The Cleveland Browns were rightfully scorned and chided for their decision to sign two QBs in free agency, only to draft two more during the 2025 NFL Draft. We’ve seen head-to-head or even three-way QB battles before, but this is the first “four horsemen” training camp battle at the position we’ve seen in quite some time.
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It’s anyone’s guess which of the four between veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders will turn out to be Cleveland’s answer at QB in the end. But we’re fairly certain that Flacco, who had a solid five-game sojourn in Kevin Stefanski’s offense in 2023 and led the Browns to the playoffs, will get the nod in Week 1. How long he’ll last after that is another story.
But we would agree with Colin Cowherd in crossing Pickett off as a possibility for the franchise’s “future.” Either Gabriel or Sanders must be the answer for the Browns. And Cowherd thinks that Sanders will be the guy.
In fact, the analyst believes that Sanders already is the guy after a few days of minicamp. Cowherd says that the Browns were actually lucky for once in their lives, as they stumbled onto their QB answer rather than finding it on purpose. Classic Browns?
“The coach and the GM did not want to draft Shedeur Sanders. And they did in the 5th round, two rounds after Dillon Gabriel. And he’s crushing it. He’s their best quarterback in camp. ‘Colin, he’s facing backups!’ Yeah, he’s throwing to them as well. Sometimes you stumble into success. It’s not a straight line, it’s not linear,” Cowherd said.
The FOX Sports analyst repeated that line, “success is not linear,” many times as he compared the Sanders situation to other similar ones. We’re not saying Sanders is going to be any of these guys (and we assume Cowherd isn’t either), but the way QBs like Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, and Brock Purdy eventually rose to prominence gives credence to the idea that Sanders could follow that path.
So far, it’s clear the team brass favors Gabriel — he’s their draft pick, after all. Sanders, on the other hand, was likely brought in at the urging of a starstruck owner. But according to Cowherd, while Sanders began camp as the only QB not getting first-team reps, he has since logged some. And now that they’re competing on a more level playing field, Cowherd is pointing out how different their college paths were.
“If you just talk about Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel. They did not have similar college experiences. Shedeur Sanders has Travis Hunter and a bunch of non-Sunday players,” Cowherd said.
“Dillon Gabriel went from powerhouse Oklahoma to powerhouse Oregon. And Oregon, outside of Ohio State, Texas, and Georgia, Oregon had the most guys drafted. NFL receivers, left tackles… Great staff, one of the highest paid staff in the country,” he added.
"The coaching staff cannot deny what's happening."@colincowherd says the Browns stumbled into a QB solution when they drafted Shedeur Sanders. pic.twitter.com/dQ3cOwhgwW
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) June 12, 2025
Believe it or not, pass completions and attempts are now being tracked at minicamp and OTAs. That’s where we are in the world today. Whether that gives you a deep pang of nihilism about our society or a quick burst of dopamine from seeing new stats, no matter how meaningless, the numbers don’t lie. Sanders has been the best.
Here are the QB totals from the 5 Browns open media practices (OTAs and minicamp) this spring.
Who do you think should be the Browns QB1? pic.twitter.com/daBfqHvn58
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) June 12, 2025
He’s got a 77.1 completion percentage with a 9-1 TD-INT ratio. Flacco sits at 57.1 and 2-0, Pickett at 57.7 and 6-0, while Gabriel has been the least accurate passer, completing just 54.3 percent of his passes, though with eight TDs against zero interceptions. It’s early yet, but Shedeur Sanders seems to be changing hearts and minds in Ohio.
