Insider names front-runner in Browns' QB competition after drafting Shedeur Sanders

The Cleveland Browns shocked the football community when they used the 2025 NFL Draft to add rookie quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel (third round, pick No. 94) and Shedeur Sanders (fifth round, pick No. 144) to a room already occupied by veteran Joe Flacco and 2022 first-round selection Kenny Pickett. 

One unnamed NFC executive recently told Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports that Sanders is "way more talented" than Gabriel and "has a chance to end up being [Cleveland's] starter." 

However, Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer explained in a piece published Tuesday why she's convinced "Pickett would be the Browns' QB1" if the season began this weekend. 

"He was the first move the Browns made at the start of the league year in March, trading quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-round pick to the Eagles in exchange," Cabot wrote about Cleveland acquiring Pickett. "...The Browns viewed Pickett as a former first-round pick who showed good promise early on but was thrust into a challenging situation. He had an embattled offensive coordinator in Matt Canada, who was fired in November of Pickett’s second season, and two mercurial receivers in George Pickens and Diontae Johnson."

Since the 2023 season, Johnson seemingly has fallen out of favor with coaching staffs employed by the Steelers, Carolina Panthers, Baltimore Ravens (twice) and Houston Texans. Meanwhile, Pickens has routinely sparked drama throughout his Pittsburgh tenure, which began when the club made him a second-round draft pick in the spring of 2022. 

As for Pickett, the Steelers gave up on him after just two years. Across 24 starts and 25 total regular-season appearances with Pittsburgh, he went 14-10 with 13 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions. He spent the majority of last season serving as a backup for the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. 

"The Browns like that Pickett makes good decisions, doesn’t turn the ball over much and has the upside to make more big plays than he has, especially in this quarterback-friendly West Coast scheme," Cabot added. 

As of Wednesday morning, FanDuel Sportsbook listed Flacco as the betting favorite at +116 odds to be Cleveland's Week 1 starter. It's believed the Browns could trade or release either Flacco or Pickett if Gabriel or Sanders looks ready to face live defenses in meaningful games by the end of the preseason. 

As for Sanders, some scouts and coaches believe he'll be little more than "a backup at best" in the NFL for reasons that have nothing to do with how he allegedly handled the predraft process. In a different Cleveland Plain Dealer article published on Wednesday, Lance Reisland noted that Sanders "needs to improve his pocket awareness and decision-making under pressure" because "drifting backward when under pressure is something Sanders struggles with."

Reisland mentioned that Cleveland's quarterback room is more "competitive" than "overcrowded" ahead of mandatory minicamp. It sounds like some think the battle for Cleveland's starting job could come down to a Pickett-versus-Sanders showdown.