The Cleveland Browns’ four-man quarterback competition is not likely to end in Colorado Buffaloes football legend Shedeur Sanders winning the starting job.
It can end with Kenny Pickett becoming QB1, though.
Pickett struggled on the Pittsburgh Steelers with the baton passed after Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement, but the ex-Pitt Panther never fulfilled his promise as the potential prodigal son in the Steel City.
He became a championship backup on the Philadelphia Eagles, and now the Browns are hoping Pickett can parlay his Super Bowl experience into a leadership role in Berea.
Not to mention, prove he’s worth the fifth-round pick, plus former UCLA Bruins star signal-caller Dorian Thompson-Robinson, it took for Cleveland to land him from Philadelphia.
The Sporting News’s Billy Heyen believes it will be worth it, floating the idea that Pickett can have a Baker Mayfield-on-the-Tampa Bay Buccaneers-esque revival with the Browns.
“He might actually have some untapped potential, like a Baker Mayfield, to do better after an adjustment period with a new team,” Heyen wrote.
“Pickett may not win the competition for other reasons, but at least in the mobility category, he's got a leg up.”
Pickett’s career in Pittsburgh never touched what Mayfield accomplished in Cleveland, but he does come to the Browns after a backup role and a poor offensive fit, like Mayfield had with the Carolina Panthers.
The similarities are there. If Cleveland can get a Tampa Bay-caliber Mayfield, the Browns can be a fringe AFC wild-card contender.