.