Which Cleveland Browns Quarterback is Most Likely to Get Traded?

The Cleveland Browns have one of the most robust quarterback rooms in the NFL, after bringing in four viable candidates to compete for the starting job.

Jun 10, 2025; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) throws a pass as quarterback Joe Flacco (15) and quarterback Dillon Gabriel (5) and quarterback Kenny Pickett (8) look on during minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

After weeks of deliberation, the Cleveland Browns and Head Coach Kevin Stefanski finally decided on a starting quarterback for their Week 1 clash against the Cincinnati Bengals to kick off the 2025 NFL season. Following Deshaun Watson's re-rupture of his Achilles tendon last winter, the team brought in a slew of candidates to compete for his vacated QB1 spot. They signed former Super Bowl champion Joe Flacco, traded for fourth-year prospect Kenny Pickett, and took two different gunslingers in this past draft: Dillon Gabriel in the third round and Shedeur Sanders with the 144th-overall selection.

It took nearly the entirety of training camp and preseason for Coach Stefanski to pick his Week 1 starter. He made the sensible, if not boring, choice, naming Joe Flacco QB1 against the Bengals. There's a belief that this is a temporary move, and Cleveland has plans to insert one of their young quarterbacks into the starting lineup at some point down the stretch.

Whether that's the case, it makes little sense for the Browns to carry all four QBs throughout the 2025 campaign. There are only 17 games in the NFL season, which isn't nearly enough to get a quality look at all of their options. It seems increasingly likely that Cleveland will part ways with one of their quarterbacks, one way or another.

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

The Cleveland Browns have two options to lighten their quarterback logjam

Among their four quarterbacks, the Cleveland Browns are most likely only considering cutting ties with two of them. The team and Head Coach Kevin Stefanski brought Joe Flacco to be the steady guiding hand for this roster. His experience and veteran moxie are invaluable for their 2025 season, whether he's starting or the primary backup in the case of disaster.

Dillon Gabriel was the young prospect they invested in the most. They spent a third-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to get him and only wound up getting Shedeur Sanders because he plummeted to the fifth. As an asset, the former Oregon Duck is probably worth more to the Browns than he is to other NFL teams, and they're unlikely to get more in return than what they gave up to acquire him in the first place.

That leaves Kenny Pickett and Shedeur Sanders as the most viable candidates to be on a new roster at some point in the near future. CBS Sports' Pete Prisco agrees:

"I would think Pickett would probably be the guy that would be cut or traded, because if you look at it, you have the veteran and you have two young quarterbacks — guys you want to look at down the road if Flacco doesn't make it work early in the season. So, I think ideally in that scenario, they would try and get something for Pickett, and I don't know if you will, but I don't think they'll keep both veterans and both rookie quarterbacks. It just doesn't make sense."

"By the way, what if they decided they want to get rid of one of the rookies? The rookie they'd probably get rid of would be the one that they took in the fifth round. If that's the case, is there a market out there for him?"

"The rookie that they would probably get rid of would be the one they took in the 5th round."@PriscoCBS breaks down the Browns' crowded QB room and what that could mean for Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. pic.twitter.com/zyE927R0jG

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) August 18, 2025

Sanders has impressed early on in his opportunities between training camp and preseason. He's clearly a talented quarterback, evidenced by his consensus outlook ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft, which pegged him as a late Day 1 or early Day 2 target. The only reason he fell to the fifth round was because of character and baggage concerns, which he has answered resoundingly so far in his young career. If the Browns want to move him, they won't have a hard time netting a positive return on investment for the former Colorado Buffaloes star.