NFL insider makes bold prediction about Browns' unique QB situation

The Cleveland Browns remain on track to enter training camp with the league's most unique quarterback situation. 

Veteran Joe Flacco reportedly ended spring workouts holding a lead over Kenny Pickett, 2025 third-round draft pick Dillon Gabriel and 2025 fifth-rounder Shedeur Sanders in the competition for Cleveland's Week 1 QB1. 

However, ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano predicted Friday that "at least three of the Browns' current quarterbacks will start games for them" during the upcoming campaign. 

"The trade the Browns made with the Jaguars to allow Jacksonville to move up to draft Travis Hunter left Cleveland with an extra first-round pick in the 2026 draft," Graziano explained. "At that point, there will be just one year left on [Deshaun Watson's] contract, and the team surely will have moved on from the idea of him as its long-term future (if it hasn't already)." 

It seems likely that Watson won't play a single snap for the 2025 Browns after he suffered a torn Achilles last October and then re-tore it during his recovery. Cleveland reportedly could designate Watson as a post-June 1 release next offseason. 

"With two first-rounders in a draft that's expected to be better at QB than this year's," Graziano continued, "the Browns will need to go into next offseason with some certainty about who they already have on the roster. Even if Flacco or Pickett opens the season as the starter, Cleveland needs to find out what it has in third-round pick Gabriel or fifth-round pick Sanders. It seems like an absolute slam-dunk that at least three quarterbacks will start games for the Browns this season."

Numerous analysts and scouts warned long before Sanders' handling of the predraft process allegedly caused him to fall to the fifth round that none of the QBs in the 2025 class would've been ranked "ahead of the six quarterbacks who were selected in the first round last year." 

Meanwhile, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Browns at +115 odds to notch over 5.5 wins this season as of Friday morning. Such forecasts suggest that certain insiders believe Cleveland will once again be one of the league's worst teams. 

ESPN's Matt Miller predicted in June that the Browns would ultimately make Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik the first pick of the 2026 draft. Earlier this week, Jordan Reid of ESPN mentioned that South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers, Penn State's Drew Allar and LSU's Garrett Nussmeier are also among candidates to be drafted first overall.

The Browns appear to plan on keeping both Gabriel and Sanders on the active roster in September. That could leave Pickett as the odd man out after he was "unremarkable" during the spring. 

If Graziano is right, Browns fans thinking the team would be wasting its time by starting the 40-year-old Flacco in Week 1 may not have to wait long to see Gabriel or Sanders get reps.