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After a disastrous 3-14 campaign in 2024, patience across Northeast Ohio for their Cleveland Browns is running thin. Ownership, the front office, and the coaching staff all know that another lost year could lead to sweeping changes. Training camp has offered flashes of hope, but also underscored a harsh truth. This roster still has holes, and time is running out to fix them. For a team trying to shed last season’s nightmare, one last-minute trade could go a long way toward stabilizing the future.
Owner Jimmy Haslam has urged patience, insisting he’ll give his coach-GM tandem time to rebound from last year’s 3-14 debacle. Still, he’s made it clear that 2025 must bring tangible progress. For the Browns, that doesn’t just mean being more competitive on Sundays. More importantly, it means finally finding stability and a long-term solution at quarterback.
That search took another twist this past week when Cleveland brought in its sixth signal-caller, Tyler Huntley. The move all but guarantees some tough roster cuts are coming. However, it’s also a telling sign: franchises with a ‘win-now’ mindset don’t cycle through quarterbacks like lottery tickets. As things stand, the Browns appear destined to open the season near the bottom once again. That would repeat a familiar cycle of uncertainty, inconsistency, and a front office that looks more reactive than deliberate.
Here we’ll try to look at and discuss the last-minute trade that the Cleveland Browns must make before Week 1 of 2025 NFL season.
If the Browns want to enter Week 1 with a cleaner outlook and fewer distractions, the most logical path forward is to cut through the logjam under center. Carrying four quarterbacks may sound like insurance. That said, it’s more of a liability. Reps get diluted, leadership becomes muddled, and the franchise never develops a clear identity. That’s why Cleveland needs to act decisively before the season kicks off.
There’s no denying that Kenny Pickett’s arrival in Cleveland earlier this offseason sparked curiosity. Acquired from Pittsburgh for a fifth-round pick and Dorian Thompson-Robinson, the move seemed like a calculated gamble. Maybe a change of scenery could salvage the career of a once highly touted first-rounder. After an injury-marred training camp and inconsistent play when healthy, though, the gamble looks more like a miscalculation.
Cleveland Browns: QB Kenny Pickett to Minnesota Vikings for a late 2026 draft pick
This is the kind of low-risk, high-reward move the Browns need to make. They do not really need to add talent, but to restore clarity. Pickett’s presence has become redundant in a quarterback room overflowing with uncertainty. This is especially true after how Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders have played so far this preseason. Shipping someone like Pickett to Minnesota not only lightens the load in Cleveland but also brings back a future draft asset, even if it’s just a fifth or sixth-round pick in 2026.
From Minnesota’s...
