There is now just one week until July 18, when Cleveland Browns rookies, including third-round QB Dillon Gabriel and fifth-round QB Shedeur Sanders, report for training camp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in Berea, Ohio. The veterans will join them on July 22.
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That means we are finally going to get some new (and real) updates on the Browns’ engrossing four-man quarterback battle. And not a moment too soon. Everyone and their mother has commented on the race to start Week 1 while Browns players have been off for the past few weeks.
Even Todd Haley, who last coached in the USFL and UFL in 2022-2023, gave his perspective on the matter. An NFL coach for 23 years from 1995-2018, including a stint as the Kansas City Chiefs‘ head coach from 2009-2011, his last NFL job came as Cleveland’s offensive coordinator in 2018. He believes the winner of the race to start Week 1 is all too clear.
“Joe Flacco’s the guy. I would be shocked if it were anybody else starting the season. But in that building, within that staff, I gotta believe that they think one of these guys can be the long-term solution.”
Who will Cleveland start at QB in Week 1?@TheToddHaley thinks Joe Flacco is the guy.
📻 https://t.co/v3G0iz6gwE#Browns | #DawgPound pic.twitter.com/IqFfJve7pj
— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) July 10, 2025
Haley believes that Flacco will be under center in Week 1, barring any major injury setbacks. However, more important is the long-term solution. He also thinks that Kenny Pickett should get some run during preseason so they can dangle him in front of a QB-needy team.
“I would think, best case scenario for them, one of these young guys gets them excited. And one of the other guys, Kenny Pickett, maybe, looks really good in preseason, you give him a full three quarters or something to play. Then all of a sudden, another team that’s quarterback needy, even if it’s for a backup, says, ‘we’ll give you something for him.'”
Cleveland beat writer Mary Kay Cabot reported last month that the Browns might keep all four QBs this season. But Haley believes that’s unrealistic. It would leave them too short in other, more important areas than QB4. With that in mind, they will have to find a dancing partner to whom they can trade one of these guys. Otherwise, it would be a “bad look”, according to Haley.
“Because I think otherwise, you’re just gonna look bad. If you cut Kenny Pickett after trading draft capital, if you cut Dillon Gabriel after using a third-round pick, even if you cut Shedeur Sanders after using a fifth-round pick, knowing you’d already drafted a quarterback. Best case scenario, somebody really gets them excited, other than Flacco, and they feel like, ‘Alright, this is our guy going forward.'”
While Flacco is likely to be the starter at first—he has already played in head coach Kevin Stefanski’s system, unlike the rest of his competitors—they will want one of the rookies they spent draft picks on this year to come good above all.
