Nobody knows what to believe when it comes to the Cleveland Browns’ four-man quarterback competition so far because there are so many conflicting reports being tossed out by the media every day.
The reality is that it’s June, and the quarterback competition doesn’t need to be decided at the moment, but that doesn’t stop anyone from speculating, including ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Grossi.
Grossi said Friday that he doesn’t believe the recent report that Cleveland’s QB competition is wide open and thinks that the Browns want the perception of the competition being wide open in order to keep the rookies competing as hard as they can.
“I tend to not think that it’s as wide open as they say. They want to portray that it is wide open to keep the rookies competing as hard as they can,” Grossi said.
Does @TonyGrossi agree that the Browns QB competition is wide open? No… pic.twitter.com/nOarEGkMaq
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) June 13, 2025
Throughout this entire process, the Browns have said almost nothing and are simply letting all four quarterbacks get reps.
A strength-by-numbers approach is the best way to play this, as the Browns started four quarterbacks last season and five in 2023 anyway, so it’s no secret that all four of these QBs could see time this season.
It would be in Cleveland’s best interest to give all four of them playing time if things aren’t going well, just to figure out if any of them can be good enough to convince the front office not to use one of its two first-round picks in the loaded 2026 draft on a new franchise quarterback.
Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett haven’t proven that they should be penciled in to start 17 games, but given how bad the Browns offense was last year, combined with the fact that the first eight games of Cleveland’s schedule are brutal ahead of the Week 9 bye week, the most likely outcome is either Flacco or Pickett starts the first half of the season while one of the rookies emerges later on if things don’t go well.
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