Reports out of Browns OTAs have the team giving reps to four different quarterbacks. Kenny Pickett went first, Joe Flacco next, third-rounder Dillon Gabriel and fifth-rounder Shedeur Sanders third and fourth. Do me a favor and pay this rotation no mind. Flacco will open as the starter.
Yes, he's 40 years old. He's played with three teams the last three seasons. He obviously isn't the answer for the Browns past this year, and they'll be desperately hoping one of their youngsters steps up and looks like a candidate to start for them in 2026.
But the only advantage that the other guys have over him is that they're younger. Pickett was added to the roster first (at the cost of a quarterback even more incapable than he is, Dorian Thompson-Robinson), so give him the first snaps, sure. That won't last long.
Over the last three seasons, while starting 15 games, Flacco has provided NFL-caliber quarterback play, averaging 284 passing yards and nearly 2 TD passes per game. That's 22 points per week in typical fantasy scoring systems, even while providing nothing as a runner. That's top-10 production, if you stick him in with all quarterbacks who've started at least half the time the last three years.
Pickett averages 180 passing yards and a little over half a touchdown per week. That works out to 13 points per week. Kevin Stefanski isn't playing fantasy football (as far as I know), but what exactly would be his rationale for using him as his starting quarterback? It's nonsensical. The Browns can say what they want; Pickett isn't happening.
| QBS PER GAME, 2022-2024 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | PYd | TDP | Int | RYd | TDR | Pts |
| Josh Allen | 50 | 246.4 | 1.84 | .76 | 36.3 | .70 | 27.8 |
| Jalen Hurts | 47 | 222.6 | 1.34 | .55 | 42.4 | .89 | 26.2 |
| Lamar Jackson | 45 | 224.3 | 1.82 | .40 | 55.6 | .27 | 25.8 |
| Joe Burrow | 43 | 272.1 | 2.16 | .63 | 12.7 | .16 | 24.6 |
| Patrick Mahomes | 49 | 272.7 | 1.92 | .76 | 21.5 | .12 | 24.3 |
| Brock Purdy | 36 | 256.7 | 1.72 | .69 | 13.3 | .22 | 22.4 |
| Dak Prescott | 37 | 252.8 | 1.89 | .86 | 12.9 | .11 | 22.3 |
| Justin Fields | 34 | 173.8 | 1.12 | .62 | 59.7 | .50 | 22.2 |
| Joe Flacco | 15 | 283.9 | 1.87 | 1.20 | 2.1 | .00 | 22.0 |
| Jared Goff | 51 | 267.5 | 1.88 | .61 | 2.9 | .06 | 21.7 |
| Kyler Murray | 36 | 222.7 | 1.25 | .64 | 34.3 | .31 | 21.7 |
| Jordan Love | 32 | 235.9 | 1.78 | .69 | 10.3 | .16 | 21.2 |
| Tua Tagovailoa | 41 | 269.2 | 1.78 | .71 | 4.7 | .00 | 21.2 |
| Trevor Lawrence | 43 | 236.6 | 1.33 | .67 | 17.4 | .28 | 20.9 |
| Baker Mayfield | 44 | 234.6 | 1.73 | .77 | 14.1 | .11 | 20.9 |
| Kirk Cousins | 39 | 266.3 | 1.67 | .90 | 3.1 | .05 | 20.8 |
| Justin Herbert | 47 | 249.9 | 1.45 | .43 | 14.5 | .11 | 20.6 |
| Geno Smith | 49 | 249.5 | 1.45 | .71 | 16.2 | .08 | 20.5 |
| Russell Wilson | 41 | 221.4 | 1.41 | .59 | 18.9 | .20 | 19.9 |
| C.J. Stroud | 32 | 244.8 | 1.34 | .53 | 12.5 | .09 | 19.5 |
| Daniel Jones | 32 | 193.3 | .78 | .56 | 36.8 | .31 | 18.5 |
| Derek Carr | 42 | 227.3 | 1.52 | .64 | 5.1 | .02 | 18.3 |
| Matthew Stafford | 40 | 245.4 | 1.35 | .68 | 2.9 | .03 | 18.2 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 35 | 216.9 | 1.54 | .66 | 5.7 | .03 | 18.0 |
| Bryce Young | 28 | 186.6 | .93 | .68 | 17.6 | .21 | 16.2 |
| Mac Jones | 32 | 203.9 | .94 | .97 | 8.9 | .06 | 15.3 |
| Kenny Pickett | 25 | 179.9 | .56 | .40 | 11.2 | .12 | 13.2 |
Let's consider the rookie quarterbacks. Gabriel is a 5-foot-11, 205-pound third-round pick who started 64 games for three different colleges over the past six -- six -- years. Sanders is a quarterback they drafted 2 rounds after Gabriel and after a total of six other college players, including two running backs. Not a guy they valued too highly.
Anything is possible with the rookies. Maybe Gabriel or Sanders is so impressive and capable in camp that they either emerge as the starter or at least the next-in-line for when the team pulls the plug on the season or gets tired of Flacco throwing interceptions, which the numbers suggest he'll certainly do.
But it's not going to be Pickett, and I will stick with my belief that it will be Flacco for probably the first half of the season, at a minimum. And with the old man out there slinging it, Browns receivers like Jerry Jeudy, Cedric Tillman and David Njoku should be just fine. Above-average passing numbers are very possible.
--Andy Richardson