The Cleveland Browns have been looking for a long-term quarterback, seemingly forever, and they selected two in the 2025 NFL Draft. Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders will now battle it out to be Cleveland’s future starter, but one NFL executive doesn’t understand the team’s quarterback plan.
NFL Exec Confused By Browns’ QB Plan After Taking 2 in 2025 NFL Draft
The Browns have had an interesting offseason handling their quarterback room. They traded a fifth-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for Kenny Pickett, then signed 40-year-old Joe Flacco. The idea was for the two veterans to compete for the starting job, and then draft one in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Cleveland followed that plan by taking Gabriel in the third round. The 94th pick seemed like a reach for a guy projected as a Day 3 pick and career backup, but head coach Kevin Stefanski was fairly excited to call Gabriel about the pick.
The team’s draft came off the rails when they picked Sanders at No. 144. Sanders is the highest-profile fifth-round pick of all time and created a media circus around himself leading up to the draft. Instead of one rookie QB fighting to prove himself, Cleveland has two that have to compete with each other just to make the initial 53-man roster.
The decision to draft multiple quarterbacks was a head-scratcher for multiple NFL executives. FOX Sports NFL Reporter Ralph Vacchiano recently wrote an article calling Cleveland’s quarterback situation a “circus”, and he spoke with multiple unnamed NFL Executives about the situation. One executive dragged Cleveland for not having a plan at the position.
The unnamed executive said, “Now I look at their (quarterback) room and I don’t know what they’re doing. Do they even have a plan? And you know who else is thinking that? Dillon Gabriel. He spent, what, 12 hours as their likely future starter? And then, this.”
This is a fair gripe. Why would Cleveland select a quarterback they really like, then draft another behind him? GM Andrew Berry gave an interesting explanation during his post-draft press conference, which Vacchinao quoted.
Berry said, “You know, we live by our board. We felt like (Sanders) was a good, solid prospect at the most important position. We felt like it got to a point where he was probably mispriced relative to the draft.”
The value in Sanders as a fifth-round pick makes logical sense, but not giving Gabriel a chance to prove himself before bringing in another quarterback doesn’t.
So, what does Cleveland do now? Pickett was the only quarterback taken in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft and was traded by the Pittsburgh Steelers after two lackluster seasons. Flacco led the Browns to the playoffs in 2023 and rejoined the team after playing for the Indianapolis Colts in 2024.
Neither rookie is likely to see the field as long as Cleveland is in playoff contention, so what does that mean for their futures? This will be the highest-profile quarterback controversy ever, and it doesn’t include the starting job.
The New Orleans Saints’ unexpected selection of Banks at No. 9 reshaped the 49ers’ strategy, leading them to draft Williams instead.