Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry said drafting two quarterbacks “wasn’t necessarily the plan” entering last weekend, but he generated the most compelling QB battle ahead of the 2025 season by doing exactly that.
The Browns accepted the intense spotlight that came with selecting Colorado’s record-setting quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round. That was 50 picks after making Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel the fifth quarterback off the board in the third round.
The rookies joined a crowded depth chart alongside veterans Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Deshaun Watson.
Watson is in the equation by name only. He’s expected to miss the 2025 season following a second Achilles injury, and Browns owner Jimmy Haslam recently acknowledged Watson’s acquisition three years ago as a “big swing and miss.”
So out of the four remaining quarterbacks, which one is best positioned to be under center when Cleveland kicks off its 2025 regular season?
DraftKings installed Pickett as the -110 favorite. The former first-round pick by Pittsburgh was acquired from Philadelphia earlier this offseason. He has 25 career starts, including one last year, and is still only 26 years old.
That’s 14 years younger than Joe Flacco, who was signed a few weeks before the draft as somewhat of an insurance policy. He played last season in Indianapolis after coming off his couch to guide Cleveland to the playoffs in the 2023 season.
However, Flacco was installed as a +1500 longshot to open Week 1 as the Browns’ starter following the draft.
Of more intrigue is that the sportsbook is offering far shorter odds on Sanders (+175) than Gabriel (+475) to start the opener.
Both enter the NFL with a wealth of experience at the college level.
Sanders, 23, was the sixth quarterback off the board despite being named a second-team All-American last season. He also had his jersey retired — someone controversially — by Colorado after finishing his college career by completing 70.1 percent of his passes for 14,347 yards, 134 touchdowns and just 27 interceptions in 50 games at Jackson State and Colorado.
Gabriel, who is a year older at 24, led Oregon to the College Football Playoffs last year after his own statistically packed time at Oklahoma. In all, he left college with 18,722 passing yards and an FBS/Division I-A record 155 touchdowns across six seasons with UCF (three), Oklahoma (two) and Oregon.
But the Browns did think enough of Sanders to trade the 166th and 192nd overall picks to move up to halt his unexpected freefall with the 144th pick.
How Cleveland establishes the pecking order — and the plan — for its quarterback competition entering training camp promises to be one of the offseason’s juiciest storylines.
“Obviously, you may not divide (training camp reps) 25, 25, 25, 25, but we feel really confident that we’ll have a plan that is fair to each player and fair to the team as well,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said.
