The Cleveland Browns announced on Monday that Joe Flacco would be the starting quarterback in the Week 1 regular season matchup vs. the Cincinnati Bengals. Flacco had some struggles last year with the Colts, but just two years ago, Flacco led this team to a miraculous playoff run.
Brad Stainbrook noted on Tuesday morning that naming Flacco the starter was the easy part of the equation; the tough part starts now. What do you do with Kenny Pickett? How do you develop Shedeur Sanders AND Dillon Gabriel? Do you carry four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, which is highly unusual?
For Pickett, the Browns are in the perfect position. If a team is in need of a quarterback and willing to give up a mid-round pick in 2026, Flacco can handle the short-term, and the two rookies have proven capable enough to step in if needed. If the offer isn’t right, you keep Pickett as a reasonable backup, and you put one of the four guys on the practice squad and protect them from getting poached by another team.
Stainbrook shares that eliminating Pickett would be the cleanest route moving forward for the Browns. However, remember that he’s still a 27-year-old former first-round pick with starting experience and the potential to still raise his ceiling. With the hamstring injury this camp, fans haven’t seen much of him yet, only coaches in individual drills.
The perfect scenario for the Browns would be for Pickett to play well on Saturday in Week 3 of the preseason, and a team short on the depth chart offering a fourth or fifth-round pick (hopefully in the NFC) for his services. In that scenario, Flacco is the clear starter for the beginning of the season, and you buy yourself some time to continue to let Gabriel and Sanders battle it out for the No. 2 spot on the depth chart.
In a worst-case scenario where the Browns trade Pickett and Flacco gets injured early in the season, the team must be comfortable throwing Sanders and/or Gabriel on the field, potentially before they are 100 percent ready.