Surprising Leader In Cleaveland’s Four-Way QB Competition Named By Browns Insider

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by James Van WicklerMay 25, 2025, 9:31 pm >

The Cleveland Browns have a big decision to make regarding who the starter will be due to Deshaun Watson reinjuring his Achilles tendon, which would make him out for most, if not all, of the regular season.

The Browns have many options to choose from to be their starter. Before the NFL draft, the Browns signed 2022 first-round pick Kenny Pickett and Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco, who previously played for the team in 2023 and led them to a playoff appearance. During the draft, the Browns selected Oregon quarterback Dillion Gabriel in the third round and Colorado Boulder quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round.

Many presumed that Flacco would be named as the initial starter for the season due to the fact that he is a veteran and had previous success with the team in 2023, having a 4-1 record with the Browns in the regular season, but lost to the Houston Texans in the playoffs. Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer says that

Pickett is the current leader of the quarterback competition.

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“It’s a tough call before we’ve even seen the first practice of organized team activities, but I know Kenny Pickett heads in as the frontrunner to win the starting job at the outset,” Cabot wrote Sunday for The Plain Dealer. “He’ll take the initial first-team reps in OTAs and probably the mandatory minicamp, and it seems like it’s his job to try and keep for now.”

Cabot indicates that it will be a tight race between Pickett and Flacco to determine who will get the starting role, but that Pickett is in the lead at the moment. Pickett was the backup quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles last season after having a rocky stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers for his first two years.

With the race between Pickett and Flacco being close, Cabot noted that Sanders and Gabriel have a lot to prove in the offseason for them to have a real chance to be named the starter, despite the interesting storylines involving Sanders.