The Browns quarterback room is becoming increasingly crowded and expensive.
After two days of drama and a dramatic drop from previous forecasts, Cleveland selected Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round of the NFL Draft. Sanders’ decline from an early first-round forecast cost him up to $37 million, as he will now sign a four-year rookie contract worth an estimated $4.6 million.
The son of Buffalo Bills coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, however, will battle in Cleveland with at least four other players for playing time and a role in the Browns’ long-term plans. Among Sanders’ challengers
Joe Flacco. The Browns signed the 40-year-old Flacco, a 17-year veteran and former Ravens Super Bowl winner, to a one-year, $4 million free-agent contract earlier this month.
Dillon Gabriel. The Browns selected the Oregon quarterback in the third round of the draft, two rounds ahead of Sanders. Gabriel’s rookie contract will pay him an estimated $6 million over four years.
Kenny Pickett. Pickett, a former first-round pick and likely successor apparent to Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger, spent a year with the Eagles before being traded to the Browns last month. He has one year and $2.6 million left on his rookie contract.
DeShaun Watson. The 29-year-old’s troublesome history continues; after serving an 11-game suspension in 2022 due to sexual misconduct allegations and an Achilles tendon tear last fall, he sustained a second Achilles injury in January and is anticipated to miss at least the majority of the 2025 season. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam previously stated that dealing for Watson was a “big swing and miss,” yet the quarterback still has two seasons left on his five-year, $230 million contract.
Following the selection, Browns GM Andrew Berry stated that there may have been external pressure to select Sanders, saying, “It wasn’t necessarily the plan going into the weekend to draft two QBs.”
How will the Browns sort through the crowded field? Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski envision a wide-open competition among the four currently healthy quarterbacks for the 2025 season.
“Obviously, you may not divide [training camp reps] 25, 25, 25, 25, but we feel really confident that we’ll have a plan that is fair to each player and fair to the team as well,” Stefanski told ESPN.
Meanwhile, the father-son Sanders combo was captured on camera debating the other Browns quarterbacks before Cleveland chose Shedeur Sanders.
“Flacco my age,” Deion Sanders, 57, laughed. “I like Flacco.”
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