The Cleveland Browns entered the 2025 offseason with one of the NFL’s murkiest quarterback situations and somehow made it even harder to follow.
After a dismal 2024 campaign defined by poor quarterback play and Deshaun Watson‘s injury setbacks, the franchise doubled down with a crowded, directionless five-man quarterback room that’s drawing criticism across the league.
Among the most vocal critics is ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, who didn’t mince words in calling Cleveland’s approach “the offseason’s worst quarterback strategy.” While the team added veteran Joe Flacco, traded for Kenny Pickett, and selected both Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders in the draft, the decisions appear disjointed and uncoordinated.
“What makes this even more complicated is that the quarterbacks aren’t stylistically similar,” Barnwell explained. That’s putting it mildly. Flacco is a deep-ball passer who thrived under center during a late-season playoff push.
Pickett is a mistake-averse, short-game distributor who prefers shotgun. Gabriel worked primarily out of Oregon’s spread offense and excelled with quick passes, while Sanders came from a chaotic Colorado offense built on RPOs and improvised heroics behind a collapsing offensive line.
And then there’s Watson, still recovering from a torn Achilles, whose massive guaranteed contract continues to hang over the team’s future plans.
A confusing mix of talent with no guiding vision
While adding talent at the quarterback position might seem logical after last year’s struggles, the issue isn’t numbers – it’s structure.
The Browns‘ acquisitions reflect no unified philosophy or long-term development plan. Instead, the roster now contains five quarterbacks with vastly different strengths and skillsets, making it nearly impossible to craft a cohesive offense.
“Nothing about the cash spent or the draft capital used suggests the Browns are committed to any of these quarterbacks in 2026,” Barnwell noted. “They might have a situation in which their backups are tantalizing enough to get on the field without being good enough to stay there.”
This “quarterback-by-committee” outcome, while unintentionally constructed, seems almost inevitable. Watson’s injury may sideline him for part – or all – of the season. Flacco, though heroic last December, is nearing 40.
Pickett‘s development plateaued in Pittsburgh. Gabriel lacks ideal size and arm strength. Sanders, meanwhile, is a dynamic but raw prospect entering a volatile environment.
This raises urgent questions: Is the offense being shaped to highlight Flacco‘s strengths? Are Pickett and Gabriel simply placeholders? Can Stefanski – who’s earned praise for maximizing limited quarterback talent – engineer a system that accommodates such conflicting styles?
Even Cleveland’s fanbase, long-suffering but loyal, is skeptical. Despite Kevin Stefanski‘s two Coach of the Year awards and one playoff win, faith is beginning to fray as the team fails to provide a clear direction at football’s most vital position.
With quarterbacks coming and going and no firm commitment to any single option, the Browns look set to cycle through signal-callers again in 2025 – a familiar, frustrating pattern in Cleveland’s modern NFL era. And for Shedeur Sanders, the highly touted rookie caught in the middle of it, this might be the most uncertain landing spot of them all.
In a year where Cleveland needed clarity, they chose clutter – and the results could be as messy as the strategy that created it.
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