• Deshaun Watson’s time in Cleveland is effectively over: A second Achilles surgery and a looming PUP designation all but ensure Watson won’t play in 2025 — and likely never again for the Browns.

• Joe Flacco leads a revamped QB room into 2025: With two rookies and a new veteran backup behind him, Flacco enters as the Week 1 starter while Shedeur Sanders looms as the future under center.

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The chaos of the NFL draft has settled, and rosters for the 2025 season are mostly locked in. For the true draft diehards, the 2026 cycle technically began on April 28, but for the rest of us, it’s time to focus on the upcoming season, which means unpacking everything that went down this offseason.

One of the most dramatic year-over-year transformations belongs to the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback room. At the start of the 2024 season, the group included Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston, and Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

Watson opened the season as the starter but struggled before tearing his Achilles in Week 7 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Thompson-Robinson stepped in briefly — just 24 dropbacks — before Winston took over for most of the remainder of the year, only to be benched as well. It was a nightmare season under center, with the Browns’ -0.229 EPA per dropback ranking dead last in the NFL by a wide margin.

Fast forward to today, and the Browns’ quarterback room now features Joe Flacco, Deshaun Watson and Kenny Pickett, alongside incoming rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.

The group blends experience and youth: Flacco enters his 18th season after being drafted in the first round back in 2008, while Watson and Pickett bring seven and four years of experience, respectively. Gabriel and Sanders, both selected in the 2025 draft, round out a crowded and intriguing quarterback room.

The Deshaun Watson Era Is Over

Let’s address the obvious: Deshaun Watson will never take another snap for the Cleveland Browns. He’s expected to open the 2025 season on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list and won’t be returning from it. After re-injuring his surgically repaired Achilles and undergoing a second procedure in January, his chances of playing again — let alone at a high level — are slim to none this season.

The Watson trade has become one of the most disastrous in NFL history: three first-round picks (and more) for just 19 games of underwhelming quarterback play across three years. He still has $92 million left on his deal, but with his 2025 season lost, the Browns will recoup a portion of that through injury insurance in March 2026. Thanks to general manager Andrew Berry’s cap management, the financial outlook remains manageable.

Still, because of the contract structure, Watson likely won’t be officially released until March 2027. For a deeper dive into the intricacies of his deal, I recommend following Jack Duffin, who has consistently done excellent work breaking down the details over the years.

Deshaun Watson: PFF grades and data since 2017

Browns QB Room: Timeline and Roster Outlook

It’s unlikely the Browns will carry four quarterbacks on the active roster come Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season. Under the Andrew Berry–Kevin Stefanski regime, the team has consistently opened with either two or three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster. And this year, rostering just two feels especially improbable, so we can safely rule out that scenario.

The offseason reshaping of the quarterback room began with Cleveland trading Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-round pick to acquire Kenny Pickett. Say what you will about Pickett, but he represents an immediate upgrade at the backup spot. He’s logged 814 snaps and posted a 71.1 PFF grade over the past two seasons, compared to Thompson-Robinson’s 422 snaps and 45.2 grade.

Next came the re-signing of Joe Flacco, two weeks before the draft. Flacco revitalized his career with the Browns in 2023, helping secure a playoff berth, though the team fell short in the wild-card round.

Then came the draft, where Cleveland surprised everyone. After selecting Dillon Gabriel with the 94th pick, they shocked the league by trading up to take Shedeur Sanders at No. 144. While most expected the Browns to draft a quarterback, few anticipated they’d walk away with two.

What Will the Browns’ QB Room Look Like in Week 1?

The most realistic scenario entering Week 1 is a competition between Shedeur Sanders and Kenny Pickett for the third quarterback spot on the 53-man roster.

Joe Flacco was re-signed as a clear candidate to start the season. His familiarity with Kevin Stefanski’s offense makes him the safe, trusted option out of the gate. We know what Flacco offers: command at the line of scrimmage, the ability to execute the offense and enough arm talent to make big-time throws. He’s prone to mistakes — particularly ill-timed interceptions — but he remains a quarterback who can keep the offense on schedule and function at a passable NFL level.

The Browns used the 94th overall pick on Dillon Gabriel, and history tells us that players selected in the top 100 rarely get cut before the season. Regardless of where public evaluations land on Gabriel, the team clearly sees enough potential to invest significant draft capital.

That leaves Pickett and Sanders battling for the final spot. In a vacuum, both may be better quarterbacks than Gabriel right now. It’s possible — though unlikely — that Cleveland carries all four on the active roster. But with a developmental focus in mind, particularly around the two rookies, the team will want to maximize practice reps and developmental reps. That’s harder to do with four quarterbacks in the room. Rolling with three means more consistent work for Gabriel and Sanders and a clearer path to the field should Flacco falter.

The ultimate goal for Cleveland isn’t to tread water with average quarterback play — it’s to find a true difference-maker who can compete in an AFC stacked with elite quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.

Flacco isn’t that player. He’s a short-term bridge. Gabriel, at best, may develop into a long-term backup in the mold of Kellen Moore or Chase Daniel. Pickett has shown he’s a backup-caliber option — a bridge, but not the future.

That leaves Sanders as the only quarterback in the room with the tools and upside to possibly grow into a high-end NFL starter. Whether he reaches that ceiling remains to be seen, but the Browns positioned themselves in 2026 to take more swings at the plate.

Week 1 QB Room Prediction

• Joe Flacco: Starter
• Shedeur Sanders: Backup (potential starter by Week 5)
• Dillon Gabriel: Developmental backup
• Deshaun Watson: On PUP list