The Cleveland Browns quarterback room appears to be set, for now.
Veteran Joe Flacco has been penciled in as the Week 1 starter, but at 40 years old, he's obviously not the long-term answer for the Browns. Former first-round pick Kenny Pickett may have had a shot at sticking around in Cleveland, but he was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders for a 2026 fifth-round pick earlier this week.
Rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders have some upside and flashed it in the preseason. But is the Browns' franchise quarterback currently on the roster?
NFL Insider Believes the Browns Will Be Drafting a QB in 2026
When commenting on the Pickett trade, NFL Draft analyst Dane Brugler had a reasonable response to the Browns quarterback carousel.
"It is tough to get worked up about the Browns' current QB situation when we know the chances they draft a QB in the early 1st round next April is extremely high," Brugler posted on X.
Brugler has a point. With 10 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft and a bleak outlook on the 2025 season, it's easy to see the vision when it comes to the Browns possibly dipping back into the quarterback well next Spring.
Gabriel, the former Oregon product, was only a third-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and doesn't have the pedigree of a first-round pick. The same goes for Colorado's Shedeur Sanders.
Even if Cleveland isn't picking high in next year's draft, they have the ammunition to move up for one of the top prospects, including Texas' Arch Manning, Clemson's Cade Klubnik, and LSU's Garrett Nussmeier.
If Gabriel and Sanders want to show Cleveland they're set at the position, they'll hope for some playing time in 2025 to showcase their skill sets.