Few NFL teams will be as compelling to watch as summer training camp rolls into fall this year as the Browns.
Cleveland enters camp this year with an open battle for the role of starting quarterback, with four, yes four, apparent contenders. The team traded with the Eagles to acquire Kenny Pickett in March, signed veteran Joe Flacco in April and then took both Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders in the April draft.
While it feels easiest to imagine either Pickett or Flacco getting the first shot under center before throwing one of the rookies into the ringer, the Browns enter the 2025 season with low expectations and the freedom to try basically whatever they want on offense.
We’ll know more as snaps are taken through camp and into the preseason, but beyond which of the four will be starting in September, it’s also an open question as to how many of the four quarterbacks the Browns will choose to carry on their active roster to start the year.
According to general manager Andrew Berry, bringing all four guys is not out of the question. Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Berry explained that with new rules allowing for larger practice squads and more elevations, carrying all four quarterbacks is not out of the question.
"We’ve largely looked at the last five spots on our roster as developmental spots, and that can come from any position,” Berry said. “I also think with the roster flexibility nowadays, especially with the elevations you’re able to have on the practice squad, there’s just more flexibility on how to build your 48-man game-day roster. It’s not quite as restrictive as it was in the past.
“If there are four that are 53-man worthy, and we think that it makes the most sense to keep them, we will.”
Carrying four quarterbacks obviously leaves a team with fewer roster spots to fill out with depth at other positions where depth might feel more necessary, but the Browns are a unique case this year. They clearly have four guys who they think could be the team’s starter this season, and at least two, maybe three, that they believe could potentially be their quarterback of the future.
Professional football teams never enter a year with a losing mindset, but it’s safe to say that outside of the facilities in Cleveland, expectations for the Browns are pretty low this season. If holding on to their quarterback assets gives them a better idea of which players might serve as a long-term answer under center, keeping the whole quarterback room together might be the best plan.
For now, the biggest open question remains which of the QBs gets the nod Week 1, but given Berry’s comments on the team’s last roster spots being “developmental,” it’s clear the Browns are thinking about a future beyond this year, and that finding the best answer to that question might take some extra time.
More NFL on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Browns GM Andrew Berry Teases QB Battle Might Not Be Over by the End of Training Camp.
