Ryan Fitzpatrick Speaks Out Boldly About 1 Browns' QB

NFL training camp for the 2025 season is less than two weeks away. For the Cleveland Browns, their rookies are required to report on July 18, while the veterans get a bit longer of a vacation before they have to arrive on July 22. Once they arrive, the entire league and its fans will be anxiously keeping tabs to see which gunslinger will emerge as QB1.

This offseason, the Browns added four different quarterbacks to vie for Deshaun Watson's starting spot. They signed former Super Bowl champion Joe Flacco in free agency, traded for 2022 first-round pick Kenny Pickett, and drafted two rookies, Oregon's Dillon Gabriel 94th overall and Colorado's Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round.

Between Flacco's advanced age, Pickett's shaky start to his career, and the lack of experience for Gabriel and Sanders, there's no telling who will wind up winning the QB1 spot. Training camp and preseason will be huge for determining a favorite, but there has already been plenty of speculation before then.

One former player with ample experience in quarterback battles weighed in on Cleveland's situation recently. 17-year pro Ryan Fitzpatrick feels pretty strongly that the most tenured field general will get the starting job in Week 1. He stated on Good Morning Football:

"If I was a betting man, Joe Flacco's gonna go into the year as the starter. He has history there, he's had a lot of success there, and I think it's a great story. He's a guy that will bring calm, he's a guy that's gonna be able to get them off on the right foot."

However, Fitzpatrick thinks that one of the two rookies the Browns drafted was selected for a reason. He went on to assert that Cleveland could see Oregon rookie Dillon Gabriel take over as the starter before season's end:

"I know they're excited about [Dillon Gabriel]—we could see him inserted into the lineup, say, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, if they've lost a few games. As a guy that's been a bridge quarterback in his career ... you look at the bye week and that's about the time you get replaced."