With the announcement of the Browns training camp dates, July 18 for rookies and July 22 for veterans, the team has four weeks to sort out who will be their starter. Throughout rookie minicamp and OTA’s, the local and national media have been clutching their pearls as to who has the upper hand based mostly on their opinions. During this time frame, the Browns must develop a practice rotation for training camp to help determine who starts the season opener against the Bengals, because practice time will be at a premium. While deciding on a starter, the team also has to decide which quarterbacks they’re going to keep on the roster. Some national pendants have suggested the Browns could keep four quarterbacks on the final 53-man roster.

Before determining how many to keep, the team has to allocate practice snaps. With two rookies on the current roster, Dillion Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, the coaching staff would have to feel one was ready to start. Highly unlikely. That leaves the to two veterans, Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett. Flacco has game experience in head coach Kevin Stefanski’s offense, so he might not need the extra reps. But if he is determined to be the starter, the team doesn’t want him to be unprepared for the first game. Pickett ran a similar offense in college but needs a refresher course. Unfortunately for Flacco and Pickett, while the team is building for success in 2025, they are also building for the future with two first-round picks in 2026. Neither Flacco nor Pickett are the future, and neither is signed for 2026.

The Browns are hoping one of the two rookies will emerge as the future starter. Reports are Gabriel is ahead of Sanders and their college careers reflect that. Gabriel learned three different offenses at three different schools, while Sanders was at two different schools but with the same head coach, his father, Dion Sanders. The offenses Gabriel operated in where complex and the offense’s Sanders orchestrated were simple. This isn’t a knock on Sanders, he did the most with what he had, but this would explain why the Browns are taking a slower approach with him. If Sanders of Gabriel isn’t the 2025 starter, then the majority of the practice time with the starters would go to one of the veterans. In a perfect world, Gabriel or Sanders would emerge as the starter in 2026.

If the future is one of the two rookies and the present is one of the two veterans, then what does the team do with four quarterbacks? Local beat writers Tony Grossi and Mary Kay Cabot have suggested the Browns will keep four quarterbacks on the roster after the final cutdown. That could be a possibility, but I think the chances are low, probably less than five percent. Ideally the Browns could trade one of the veterans, but which one? As I mentioned earlier, Flacco probably gives the team the best opportunity to win in 2025. However, what if Pickett could do same for the Browns as Sam Darnold did with the Vikings last year? So could the Browns keep four quarterbacks? If so, another position group would suffer. The team could supplement this by adding a player or two to the sixteen-man practice squad, but in the past the Browns have kept practice squad players for important position groups, offensive line, defensive line, wide receivers, running back and the secondary. Weakening one of these positions on the final roster is playing with fire. To add to this mystery, last year Browns GM Andrew Berry did start the season with four quarterbacks on the roster, Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston, Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Tyler Huntley, but eventually cut Huntley when Berry was unbale to find a trading partner. The same situation could happen again this year. As for now the plan is unknown, however the solution to this dilemma will become evident soon after training camp begins.