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The Cleveland Browns re-signed Myles Garrett with the promise that they’d be ready to compete for the championship sooner rather than later, but the 53-man roster might not yet be of contention status.
The Browns’ quarterback competition, which was at least temporarily resolved when Joe Flacco was announced as the Week 1 starter, has been arguably the most monitored position battle league-wide, but how will the rest of the roster turn out? Here is the Browns’ 53-man roster prediction ahead of cut-down day on Aug. 26.
Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders
Keeping four quarterbacks on the active roster is extremely rare, but the Browns can’t really afford to let one of their rookie signal-callers go. Cleveland hopes that one of Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders will be the quarterback of the future. It just isn’t clear which one will separate himself from the other.
Sanders is the more famous quarterback, and he has actually arguably outplayed Gabriel during training camp, especially during his preseason Week 1 start. However, Gabriel was the higher draftee, as Sanders underwent one of the most famous draft-day slides in NFL history, all the way to round five.
The team also has Kenny Pickett, a former first-round pick who won Super Bowl 59 as Jalen Hurts’ backup last season. None of them will start Week 1, as that honor goes to Flacco, the steady veteran who had a memorable run with the Browns just two seasons ago.
The entire quarterback room has been beat up leading up to the regular season, which hasn’t helped create clarity about the state of the position group. While Flacco will start, he is 40 years old and well past his prime, so it is very possible that one or more of the youngsters will take over under center at some point.
Tyler Huntley is also on the roster as one of the best fifth-string quarterbacks the league has ever seen, but there aren’t enough spots to keep him around. Deshaun Watson is also on the roster. He will miss the 2025 season because of a torn Achilles, and he is only still on the roster because of his contract that Cleveland gave him, which was one of the worst contracts in NFL history.
Jerome Ford, Quinshon Judkins, Dylan Sampson, Pierre Strong Jr.
Quinshon Judkins remains the only rookie from the 2025 NFL Draft who remains unsigned. Cleveland hasn’t given him a contract yet while a domestic violence incident has worked itself out. Now that the second-round pick avoided charges, a contract could be coming soon.
However, reports suggest the Browns may not sign the running back until the NFL concludes their own investigation into the matter. For now, it seems likely that Judkins will be on the initial 53-man roster because the team needs all of the help that they can get at the position.
Uncertainty on his future and a likely slow start due to missing training camp from...
