NFL Insider, Browns GM Reaffirm Team's Bold QB Plan Heading Into 2025 Season

When Cleveland cuts down its roster to 53 players, it’s looking like four of them will be quarterbacks.

Could Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel and Kenny Pickett all wind up making the Browns’ 53-man roster? / Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Browns entered NFL training camp with one of the most compelling quarterback competitions in the league.

Veteran Joe Flacco, the favorite from the jump, will ultimately start for the Browns in Week 1, but the picture behind him, and how Cleveland wants to handle their remaining trio of quarterbacks is still being figured out.

Between drafting two rookie QBs in Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders this year, and adding Kenny Pickett via an offseason trade, the Browns are well-stocked with quarterbacks. While it’s very unusual for teams to carry four QBs onto their active roster, reports have indicated that Cleveland was leaning that direction, and NFL insider Mike Garafolo says that still appears to be the plan.

“I’m expecting the Browns to keep all four quarterbacks, especially with how Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders played in the preseason,” Garafolo said on Saturday. As Garafolo noted, while carrying four quarterbacks limits the depth you can have at other positions, the Browns did the same thing last year.

Cleveland general manager Andrew Berry later appeared to confirm that report, indicating to NFL Network's Chris Rose that the Browns liked their room.

From @NFLGameDay Kickoff: The #Browns will play three QBs today. Expect them to keep four on the final roster unless somebody comes in and blows them away with a trade offer. pic.twitter.com/dftg6DlDEq

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) August 23, 2025

“Unless somebody blows them away with a trade offer for Pickett, or one of the rookies,” Garafolo says that Cleveland will bring all four with them into Week 1.

Gabriel and Sanders have both been impressive through the preseason, and given the Browns are not expected to contend much this year anyway, developing both young quarterbacks could be as valuable an asset as Cleveland can invest in this year.

The Browns open their season with a home game against the Cincinnati Bengals on September 7.

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