The Cleveland Browns have a unique quarterback situation at the moment, as it’s rare you ever see a team have four QBs on the roster at one time who are all expected to be a starter at some point.
Joe Flacco or Kenny Pickett is likely to win the Week 1 starting gig, while rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders will have time to develop and potentially could start later in the season.
That’s at least the common sentiment, but Yahoo! Sports senior reporter Charles Robinson had an interesting four-word description for the team’s QB situation recently that suggests things aren’t quite as clear as some had hoped.
“Completely wide-open affair,” Robinson wrote. “So wide open that minicamp and training camp won’t just end up shaping the starting spot — they will likely end up deciding the entire order of the quarterback depth chart. Including the possibility that one of the rookies, either Dillon Gabriel or Sanders, is under center when Week 1 rolls around.”
There have been conflicting reports about this QB situation that have suggested that every possible outcome is in play, so at this point, everything needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt until the Browns themselves come out with their own updates.
Starting either Gabriel or Sanders in Week 1 after the year this team just had would be organizational malpractice, especially given how uncertain the entire offense is and how difficult the schedule is at the beginning of the season.
The first seven teams on Cleveland’s schedule won at least eight games last season, and five of them won at least ten and made the playoffs.
Flacco and Pickett weren’t brought here to both be backups, and if Gabriel and Sanders are getting extended looks at this point, it could certainly be because they need the reps and because Flacco is 40 years old.
Gabriel and Sanders will have their times, but it should not be in Week 1.
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