Quarterback Still Browns' Top Need After 2025 NFL Draft

The Cleveland Browns left the 2024 season with the AFC’s worst quarterback situation. They’ll enter 2025 in the same exact spot.

For all the places the Browns upgraded in the offseason, it’s hard to feel optimistic about the team’s direction under center. Joe Flacco is a franchise quarterback turned journeyman on presumably his last stop. Kenny Pickett flamed out in the AFC North before winning a championship as a backup quarterback. Cleveland picked Dillon Gabriel in Round 3 and Shedeur Sanders in Round 5. The former was viewed as a reach and the latter fell victim to a historic fall, clouding his projection.

It is possible, if not likely, that the team will spoil in mediocrity under center again in 2025. Each passer has an argument to start, and each could see playing time. None of them will be expected to succeed.

If that comes to fruition, the Browns will likely find themselves poised to draft a new quarterback in Round 1. Make no mistake – they could ditch both rookies after the 2025 season.

ESPN recently explored such a scenario.

“Anything's possible, but the minimal extent to which the Browns have invested resources in the quartet of Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders leaves them in a position to recover if the answer turns out to be no,” Dan Graziano wrote.

“Flacco's guaranteed money is $3 million. Pickett's is a little over $2.6 million. Neither is signed beyond 2025. Gabriel was a third-round pick, while Sanders was taken in the fifth round. Sure, the Browns still owe Deshaun Watson $92 million over the next two years, but there's nothing they can do about that now, and they're clearly looking for a post-Watson answer. Picking up an extra 2026 first-round pick in their draft day deal with the Jaguars puts them in position to move on from their entire QB room next year if they want to do so.”

If there’s any solace for Cleveland’s quarterback situation, it’s that every (non-Deshaun Watson) option could easily be moved.

The team has no need to give Gabriel second and third chances to prove himself. Sanders, with his propensity for finding the spotlight and rumored off-field asterisks, will have a short leash.

Neither cash nor draft capital can save these passers if a franchise quarterback is within reach. They’ll have to play their way into the team’s long-term plans, and the odds are stacked against them.