The Cleveland Browns are not the only team in the NFL with some considerable quarterback questions heading into next season. However, theirs has pretty clearly become the most convoluted.
Cleveland added four new quarterbacks through the offseason after learning Deshaun Watson had considerable setbacks in his recovery from an Achilles injury. Now, it's veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Picket along with rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders making up the quarterback totem pole.
Many are wondering how this competition will work out through training camp and the remainder of the offseason. Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio has come out strong against the idea of the Browns keeping all four, suspecting the team has attempted to build leverage here.
“I think that’s lucdacris. Having four quarterbacks on your roster?” Florio said. “I think they’re trying to build some trade leverage."
Florio believes that one of Flacco or Pickett must be gone before the start of the season in order to help Sanders and Gabriel progress in their development.
“Between Flacco and Pickett, one of them has to go. They have to go,” Florio said. “Because I don’t want the presence of both of them to undermine my effort to see what I have in Gabriel and Sanders. They don’t have enough reps to go around to get everyone ready.”
It's hard to imagine one of these four not being squeezed out by the time the final 53-man roster decisions are made. But if the goal is to build leverage off the veteran assets, how exactly would the Browns trade one of them?
Flacco is an aged quarterback with little demand elsewhere and the market for Pickett will not turn any heads either. Simultaneously, nothing says the Browns should be married to the pair of rookies either.
Losing Gabriel or Sanders would be a noticeable swing and miss but both were late Day 2 and Day 3 picks. Certainly not ideal, but the Browns could do worse in using these assets.
And if the hopes to be competitive next season do not work out in their favor, there's a a better class of quarterback prospects waiting in next year's draft.
The Browns have some freedom to explore what they have this season and by no means should be forced to spoon feed opportunities to the rookies if they are not deserving. There's no need to force a move just for the sake of doing so.
