Colin Cowherd Predicts Shocking Cleveland Browns Starting Quarterback To Begin NFL Season

Former Colorado Buffaloes and current Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders is entering his rookie season in the NFL. Sanders was drafted by the Browns in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft last month. With no set starter in the Cleveland quarterback room, Sanders has a legitimate change to eventually get the job.

Colin Cowherd on his show The Herd on Thursday talked about the Browns quarterback battle between Shedeur Sanders, Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel, and Kenny Pickett for the starting job.

Colin Cowherd Makes Bold Statement On Shedeur Sanders

Cleveland Browns quarterback Kenny Pickett, left, chats with quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) during an NFL practice at the Cleveland Browns training facility on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Berea, Ohio. | Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Colin Cowherd put up the Browns quarterback stats for their OTA team drills on Wednesday. While it may have only been practice and is a very small sample size, Sanders had the best completion percentage out of all of them, going 7/9. Flacco went 9/14, Gabriel went 11/16, and Pickett went 9/16.

Cowherd sounds like a Shedeur Sanders believer and says that he should be the starting quarterback for the Browns.

Is it time to call the Cleveland Browns QB race?@ColinCowherd has seen enough and predicts that Shedeur Sanders will be the eventual Cleveland Browns starting quarterback. pic.twitter.com/5QvkPr4F8W
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) May 29, 2025

“Just in, I’ve seen enough. I’m calling it a wrap. The Herd news room is calling it in Ohio. By a landslide, Shedeur Sanders should be starting,” Cowherd said. “You can keep selling me on Pickett. You can keep selling me on Dillon Gabriel."

While Cowherd favors Sanders over the likes of Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel, he does have a fondness for the veteran Joe Flacco and even predicted that Flacco will be the starter in Week One when the Browns host the Cincinnati Bengals.

“Now Flacco, I buy. Flacco I like. He’s one of my favorite guys that’s ever played in the league,” Cowherd said. “Everybody likes Flacco and I think he’s going to win the starting job initially.”

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Who Will Start At Quarterback For Browns In Week One?

Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco, facing, chats with rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel (5) during an NFL practice at the Cleveland Browns training facility on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Berea, Ohio. | Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Flacco is likely the safe choice for the Browns to make at starting quarterback when the season gets underway. Flacco has over a decade of experience being a starting quarterback in this league and did just that with the Browns in 2023 before he went to the Indianapolis Colts for the 2024 season. Flacco helped lead that Browns team to 11 wins and a spot in the playoffs.

The other options for the Browns besides Flacco, with Deshaun Watson still recovering from his torn achilles, are a pair of rookies’ Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel, and the 26-year old Kenny Pickett. Pickett was a starter early in his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he has now turned into a backup. Pickett backed up Jalen Hurts with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles last season.

Even if Sanders and Gabriel play well in camp, it could still be risky throwing them in as the starting quarterback immediately. They both would likely need some time to get adjusted to the next level before becoming a starting quarterback.