Browns Say They’re ‘Absolutely, Absolutely, Absolutely’ Willing To Keep All Four Quarterbacks During Regular Season

Since the draft, many have assumed the Browns would look to move on from Pickett or Flacco to get them to three quarterbacks, as it’s rare for a team to have four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster. However, per Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports, Cleveland GM Andrew Berry said they are “absolutely, absolutely, absolutely” open to keeping all of them on the active roster. 

Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com echoed this thought and brought up their low base salaries for 2025 when discussing the potential of all four making the team. She also thinks they would listen to training camp and in-season trade offers, depending on where the team stands and how each has performed. 

Flacco doesn’t have much insight into the decision, but he isn’t concerned by his lack of reps taken throughout the offseason workouts. 

“Listen, you gotta ask them that,” Flacco said, via SI.com’s Albert Breer. “Like I said, I don’t think there’s a huge priority to make sure that they’re getting me a ton of reps.”

Browns OC Tommy Rees gave some insight into what they are looking for in their Week 1 starter. 

“Decision-making and processing.” Rees said, per Epstein. “Be able to solve problems on the field when they don’t get the ideal look. Let’s just show that we’re making the right decision and we’re putting the ball where it’s supposed to be and we’ll figure out all the other parts.”

“Every time we have an opportunity to solve a problem, make a decision — we’re looking to make the right one.”

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 draft. He was the 2021 ACC Player of the Year, First Team All-ACC, and finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting. 

Pickett signed a four-year, $14,067,904 contract that includes a $7,411,203 signing bonus. There is also a fifth-year option for the team to pick up in 2025. Pittsburgh traded him to the Eagles back in March. 

In 2024, Pickett appeared in five games with one start for the Eagles and completed 25 of 42 passes (59.5 percent) for 291 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He added nine carries for 15 yards and a touchdown.

Gabriel, 24, grew up in Hawaii and committed to UCF. He started as a true freshman and spent three years as the starter at UCF before transferring to Oklahoma. He transferred again to Oregon for his final season of eligibility. 

Gabriel earned second-team All-AAC honors in 2020, first-team All-Big 12 honors in 2023, and first-team All-American, first-team All-Big 10 and Big 10 Player of the Year honors in 2024 after leading Oregon to a berth in the College Football Playoff. He also set the record for most career starts in college football history with 63. 

He’s projected to sign a four-year,  $6,226,322 rookie contract that includes a $1,168,232 signing bonus. 

During his six-year college career, Gabriel completed 65.2 percent of his pass attempts for 18,722 yards, 155 touchdowns and 32 interceptions, adding 1,209 rushing yards and another 33 scores on the ground.