Dawgs By Nature
When it comes to the Cleveland Browns quarterback competition, everyone thinks they know what will happen or should happen. The way the Browns are handling things, it seems they want to protect rookie QB Shedeur Sanders while giving Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and rookie Dillon Gabriel every shot to take the starting job.
Flacco has been installed as “QB1” for Cleveland, after Pickett’s injury, while Sanders will start the Browns first preseason game on Friday against the Carolina Panthers.
Cleveland GM Andrew Berry invested a fifth-round pick, along with QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson, to acquire Pickett first this offseason. Then, Flacco was signed to a contract worth $4.25 million shortly before the NFL draft, where Gabriel (third round) and Sanders (fifth round) were selected. Given the investment in all four, could the Browns keep them all?
Adam Schefter now believes so:
Keeping all four to start the season would not be new; Cleveland did that last year for one day before releasing QB Tyler Huntley, who they just re-signed and is likely to play Friday night. Keeping four quarterbacks through a few games of the season would be unusual:
Schefter couched his comments based on discussions with people around the league. Perhaps that is what Berry is communicating to other teams that come sniffing around his quarterback depth chart. Trade leverage can be a huge piece of the puzzle, especially if another team suffers a major QB injury.
For now, most teams decide to keep, as Schefter notes, “8th offensive lineman, 9th defensive lineman, 6th linebacker, 7th receiver” instead of keeping three quarterbacks, much less four.
How likely do you think it is that the Browns would keep all four quarterbacks for at least a few games? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below
