NFL Trade Rumors
According to Cameron Wolfe, Browns veteran quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett are more likely to become the team’s starter than rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
Wolfe notes that Flacco is likely viewed as the favorite heading into training camp, with Pickett being given a chance to steal the job from the veteran.
Browns HC Kevin Stefanski told Wolfe that he is comfortable with Flacco or Pickett being the starter, given that Flacco has a strong grasp of Stefanski’s offensive scheme and has a high floor despite his age.
As for Pickett, Stefanski told Wolfe that the team thinks they can develop him more as other teams did with first-round quarterbacks like Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold.
Wolfe points out that the team is unlikely to trade Gabriel or Sanders and that multiple quarterbacks could wind up starting during the season, depending on how things play out.
As for having four quarterbacks on the roster, Wolfe notes that whichever veteran loses the job could wind up on the trade block in Cleveland. Yet GM Andrew Berry has previously stated he has no problem keeping all four players on the roster.
Flacco, 40, is a former first-round pick of the Ravens back in 2008. After over a decade in Baltimore, the Broncos agreed to trade a 2019 fourth-round pick to the Ravens for Flacco.
Flacco was in the fourth year of a six-year, $125 million contract that contained $44 million guaranteed and set to make a base salary of $20.25 million for 2020 when Denver released him with a failed physical designation.
He signed a one-year contract worth $1.5 million and up to $4.5 million with the Jets in 2020 before joining the Eagles in 2021. Philadelphia traded him back to the Jets ahead of the deadline for a conditional sixth-round pick.
Flacco later re-signed with the Jets on a one-year, $3.5 million deal in 2022. He signed on with the Browns during the season in 2023 and parlayed a strong performance into a deal with the Colts in 2024. He returned to the Browns this offseason on a one-year deal.
In 2024, Flacco appeared in eight games for the Colts with six starts, completing 65.3 percent of his pass attempts for 1,761 yards, 12 touchdowns, and seven interceptions.
Sanders, 22, was a two-year starter at Jackson State before transferring to Colorado before the 2023 season, following his father and coach, former NFL star Deion Sanders. He started two more years at Colorado before declaring for the 2025 NFL Draft.
The Browns traded up to select Sanders with the No. 144 overall pick in the fifth round. He’s projected to sign a four-year, $4.646 million rookie contract that includes a $447,380 signing bonus.
In two years at Colorado, Sanders completed 71.8 percent of his pass attempts for 7,364 yards, 64 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions in 24 career games, adding eight more scores on the ground.
Pickett, 26, the Steelers used the No. 20 overall pick on him in the 2022...
