Dawgs By Nature
Browns quarterback room is full, but Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel and Kenny Pickett must learn by watching
Joe Flacco has seen it all while playing in the NFL. Now, he is back as the leading candidate to become the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback this season. He signed a one-year $4 million contract that is full of incentives to drive up the amount of money he can make.
This year’s QB group also includes Kenny Pickett, whom Browns GM Andrew Berry traded for, plus two rookies: Dillon Gabriel of Oregon and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.
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Traditionally, Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski has only retained three quarterbacks, so at some point, one of the aforementioned players will be leaving. They brought Flacco in to be the starter, traded for Pickett from the Philadelphia Eagles, and neither of the rookies would clear waivers if released. So, come final cutdown, there will be a hard decision to make or perhaps some injury list shenanigans will be in order.
Why would any club keep four quarterbacks? It doesn’t make sense.
The Browns are one of the few teams that are going through OTAs this week, and just about every player signed to the 90-man roster is in attendance.
Flacco is 40 years old. The 2025 season will be his 18th in the league. He owns a Super Bowl ring and was a Super Bowl MVP. He has thrown 6,751 balls with 45,697 career passing yards and played in 196 games. He is also very durable despite being knocked around quite a bit, so the games that he has missed were because he was watching the game from the sidelines instead of playing.
He has played for five teams and has seen his share of young guys being drafted to take his place. It wasn’t the Browns who selected Lamar Jackson, it was the Baltimore Ravens when Flacco was their starter. Every team he has played for has had a newbie quarterback at some point.
And the Browns are no different. Flacco was signed by Cleveland on April 11. Two weeks later, in the NFL draft, suddenly, there are two rookie signal-callers in the building. Stefanski is a quarterback coach and will have his hands full with four quarterbacks. But it only makes sense that Flacco and all his years of experience should be able to take these young bucks aside and coach them up. Right?
Not so fast.
According to Flacco, when asked about his mentorship abilities at the OTAs, he did not sound like the task of being a teacher was in his job description:
“If I say, ‘I don’t want to be a mentor,’ I look bad. If I say, ‘I do want to be a mentor,’ then I look like an idiot who doesn’t care about being good and playing football. I tend to try to be honest, and I’ve said, ‘I’m not a mentor. I play football.”
That has been Flacco’s...
