The Cleveland Browns have the most crowded quarterback room of any franchise in the National Football League, and it’s about to lead the team to make some rather tough decisions about the future of their franchise.
Advertisement
Even after the Browns managed to walk away from the 2025 NFL Draft with both Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel, the prevailing sentiment was that the team’s veteran, Joe Flacco, would be the presumed starter. Given that neither rookie nor Kenny Pickett managed to suddenly break out during minicamp or OTAs.
Well, the initial training period has come and gone, and no breakouts occurred, yet Flacco could still find himself standing in the unemployment line come September. According to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, Flacco’s veteran status alone shouldn’t be enough to guarantee him a starting role in the NFL.
“I don’t see Shedeur Sanders going to the practice squad, and if Shedeur Sanders beats Dillon Gabriel, I don’t see Dillon Gabriel going to the practice squad. And I also don’t see the Cleveland Browns keeping four quarterbacks on their 53-man roster.”
Given the amount of draft capital and sheer fanfare that’s involved in Cleveland’s two rookie signal callers, Jones suggests that it will actually be “the loser of Joe Flacco vs Kenny Pickett” that ultimately determines which of these quarterbacks will be relegated to the practice squad. “Andrew Berry, the general manager of the Cleveland Browns, loathes cutting his draft picks.”
According to Jones, Cleveland’s front office has no desire to “expose” either Dillon or Sanders to the possibility of waivers by placing them on the practice squad, meaning that the loser of the aforementioned Flacco vs Pickett contest will “…try to be traded. That’s my overwhelming expectation.”
Mike Renner picks Joe Flacco over Kenny Pickett
Thankfully for Pickett, CBS Sports’ NFL Draft Analyst, Mike Renner, doesn’t have influence over final roster cuts in Cleveland, otherwise he would likely start packing his bags now.
The host of the Pushing the Pile podcast highlighted the fact that Pickett, despite being a former first-round draft pick, has been “…given up on by two teams already after only two seasons,” prior to reminding viewers about Pickett’s brief stint with the Philadelphia Eagles.
“The team that just won the Super Bowl, who is one of the best run teams in the NFL, said that he wouldn’t have won the backup job if had been there with Tanner McKee in the fold. I do think that’s a lot of evidence to say he hasn’t shown enough, and with Joe Flacco we’ve at least seen something.”
As Renner also pointed out, the career passing metrics heavily favor Flacco, so unless Pickett is able to outplay a former Super Bowl MVP, he seems destined to continue his path towards becoming one of the next journeyman quarterbacks of the NFL.
