The Cleveland Browns' quarterback room was puzzling at best heading into the season. They drafted two rookie QBs, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, while they signed Joe Flacco and traded for Kenny Pickett in the offseason. Cleveland even had Tyler Huntley for training camp. This left the Browns with a slew of non-starting caliber QBs.
However, shockingly, things somewhat worked out for the Browns. In August, they traded Kenny Pickett to the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for a fifth-round pick. Flacco started the first four games with the Browns, but he was later benched in favor of Gabriel after throwing triple the number of interceptions as touchdowns. Now, Flacco is being traded to the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for a fifth-round pick.
The #Bengals are trading for Joe Flacco, per me and @TomPelissero
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 7, 2025
The Browns did have to part ways with a sixth-round pick to move off Flacco. Nevertheless, getting any draft capital for Flacco (and Pickett before him) is the best-case scenario for this wonky QB situation. Learning from an 18-year veteran certainly helped Gabriel and Sanders, but it was time to move on.
The future of the Browns' QB room
It remains unclear whether Gabriel or Sanders is the Browns' franchise QB. Currently, it feels more likely that the Browns will eventually shift their focus to the 2026 draft. Gabriel was a third-round pick, and Sanders was a fifth-round pick. Finding your franchise QB at that point in the draft is rare, especially given the lack of surrounding talent. Plus, the 2026 class offers plenty of QB talent.
Regardless, the Browns will get to see what they have with Gabriel (and perhaps later Sanders). Gabriel's starting debut against the Minnesota Vikings was somewhat of a mixed bag.
He looked comfortable in the pocket, recording 190 passing yards and two touchdowns. However, he had some accuracy issues, completing just 57.6 percent of his passes, and didn't throw the ball down the field much. Against a talented defense with Brian Flores at the helm, it wasn't a bad showing for the rookie by any means.
Perhaps Gabriel keeps improving as the year moves on and becomes the Browns' franchise QB. It's also possible that Gabriel struggles, and Sanders gets a chance to show what he has. With Flacco, there, Sanders may never have gotten that chance if Gabriel struggled or got injured.
Overall, getting a chance to see what they have with their two rookie QBs before likely focusing on the 2026 draft is the most ideal outcome for the Browns this season.