The Cleveland Browns are rostering five quarterbacks in 2025, with Deshaun Watson likely to miss the majority of next season. With a four-man quarterback battle looming this summer, two will have the early edge for reps in practice.
Zac Jackson of The Athletic assessed the Browns’ quarterback room of Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders and Kenny Pickett heading into early practices. The expectation is that Cleveland will have either Flacco or Pickett first in the spring, then eventually start giving the rookies a shot over time.
Flacco likely has the best shot at receiving the most first-team reps at the start of OTAs and then training camp. The 40-year-old quarterback already knows Kevin Stefanski’s offense, having posted a 90.2 QB rating, 60.3% completion rate and 13-8 TD-INT ratio across five games with Cleveland in 2023.
While Pickett is newer to the Browns’ system, he does have starting experience and he started learning Stefanski’s offense after being traded to Cleveland this offseason. The former first-round pick will have a chance to compete for the starting job, even with his fifth-year option for 2026 ($22.17 million) declined.
After that is where the Browns’ quarterback situation gets more interesting. Sanders was widely regarded as a superior prospect to Gabriel, but issues during the pre-draft process pushed him to Round 5 and cost him tens of millions in potential contract earnings.
However, Gabriel was the higher pick and seemed to be the quarterback that the Browns’ coaches and general manager Andrew Berry felt better about following months of scouting. The quarterback competition likely ends with Flacco being the Week 1 starter, but fans will probably see both Sanders and Gabriel play in 2025.