The Cleveland Browns’ quarterback competition has four competitors and a new prediction every day as to which of them will win the starting job.
A to Z Sports’ Destin Adams predicts Joe Flacco walking onto the field as QB1 for the Browns’ Week 1 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals on September 7, but also that Colorado Buffaloes football legend Shedeur Sanders eventually steals the job away and starts more than anyone else in the room.
“Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders' free fall during the 2025 NFL Draft was by far the biggest surprise of the event. He went from being projected as a first round selection to not hearing his name called till the fifth round. While the Browns ultimately stopped his fall in the draft, they also selected a QB ahead of him in Dillon Gabriel out of Oregon. I think Samders will end up starting more games than Gabriel and every other QB on their roster for two reasons,” Adams wrote.
“I think he has more upside than Gabriel and is worth betting on as a potential long-term starter, whereas I see Gabriel as a career backup. Secondly, I think the Browns are going to struggle this season, no matter who is under center, and Sanders will sell tickets and get fans excited, no matter if they win or lose. Veteran Joe Flacco seems like the favorite to be the day one starter, but I don't think it'll be long before the fan base begins banging the table to see Sanders inserted into the lineup.”
Adams’ colleague Kyle Crabbs strongly disagreed, claiming that Dillon Gabriel is the likeliest to start after Cleveland used their third-round draft pick to draft him.
Meanwhile, Former Bengals receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh claimed that his source tabbed Kenny Pickett or Gabriel as the Browns’ top option.
“I was told by somebody that's in the building, that ain't a player, it's really coming down to Kenny Pickett or Dillon Gabriel,” Houshmandzadeh said on ESPN Cleveland.
As for what an actual player in the building thinks, Cleveland receiver Diontae Johnson claimed Pickett was the frontrunner. Johnson didn’t write off Flacco getting QB1 reps in either, though.
“I think I'm going to roll with Kenny for right now. I'm really seeing Kenny going on like right now with the ones, but then Joe will come in. I think they're probably going to roll with him. Just like to see, like just coming off the season, he was with Philly and having a Super Bowl,” Johnson said during a mid-June episode of “The Comeback.”
They say if you have two quarterbacks who can start, you don’t really even have one.
What happens if you have four?
Cleveland will soon have the answer to that question.